The Illinois Model

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! I haven't posted a   Weekend Building Blocks  post in quite some time. Actually, the last version was my 2019 year summary you can find  here !  Simply, I took a different approach to sharing ideas and thoughts in 2020, with beefed-up posting in LinkedIn. The response was terrific! As such, blogging took a backseat.  Regardless, I managed to pump out 24 posts on this website this year, with the Most Read ranked here: OODAZoom 01: Thursday, June 04th . A two (2)-hour video conversation on John Boyd's OODA. This was the most visited post of the year!  The Dangerous Gap Before Deadly Force . On policy, neck restraints, and cultural issues with police use of force.  Police Officer Defense Against TASER . Intertwined with a real life incident, the factors that cops should consider when faced with a TASER used against them. Situational Awareness: Passive or Active...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! This special year-end  Weekend Building Blocks  focuses on 2019's most viewed blog posts from this The Illinois Model website. Of the forty (40) posts that I wrote and published in the past year, here are the most visited: (How) Can Cynefin Help the Police Criminal Intelligence Community? Teams Versus Groups Presentation Hack: Death by Bikablo Classically-Trained Firearms Instructors & 21st Century Learning Principles Hot Wash Debrief: OODA + Cynefin  I continue to be amazed at which posts are flat duds...and which get wide sharing, commentary, and interaction. My predictions are wildly off.  I suspected the #5 piece on the OODA + Cynefin workshop might be the top post; it wasn't. I would NOT have guessed that any of the top four (4) would be among the top five (5).  Those above are statistics limited to posts that I wrote in 2019. What was...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! First, this week's   Weekend Building Blocks  goes heavy on podcasts, a bit slanted towards the military. Lately, I've been listening more and reading less. But no worries..I added a sixth (6th) bullet point this week! ;) The Learning Insurgency: It's an Evolution, Not a Revolution. This is a post by US Army MAJ Don Vandergriff (ret). Don's books and articles continue to be a source of inspiration for adaptability and leadership. In this piece, he really breaks down Outcomes-Based Learning, as it applies in the US Marine Corps. It goes beyond task training and into cognitive skills education. If you are responsible for teaching, instructing, or developing others, you need to read this! Visualization and Collaboration.   This is an episode of the Agile Chicago Style Podcast, with host Rick Waters and guest Maria Matarelli. In the first half, they discuss visua...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! First,   Weekend Building Blocks  has been in a lengthy state of hibernation. Again, there is lot of crap out there on the interweb... CTA: Brutal Attacks Rise As Trasit Crime Heads Higher For Third Year.  CWB Chicago is a non-traditional news supplier in Chicago, specializing in crime, politics, and policing. As such, they were recently involved in some conflict with a major city traditional newspaper's editorial staff. This piece highlights their in-depth work and what should be a standard for reporting crime in a city like Chicago. PowerPoint Presentations Flaws and Failures: A Psychological Analysis.  This is an academic paper identifying some research studies on what are principles, laws, or standards of designing projected slides for a presentation. We're all going to get better slide shows now, right? (Thanks to Sara Wood for this piece.)  Developing P...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! You haven't seen  Weekend Building Blocks  in a while for reasons I've stated before: There is a lot of crap out there. Barely worth sharing. However, this was a good week! Repetitio est mater studiorum - aim to frame the game before playing.   Jussi Jaakonaho wrote this piece, integrating: John Boyd, Albert Einstein, Amos Tversky, Dave Snowden, Fred Leland, Daniel Kahneman, Gary Klein, and others. Not going to sugar-coat it: This was a challenging read; not emotionally, but technically/grammatically/structurally. Pound through it. It's got nuggets for us complexity folk who talk in terms of OODA, Cynefin, non-linearity... Redefining Wrong in Poker, Politics, and Beyond. Annie Duke is a poker player. She talks about how we should adjust the way we look at decision-making. This was a good read, despite a couple of angles I felt needed to be addressed: finite vs i...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! I've been on the fence as to whether my  Weekend Building Blocks is a worthwhile project. For the past two (2) months, I've been reading a lot of crap...hardly the stuff worth the effort of sharing. This week, however, was different. So...I'm resurrecting  Weekend Building Blocks  this week. Just don't expect it every Friday as I'd been doing. haha. Finnish schools. All-of-the-Above. Sapien tools. Micro-lessons. Bad slide design. Self-Managing for Complexity. Harold Jarche talks about preparing kids for the future, using Finland's education system as a case. Integration and phenomenon-based teaching are at the heart of the reform. Jarche also draws parallels to the modern workforce. Our secret formula for writing (effective) multiple choice quizzes.   Joel Smith addresses problems with multiple choice format test questions. He then offers suggestio...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Changing people's minds. Learning Management Systems. Mount Stupid. Machine learning. Athletes and Navy SEALs. Why You Should Stop Trying to Change People's Minds.   David Marcus talks about engaging with people who hold opinions that are different than our own. In age of social media (and anonymity within it), we need not look far for differing perspectives...and the anger and disrespect that comes with it. What benefit is there to these engagements?  LMS Features: What To Look For In a Learning Management System.  Dr. Ayesha Habeeb Omer talks about ten features that a learning management system should have. As e-learning, distance learning, blended learning (...or any of the other of the  "______ learning" buzzwords) grow in popularity, LMS will equally growing in demand. I've been lucky to be using an LMS that is responsive to the instructional desi...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Defining terms within systems thinking. Student agency. Failing firearms trainers. AI and organizational values. Scribbling ideas. Tools for Systems Thinkers: The 6 Fundamental Concepts of Systems Thinking.   Leyla Acaroglu dials down the intensity and returns us to the basics of systems thinking. Whether you're brand new to it, or been studying it for years, Leyla's piece defines and explains terms in a simple-to-understand method. The Intersection of Critical Thinking and Student Agency.  Jenny Pieratt argues that teachers too often (and wrongly!) focus on the outcome of knowledge and less on the process of thought. But how can we develop learners who take control of their own learning? Is it possible to teach our students  how  to think? A Tale of Two Failures - Part 1: Two way the firearms and tactical training industry gets it fundamentally wrong.  Dusti...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Parachuting cats. Silos in policing. Contagious suicide. Organizational change. Dirty fish tanks. Facing Complexity: Wicked Design Problems.  Daniel Christian Wahl delves into "wicked" proble ms -  “ a class of social system problems which are ill-formulated, where the information is confusing, where there are many clients and decision makers with conflicting values, and where the ramifications of the whole system are thoroughly confusing. ”  More specifically, Wahl addresses the  role  of "design" within the world of complexity, and the limits of "science." I have recently been spending a lot of time studying design...and I connected a lot of ideas through this  piece! Silos - @WeCops Debate.  Emma Williams and Ian Wiggett teamed up for this piece. Ian was a recent guest in a #WeCops Twitter chat on silos inside policing. Ian and Emma discuss h...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! On-task students. War against expertise. Playfully drawing systems. Reductionism. EQ in the military. T he Tyranny of Being On Task.  Andrew Miller is an instructional coach (and former classroom teacher). He discusses the pressure for teachers to ensure students remain on-task . This is a futile attempt to increase learning efficiency. While this article is mostly about children and adolescents, there are outside arguments that the same lessons can be translated to adults as well. How can workplace training benefit from these theories?  The War on Experts.  Dr Gary Klein argues there are five distinct communities fighting against expertise : d ecision research, heuristics & biases , sociology, evidence-based performance, and information technology. How or can experts learn from and contribute to each of these communities? Nicky Case: Seeing Whole Systems.  T...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Assumptions. Kids sports. Data Visualizations. Navy ship collisions. Sales adaptability training. Assumptions can be a situational awareness barrier.  Rich Gasaway comes to us from the fire and medic services. He brings up a discussion on assuming, guessing, estimating, and other time-saving tricks in the world of human decision-making. I'm a believer that we need to make assumptions in chaotic, adaptive environments...especially when the stakes are high and time is crunched. Because variables in complex situations are often unknown and unknowable, experience and intuition is what helps those assumptions be as accurate as possible.  How Kids' Sports Became a $15 Billion Industry.  TIME magazine's Sean Gregory takes us inside the world of youth sports teams. The journey leads from local, community-based teams to private, national, "professionalized" teams...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Witty replies. Sexual sins. Optimal learning environments. Renaissance Men. Better understanding of mistakes. Great Zinger!  Buster Benson humorously discusses the use of witty responses used to embarrass or expose an opponent in dialogue. I see zingers used in social media arguments all the time. In an age of digital anonymity, it seems zingers are more and more popular, with less respect and less intent to find middle ground. The points are adding up and the divide is widening. Thoughts?  The Physiophobe: Modern Man Against Reality.  Professor Anthony Esolen uses the word physiophobe to describe a person who fears the way things are. He uses the concept of sexual sin to explain his rationale, but his argument can be extrapolated into a wide array of applications, fields, or topics. The claim that we manipulate the way things are should challenge the way we think abou...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Academic publishing. Abu Ghraib. Sports team captains. Amateurs. Learning myths. Social Sciences Publishing: Time to Stop a Meaningless and Wasteful Game.  Yiannis Gabriel gives a glimpse behind-the-curtain of publishing academic research. He claims the drive to be published in watering down the collection of research studies. This motivation is also adversely affects the teaching side of academia - where less experienced teachers are being put in front of classrooms.  Joe Willis talks at WINx Chicago 2017.  Joe Willis of TeamOne Network did an 18-minute TED-style talk. He shares his experience in the US Army, dealing with the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib prison embarrassment. Joe discusses his commitment to the cause, and how it negatively affected his relationships outside the Army. His lessons include identity, character, leadership, moral direction, and more. I'm pro...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Student empowerment. Gamification. Incestuous Amplification. Special Forces selection. Broadening systems perspective. Implicit racial bias. What can you connect with your current base of knowledge and understanding? The Five Biggest Fears that Kept Me from Empowering Students.  John Spencer is a college professor and former middle school teacher. He explains the anxiety of turning over the classroom controls to his students. The infographic that lists his particular fears is one that really hit home with me. They were exactly those fears of mine as I shifted to student-led formats in police training classes and programs!  The art and craft of making board games for the CIA.  How can we (or  can  we?) use games to learn new workplace skills in adulthood? Charlie Hall brings us inside the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for a glimpse of their use of games ...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Product management. USMC drill instructors. Change is not hard. Biased algorithms. Expertise. Here are the pieces that I enjoyed this past week: Making Good Decisions as a Product Manager . Brandon Chu talks decision-making, risk management, prediction, and confidence levels. While his environment is different than most of my readers and followers, it certainly has a great deal of cross-over value. I'm not a supporter of the whole percentage thing...but I completely understand his use of the numbers to convey a point. What I find interesting is the discussion on time . How can we manipulate (or extend) time in our respective fields? Teaching United States Marine Instructors New Tricks: Developing Adaptability Through Experiential Learning .  Fred Leland is a former Marine and retired police lieutenant. He moderates workshops for police trainers and USMC instructors/office...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Fake science. Police & social media. Decision games. Automated work. Increased memory. Here are five pieces that I found valuable this week: Power Poseur: The lure of lucrative pseudoscience and the crisis of untrustworthiness of psychology.   James Coyne describes a trend where junk science is used or exaggerated to sell products. The brunt of his article is aimed at Amy Cuddy's research on power posing and the effects on testosterone and cortisol levels. Coyne's piece is a skeptical view into research, evidence-based, and marketing fields.  Chris Hsiung - WINx Chicago 2017 . In this 18-minute TED-style talk, police Captain Chris Hsiung of Mountain View CA Police Dept discusses government use of social media. In the heart of Silicon Valley, MVPD is a pioneer in their use of social media to further strengthen their relationship with the community. Having met Chris...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Killing people. Tactical decision games. Training for the unknown. The Caveman and the Professor. Calling out bullshit. What else is in this week's list? How Do You Answer The Question, "Did You Ever Kill Anyone?"  Certainly an odd question. However, among the police officers I know who have shot and/or killed someone, I've watched this answered a variety of ways. Sometimes it depends on the audience, the asker, the mood of the environment. How does emotional intelligence play out in the engagement between the curious asker and the (un)comfortable answerer?  Red Teaming and Other War Gaming for Business.  This is a 40-min podcast. Host Des Walsh interviews guest Fred Aubin, a retired Lt Col in the Canadian Army. Fred's path and mine have crossed before, through our journeys studying adaptability. Fred talks about red teaming - where the adversarial ...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! Scuba diving. Parade floats. Street cops. Trainers with self-awareness. A wide variety of topics in this week's list: The Real World Dangers of Diving and How to Prevent Them . Derek Gill with Imminent Threat Solutions discusses scuba diving threats. The closest I've been to scuba diving a 20-minute snuba on a snorkeling excursion on my honeymoon. I found value in this article because of, not the technical knowledge, but the structure of how it's presented. Very articulate format. Plus I learned something! Meanwhile, I think I'll stay on the surface with my snorkel.  The Critical Component Missing From Your Marketing and Communications Processes . Melissa Agnes is a crisis management strategist, based in Montreal. She and I have had many conversations, debates, and laughs over the years of knowing each other. In this 5-minute #CrisisReady video, she addresses ...

There's no value in collecting blocks unless you're connecting them to build something awesome! I made a decision this week in Weekend Building Blocks -- I invoked my No Dickheads Rule . The absolute best thing I read this week is from a guy I know. He's a pompous, arrogant hypocrite who resorts to personal attacks against those who see the world differently than he. You won't be hearing about his awesome article from me. This is a reminder to not be a dickhead - a reminder that I myself need from time to time. Future of Work: Four Shifts Leaders Must Focus On . This is a short blog with an infographic. Tanmay Vora summarizes some thoughts from Kenneth Mikkelsen on shifts of mind, skill, behavior, and system...needed to succeed in the current climate of work .  Why Chefs and Soldiers Make the Best Product Managers . Few people know that I've moonlighted as security in a banquet hall and an Irish pub. Watching the kitchen and wait staff harmonize (and not alw...