Personal Enrichment

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	There are five areas of personal enrichment that members can certify in each year.  Here is a breakdown on the areas, how to certify and ideas on ways you can complete the requirements.
	Effective Speaking Effective Writing Leadership Training	Listening Team Building

Effective Speaking

There are four requirements to certifying in Effective Speaking - doing an icebreaker, an impromptu (speak for 1 to 2 minutes on a topic you are given), give a report, and give a prepared speech.  Here is a break down along with some ideas to help members complete each step.

Icebreakers- Most chapters have an icebreaker at the beginning of their meeting - it is a good way for the new members to get to know the other members and vice versa.  Some ideas are listed in the Personal Enrichment manual.  Here are a couple other ideas to try:

Do You Know Me? - Each person is given a nametag and an index card.  The nametag has the name of another person on it.  Everyone is told to circulate, meet, mix, and mingle to gather information, insights, or stories about the person on their tag from group members.  The opening line "Do you know me?" is used to help generate clues and conversation.  The index card is used to write down the information collected.  At the end of the designated time (about 15 minutes), each participant introduces their nametag and its person to the group.

Color Jacuzzi - The object of this exercise is to get the group to quickly meet the other members.  The facilitator calls out a color of the rainbow and explains what the color means and the members quickly say what comes to their minds (they take turns and could have two or three members talk for each color if you have a larger group or break up into smaller groups):  Red - typically is the stop/turn - off color - each member shares what is a turn off to them.  Orange - the motivation color - what motivates them.  Yellow - inspiration or creativity color - best idea they have had.  Green - money color - what they plan to do for money, or the dumbest thing they ever did for money.  Blue - the sky's the limit color - favorite fantasy about your future.  Indigo - an odd or different color - most daring thing they ever did.  Purple - the color of royalty - if you were ever the ruler of the universe for a day - what is the first thing you would do?

Favorite T-shirt - Ask attendees to bring (not wear) their favorite T-shirt to the meeting. Once all participants have arrived, ask each person to show the shirt to the group and explain how the T-shirt best resembles their personality.

Go around the group and have each member complete one of these sentences:

Once upon a time, I..., My ideal vacation is..., The riskiest thing I ever did was..., or The wildest thing I ever did (that I'll admit to ) is...  These are easy to make up and can be topical (what I did on my summer vacation, my plans for the weekend are...)
 

Impromptus - Need to be one (1) to two (2) minutes in length.  An idea for this came from Naomi Smith, District 17 DPM in Minnesota.  Separate the larger group into groups of four people and give each group a brown paper bag with several items in it.  They cannot look at the items.  Each person takes a turn.  The first person takes something out of the bag and starts a story incorporating that item into the story.  For instance, the first person drew out a children's Christmas book and the story was about Christmas and how she read to her children about the traditions.  The next person drew out an object and continued the story and it went on until all in the group had drawn an object and spoken.  Each person speaks for one to two minutes (have someone time each speaker).  Another idea for this is to have a large bag filled with different items and have it go around the room incorporating the object into the story.

Report at a meeting - Just need to report on something at a meeting.  This is very easy because our active members have an opportunity to do this by giving officer, local program manager, or project reports at meetings.  Have a newer member report for an officer, program manager or project chair if that individual cannot be there.  Members could report on a visitation or something they learned at a convention.

Planned Presentation - Need to give a presentation of four (4) to six (6) minutes in length.  In order to complete this, a member needs to give a presentation on a specific topic.  There is a wide range of ways members can do this.  One way to do this is to compete in an effective speaking competition - can be local, district, state, or national.  Many members do presentations for work - that does count too.  How about doing a presentation at a chapter or district meeting on an area they strongly believe in.

Are you afraid of talking in front of others, not sure how to deliver an effective speech so that your audience won’t fall asleep – below are some interesting websites that will help you with these things.

http://www.wannalearn.com/Personal_Enrichment/Public_Speaking/

http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/speaking/speaking2.html

http://www.public-speaking-i.com/public-speaking-tips.html

http://www.yeni.co.uk/tips/tip3.asp

http://www.businessballs.com/teambuildinggames.htm - great for teambuilding as well.

These are only a few of the sites that I found, but there are many more out there.

Other ways to certify:

Toilet Paper – The only name I know and Debbie, my sister-in-law, did this at year end convention.

Hand someone a roll of toilet paper and tell them to take as much as they think would be necessary for when they use the restroom.

Once this is completed by all participants, they are to go one at a time with the following.

For every sheet of paper, they are to tell something about themselves.

Pick a topic – Throw some topics in a hat and have each individual pick a topic and talk about it for 2 to 5 minutes. There can be a question session afterwards (psst – this will help in certifying for Effective Listening).

Ideas

• If you had a million dollars – what would you do with it?
• Favorite animal and why
• Describe your perfect house
• Who would you want to be on a deserted island with?
• Favorite movie star or singer
• Describe your childhood
• Tell about your children
• Tell about your job
• Your first date
• Tell something about yourself that no one would know
• What do you really think is at the end of the rainbow?
• Tell about your favorite book or a book that you are currently reading

These are only a few – just remember make it fun and it has to be something someone could talk about for 2 to 5 minutes.

Effective Writing

Certification in Effective Writing also has four requirements.  Write personal or local chapter officer goals and plans for achieving them, write a letter or memorandum of at least 100 words, write a news article for your chapter or state newsletter, or local newspaper, and write an essay or short story of at least 300 words that may or may not be entered into competition.  Let's break that down a bit.

Personal or chapter goals - We all need goals to help us be successful no matter whether it is in our personal life, job or Women of Today position.  Goals should be measurable and achievable.  For instance a personal goal can be to have a healthier lifestyle and then set ways in which you want to achieve that such as eat more fruits and vegetables, exercise at least three times a week, drink eight glasses of water a day.  For a work goal for me it would be to balance every day within $5.00.  I want to achieve that by taking time to complete every transaction correctly, reverse transactions right away when a mistake is made so as not to forget it, ask question when unsure of how to do a procedure.  A Women of Today goal would be to have a minimum of 2001 certifications for the year in Personal Enrichment.  I will work to achieve that by encouraging certification through Today's Leader articles, information in quarterly newsletters, and PVP newsletters, letters to chapters that did not have any certifications in the past year to help them understand what needs to be done to certify, lead by example and certify in all areas.  The main thing is to set measurable goals so you have something to work for but not so difficult that you will feel like you failed.

Letter or memorandum - This can be any kind of letter or memorandum, whether it is personal, professional, letter of introduction, 0or to your governmental representatives sharing concerns about a specific issue.  It needs to be at least 100 words in length.  This should be somewhat formal in that it will have a date, salutation, and complimentary close.

News article - As in the report for effective speaking, this should be relatively easy for our members to complete as all of our active members either hold an office, local program manager position, or chair/co-chair a project and submitting an article for their chapter newsletter or local newspaper should be done to promote the project, area, or position to the other members or the public.

Extended Writing - An essay or short story of at least 300 words.  Members could achieve this by submitting an essay for competition on the local, district, region, state or national level.  A written speech for a planned presentation would also count towards this requirement.  This is a little harder to achieve but helps the individual to think out how they want to convey their message on paper.  Does your state offer at least one competition to ensure your members have the opportunity to complete this requirement?  If not, maybe it would be something you could add this year.  If you need help putting this together, let me know and I will help.

Do you get tired of certifying year after year with the same old thing – please find below some ideas as well as a few websites to check out. Note these websites are also about other subjects, but I found them interesting and thought they might give you some ideas.

http://www.abuseconsultants.com – This site is about severe trauma and sexual abuse. However, I thought the ‘Writing Room’ could be of use with something that maybe you or someone you know may have unfortunately experienced. And they even allow you to publish writings on their websites.

http://thesuccessfulwriter.com/articles/ - This site is regarding tips to successful writing, whether it is resume, business or sales writing and even how to deal with rejection or errors.

http://writingbliss.com/index.php - How can you go wrong – lots of free courses on the web, plus some great ideas.

Other ideas to certify:

 Description of the Perfect Man – You can do this as a teambuilding exercise as well.

 Letters to Troops – How about members writing letters to the troops – following are some sites to visit for rules/guidelines, etc.

http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/

http://www.letterstooursoldiers.org/

http://www.militarycity.com/letters/list.php?f=2

http://www.hereinreality.com/supportourtroops.html

 100’s of things – Make a list of 100 things you like, dislike, would like to do before a certain day, etc. (This is 100 things for each item.)

 Directions – Write directions for making a cake, changing the oil in the car, playing a game of cards, etc.

 Letters – Write a letter to a loved one for them to read at a later date, i.e. special birthday, holiday or unfortunately upon your death.

 These are only a few suggestions, please feel free to use your own ideas and fill out the certification form and forward it to me.

 Remember to make it fun!

Listening

The purpose of the Listening Course is to help members develop good listening skills.  The manual is full of listening exercises to utilize in creating an good listening skills.  The United States Women of Today require that a listening course be at least a half hour to two hours in length.  Use as many exercises as you need to fulfill that requirement.  Be sure to send a list of members that completed the course to your state program manager upon completion of the course.

Effective Listening is an important part of our every day life – you could miss an important meeting if you weren’t listening to the conversation or maybe miss an important ingredient in a recipe.

I have listed below some websites regarding listening tips, etc.

http://www.work911.com/articles/listenup.htm

http://www.keepcustomers.com/customer%20service%20tips.htm

http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/listen.htm

http://www.csbsju.edu/academicadvising/help/eff-list.htm

Other ideas to certify:

Pass Left Pass Right – have an item where by participants are told where to pass the item.

Make this more interesting by having several items with the participants remembering what they start out with. Then they must listen to directions:

Pass Left

Pass Right

Pass Right

Pass Left

Will they end up with the item they started out? If they listened carefully, yes, they will.

Repeat Tongue Twisters – The ones we grew up with as kids or make up your own:

Sally Strawberry sat sideways on her saddle.

Chelsea ate her chocolate cherry cheesecake in her chair.

Play Twister

Bingo

Name Game

Version 1 – First person names a movie star, i.e. Helen Keller

Second person must name a famous person (fiction or non-fiction

depending on how you want to play) with the first name of the first letter of the last name of the previous person named, i.e. Katie Couric

Version 2 - Using the alphabet – first person can name a food/place/animal, etc.

Second person must use the next letter until you get through the entire alphabet.

I hope that you have enjoyed the information that I have put together for you this year. Remember to have fun while completing your Personal Enrichment information. Enjoy your Garden of Life!

Team Building

The purpose of the Team Building Course is to help members of a chapter, board, or staff to work together as a team.  The manual is full of team building exercises to utilize in creating an effective team.  The United States Women of Today require that a teambuilding course be at least a half hour to two hours in length.  Use as many exercises as you need to fulfill that requirement.  Be sure to send a list of members that completed the course to your state program manager upon completion of the course.

August is Emphasis Month for Teambuilding – Do you know what you are going to do to certify? Listed below are some ideas for you – just remember you have to have 30 minutes of activity in order to complete the qualifications.

• Organize a Scavenger Hunt

• Prepare a Meal

• How about Surprise Recipe. The President will give each member an index card stating one measured out ingredient to bring to a social. Once all members arrive, the President will give the directions to prepare the recipe. This could be very interesting!

• Build a house of cards

• Put together a puzzle – glue it, frame it and offer it for a raffle item and to make money for your chapter or for another organization looking to raise funds.

• Work on a chapter project

• Have relay races

• Make Sunflowers out of OLD or blank CD/DVD’s

• Divide into teams and come up with useful items that you could purchase for $100.00. Provide prizes for 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd place.

• Play ‘Funderbird’ – Have directions from www.teachmeteamwork.com

• Play ‘Dice Racing’ – Have directions from www.teachmeteamwork.com

• Play ‘Butt Spelling’ (Yes, Butt Spelling) – Have directions from www.teachmeteamwork.com

• Play ‘Trust Car’ – Have directions from www.teachmeteamwork.com

If you would like directions for one of the above games from Teach Me Teamwork – please email me and I will mail you a set. They look like a lot of fun.

Or check out the following websites:

http://www.teambuildingguide.com/exercises/index.htm

http://www.wilderdom.com/games/InitiativeGames.html

http://www.teamdevelopment.com/tryathome.htm#

http://www.unicornevents.com/team_spirit.htm

Remember to make this fun! If you have an idea that you would like to share with others, please let me know and I will add it to this portion of the website. Visit the website often as there will be other ways to certify in the Personal Enrichment areas.

Leadership

The purpose of the leadership course is to help members develop leadership skills such as:  decision making, delegating authority, activating members, motivating members, training others, and evaluating situations.  To certify in a United States Women of Today leadership course, the program must be at least 30 minutes to two hours in length.  Use as many exercises as needed to fulfill that requirement.  Send a list of the members that participated to your state program manager.

You have most likely heard the saying, ‘leaders are not born, they are made.’ Well through the Women of Today organization, we provide training in order for our members to become great leaders.

Do you have what it takes to be a good leader? Sure you do, because below are trademarks which represent many of the Women of Today individuals that I know. We should all be considered leaders as many of these items are a part of everyone and their everyday lives.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LEADER!

• Challenges me to do my best.

• Sets a good example.

• Explains the reasons for instructions & procedures.

• Helps me polish my thoughts before I present them to others.

• Is objective about things.

• Lets me make my own decisions.

• Cares about me & how I'm doing.

• Does not seek the limelight.

• Won't let me give up.

• Gives personal guidance & direction, especially when I'm learning something new.

• Is empathetic & understanding.

• Is firm but fair.

• Keeps a results orientation.

• Makes me work out most of my own problems or tough situations, but supports me.

• Lets me know where I stand.

• Listens exceptionally well.

• Doesn't put words in my mouth.

• Is easy to talk with.

• Keeps the promises s/he makes.

• Keeps me focused on the goals ahead.

• Works as hard or harder than anyone else.

• Is humble.

• Is proud of those managers s/he has developed.

• Gives credit where credit is due.

• Never says "I told you so."

• Corrects my performance in private.

• Never flaunts authority.

• Is always straight-forward.

• Gives at least a second chance.

• Maintains an open door policy.

• Uses language that is easy to understand.

• Lets bygones be bygones.

• Inspires loyalty.

• Really wants to hear my ideas & acts on them.

• Lets me set my own deadlines.

• Celebrates successes.

• Is open & honest.

• Doesn't hide bad news.

• Gives me enough time to prepare for discussion.

• Is enthusiastic.

• Follows through.

• Is patient.

• Wants me to "stretch" my skills.

• Gives me his/her full attention during discussions, & won't be distracted.

• Has a sense of humor.

• Handles disagreements privately.

• Reassures me.

• Makes me feel confident.

• Tells me the "whole story."

• Says "we" instead of "I".

• Makes hard work worth it.

• Can communicate annoyance without running wild.

• Is courageous.

• Insists on training.

• Is a stabilizing influence in a crisis.

• Gets everyone involved.

• Wants me to be successful.

• Is optimistic.

• Operates well under pressure, or in a rapidly changing environment.

• Has a reputation for competence with his/her own peers.

• Has a good understanding of the job.

• Is tough & tender.

• Believes we can do it.

• Sets attainable milestones.

• Communicates philosophy & values.

• Is perceptive; doesn't believe that everything needs to be spelled out.

• Has a strong sense of urgency.

• Preserves the individuality of his/her team members.

• Thinks & operates at a level above that expected.

• Wants to make the organization the best in the industry.

• Is willing to act on intuition; believes feelings are facts.

• Empowers us.

• Is there when we need her/him.

• Enjoys his/her job.

• Likes to spend time with us.

- From "The One-Minute Manager" - By Kenneth Blanchard -

There must be 30 minutes of activity in order to certify in the Leadership course. Some NEW leadership training ideas for your enjoyment are listed below. If you would like more information please email pe@uswt.org. They all sound like a LOT of fun. Please note however that this book is actually for employers/employees, but these exercises can work for our organization as well and they can also be used to certify in Team Building.

• Alphabet Improv – Taking different scenarios, when each person speaks they must start their dialogue with the next letter of the alphabet.

• Facts of my Life – Each person will write down some things about themselves – some true and some false. Then the rest of the group will try and figure out the facts.

• Good Enough – Are we perfect? This should prove whether we are or not.

• Made to Order – In this exercise, you will describe your position as if it were in a mail order catalog – basically, SELL your position. This would be fun if it were right before elections.

• Verbology – With a list of certain words, members will determine how those words affect our lives, family, community and this organization.

• Nix the Negativity – This will take some time preparation as you will need to listen to negative things said during meetings or socials and write them down. Then as a group or individually, turn those negatives into positives. Then get together to discuss.

• Attitude Charades – An attitude is drawn from a hat and then acted out while others guess. If you like Charades, this one’s for you.