TAP Training Associates Pacific

Beginning with the failure of spring rains in 2016, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan began to spiral into a significant drought.  I was asked to go to Ethiopia in mid-February this year.  Part of my task was to facilitate a team assessment of a drought stricken area covering two districts in Easter Ethiopia, in which SOS CVI had begun a water trucking project in December, 2016.  Thirteen villages in these two neighboring districts (Gode and Kalefo) were the subject of our assessment.   The flight out from Addis was interesting for the overview it provided of the drought affected areas in or flight path.  The most remarkable feature of the terrain for much of the distance we covered was how rugged it was.  Very steep walled ravines cutting down through the earth into jagged river valleys.  Early on, the creeks and rivers reflected the hot sun’s rays.  Not far out from...

  SOS Children’s Villages International is a global organization launched in 1949 by an Austrian named Hermann Gmeiner.  The organization has established operations in 140 countries.  What they do is go into a new country, meet with government officials, obtain approval to operate, find a plot of land in an appropriate location, assure access and a sustainable water supply, build substantial homes, hire and train staff and take in orphans.  Children can become part of the program from age three months and older.  Children live with a surrogate mother, go to either a local school or to a school inside the SOS compound, then to a local high school.  They reside in the village until they are 18 and then can move into a city or town nearby where SOS operates youth hostels for boys and girls.  The can pursue and apprenticeship, a vocational training center or a university.  SOS continues...

Now what? Once a person has completed a personal LEAP (Life Experience Action) Plan one has targets and objectives and dates by which to plan to accomplish certain objectives.  However,  one thing that is missing in the new set of LEAP materials is a calendar on which to jot down those target dates.  TAP  used to provide small checkbook-size calendars, but with technology taking over the schedule and the wallet, I decided to create a large wall calendar version on paper, using one of my paintings of fruits and vegetables—because my LEAP has “learning to paint” as an objective—for each month.     The Calendar is offered for $20.00 and includes postage in the US.   You can pay for it through Paypal on our TAP website.  Just go to SHOP, choose "Books"  and find the LEAP Calendar. !  I hope you enjoy my paintings.  I know I enjoyed painting the...

One of the wonderful things about doing a LEAP is that coaches always learn so much from clients. The on-line experience is no exception. First of all, because the client agreed,  I did not mail the materials, and she was happy to create her own...although she had some trouble finding post-it notes in her country! She used large pieces of drawing paper on which to create her charts, and construction paper from which to cut out ovals and circles. Given the materials requirements she was happy to be inventive! We do on-line LEAPs using our www.Taptraining.org Moodle platform, supplemented with skype face to face sessions which last from 30 to 60 minutes, in between which the client works on his/her own. During the long session we had in which we analyzed Step #5, the objective tree, the client was discussing various associates and friends who could contribute to her plan. They were not...

The output from our two-day LEAP Summit produced by the LAB (LEAP Advisory Board) was prodigious.  All LAB members participated. NH came from Chicago and we also had Skype contributions from coaches in California and France, our lawyer, and the Head of the company we hope will be producing LEAP-specific materials. Our agenda was long and the work was intense, but we LEAP-ed LEAP, producing an Objective Tree with 26 priority objectives under six main ones. We were so focused on leaving to get NH to Pike Place market, that we forgot to take a picture of the group.   One of our first objectives was to organize, schedule, evaluate and complete the certification process for three new LEAP facilitators in the pipeline.  And I am happy to announce that Stephanie Shannon is now certified and ready to take on clients!  It has been just a year since the members of...

The first annual AWOB (Alliance of Women Owned Businesses) was held at the Inn in  Gig Harbor on September 26 and LEAP was there!  It was a thrill to participate because I had done a LEAP workshop for the organization several years ago when it was going through some growing pains--and the conference was an idea the Board had during that plan!  It is rare that a facilitator gets to see an idea hatched during a workshop actually come to fruition.  The day was energizing, not just because of the four dynamic speakers, (Nancy Solomon, Kerstin O'Shields, Lisa Markman, and Amber Theil) but because there was time scheduled for networking with all of us presenting our wares.  I scheduled and gave a "mini-mar"  (Thanks for the term, Rachael) -a very, very, short presentation about LEAP at 2:45 to a few folks who returned.  AWOB has a number of events each month--including Women's Own Nights, and Insights. ...

TAP believes strongly—and our experience supports our belief—that  projects are most successful when the people responsible for implementation are involved in developing the plan—whether they are working with the homeless, working to eliminate sources of pollution in a stream, or working as a team responsible for developing and marketing software. LEAP (Life Experience Action Planning) is a planning process designed for and successfully used with individuals, organizations and teams in transition.  Any organizational transition (a change in strategy, structure, or shift in personnel) affects team direction, equilibrium, productivity and focus.  Roles and responsibilities become confused.  It is under these circumstances that team building and team planning can be most beneficial.  In a LEAP workshop, the members of a team come together to share common objectives, develop a mutual understanding of what is required to achieve them, and then re-organize roles and responsibilities accordingly.   The difference between a LEAP Team Building and...

  Ghent, Belgium.  April 11-12.  Eight people with at least three things in common.  They had all recently completed a Yoga Teacher Training Course conducted by Yogalife (check it out at www.yogalife.com).  The last couple of days of their course had featured the founder of Yogalife, Sanjeev Bhanot, our friend and increasingly famous yoga guru.  More famous now, because he is the Yoga Trainer for the pilots of the Solar Impulse, now attempting to fly around the world on solar power.  All of our clients had that warm healthy glow about them that comes with regular yoga and healthy food.  And, they had all joined a LEAP Personal Planning Workshop that Marcia and I were facilitating.   For those who may not be familiar with LEAP, it is an acronym for Life Experience Action Planning, a planning process designed to help individuals, couples, groups and companies in some kind of transition move with purpose...

  More than 8,000 products, garden tools to guacamole, beverages to baby powder,   toilet paper to tuna fish, carpet cleaner to quinoa are found in the retail outlets of the Colruyt Group.  The process to get these products from the supplier to the store shelves involves a myriad of people and is managed by Product Group Managers.  In this family owned company that employs 26,000 people, there are 10 PGMs.  Marcia and I had the pleasure over the past two weeks of first interviewing all ten (and 15 of the colleagues they work most closely with) and then facilitating a 21/2 day Team Building and Team Planning Retreat  It was held in Wisteria, a wonderful bed and breakfast in Herne, a village about 20 minutes by train from Brussels.       We all worked hard and with enthusiasm. Following the steps of the LEAP planning process, we identified personal...

Over the last months we have been planning and designing a LEAP within a LEAP for the Colruyt Group in Halle Belgium.  Since we arrived we have conducted a rigorous Training Needs Assessment and have since revised the schedule and the handbook to better address the concerns of the group.  We also learned a great deal about the workings of this extraordinary company (which is much like Costco) whose mission is stated as:  'Together, we create sustainable added value through value-driven craftsmanship in retail.'    They continue by saying:   Every word in this mission statement has been chosen carefully. Together: We are considerate towards all our staff members, customers, suppliers, manufacturers, shareholders, etc. Sustainable: We do business with a minimum amount of raw materials, energy and human effort. Added value: We aim for a maximal added value in favour of the economy, people and the environment. Value-driven craftsmanship: We see expertise as more than just executing...

For the first time ever we have two courses going on (on- line) at the same time! They are up and running on our new Moodle platform, www.taptraining.org/Moodle, written by me and produced and conducted by Andrew our super server administrator, found on www.Elance.com.  These two pilot courses (LEAP YOURSELF and the LEAP COACH TOT) will bring LOOP coaches up to date with the new and improved LEAP materials. The Moodle platform will be available for TAP associates to use to develop their own on-line courses. You can take a look at the platform, but you cannot see the courses unless you are enrolled for a course. Once these pilot programs are run, we will make the improvements suggested by the testers and will run LEAPs on line on a regular basis, with our ever expanding network of coaches.  ...

  Against a white background, two shapes in black among many shapes in white.  This is Saudi HEART Batch 2.  Were the time two months earlier, one would have seen a nearly perfect match of shapes in Batch 1.  The white shapes are the twenty five men in their traditional Abayas and black shapes are the two women of Batch 2 in theirs.  They are now at the end of their first five weeks of Saudi HEART training.  Five weeks gone and 11 more weeks to go to complete the Core Curriculum of this program.  So far they have completed an introductory Disaster Management Course, a Presentation Skills Course and a course conducted by the International Federation and International Committee of the Red Cross / Red Crescent.   What is Saudi HEART?  In Saudi Arabia, the National Red Crescent organization is called the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA).  It has a...

I rarely share this, but I feel so proud when clients, friends or family members notice how well I understand something they mean.  I love it when I have an insight about something they did not explicitly state.   And when they notice, and agree, I am extremely pleased, because that means that I am doing my job as a LEAP coach.     I remember doing a LEAP workshop with a woman more than ten years ago.  She had decided to do a personal plan because she was in transition.  She was an American living in Italy and she wanted to make a change.  She wanted to move to Switzerland, find work and make a go of it as a cross cultural trainer.  But she was facing work permit visa problems at the college in which she had been offered work teaching.  She wasn’t sure if she should stay in Milan making too...

The column “Can this marriage be saved?” in my mother’s Ladies Home Journal was one I read with interest every time it came in the mail. I loved the magazine with its readable short stories and the recipes that I would try out, but this “marriage” column always piqued my interest. I’d read the wife’s story. Then the husband’s story. Then I would try to figure out why “yes it could” or why “no, it could not be saved.” Then I would read the counselor/columnist’s opinion to find out. Was I right or wrong? As I recall I was a pretty good guesser. I was 12 years old, the built in baby sitter for my sister and brother, the sou chef to my mother, and her chamber maid as well. The writing was on the wall. I was being trained for marriage and needed to learn how to be a good...

...A Note from Denny Hamilton In Vientiane in October 2013 I had the good fortune to work with an extraordinary co-facilitator, Hèléne Diribarne-Somers, who is a civil court judge in Pau, France.  We were both working with a French NGO called Avocats sans Frontieres (ASF) e.g. Lawyers without Borders and the Lao Bar Association--to  conduct  a “Training of Trainers” course.  Beginning in the second week of November and continuing for three weeks, the eight Laotian lawyers (six men and two women) for whom we conducted a Training of Trainers, were to conduct  three courses to prospective new lawyers in Laos.  They worked with six different French lawyers from ASF and were to used training skills gained through practice in our course.  We focused first on giving and receiving interpersonal feedback, which I knew from years in Thailand was not a cultural norm, but which is essential for improving as a trainer. Then we worked on presentations, designing and conducting role...

After almost a year's hiatus from our work in training and facilitation (while Denny was running for county commissioner in Mason  County and I was his campaign manager)  we are geared up and working again.    Denny is in Naivasha in the Masai Mara in Kenya doing an Africa region workshop for the UN's OCHA (Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).  He was delighted to be asked to facilitate this workshop and to participate in a review of "Lessons Learned" and "Best Practices."  He had worked on its course development and field testing four years ago and had organized and facilitated its TOT (training of trainers) course.   Denny was also  quite  interested in finding out how and if the course had changed and was looking forward to working with some old friends and colleagues and to meeting and working with the new faces on the team....

When Marcia and I  conducted a three- hour pilot LEAP personal planning workshop for eight homeless veterans staying at “Building 9” we were pleased that the group found the experience so useful.    We are pleased to announce that will be doing a series of these workshops in 2013.  This is a facility established to provide transitional housing at the Washington Veterans Home in Retsil, in Port Orchard, WA.  The 60-bed transitional housing facility is available to assist those in need of stable housing, vocational rehabilitation, and increased income potential. Veterans are surrounded with supportive staff and wrap-around services designed to lead to their successful completion of the program and a successful return to the community.  Once admitted, they may stay for two years.  Building 9 for Veterans focuses on three goals: (1)  Increased residential stability of participants; (2)  Greater self-determination of participants; and (3)  Increased skill level and income potential...

In May and June of 2011 we did a number of different sorts of LEAPs:  two for the CSALT Program at Olympic college (Bremerton and Shelton campuses);   one for a large family with  an overflowing nest; and one for a couple making a huge career/financial transition.  As usual, we learned a great deal from our participants.  Two new ideas were added to the confidentiality contract (I will not make fun of anyone.  I will not judge anyone).  In addition, the students moved so quickly that they were able to complete the objective tree—an extra added step for a LEAPette.  A family of three, mom, pop and college student daughter suddenly expanded.  The family, living together in a small house, faced cross cultural adjustment problems (the daughter and son in law and their children had returned from Central America after four years; and another son had returned from military service).   The son...

In late January, in Montreal for OCHA (the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) DH facilitated an international Bio-safety Clearing House (BCH) Training or Trainers Workshop during which preparations were finalized for the Global Bio-safety Project ll.  He had this to say about the workshop.   “I began working with the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) in 2002 to prepare for the initial 5 year project.  The international organizing conference was followed by two Training of Trainers Workshops, one held in India and the other in Kuala Lampur.  W’hat the project was/is trying to do is truly important.  Essentially it works with countries around the planet to identify, compile data on, track cross border movement of and monitor GMOs -- Environmentalists work together with Information Technology personnel to build government management and monitoring capacity as well as public awareness, public education and public policy linked to GMOs.     In 2008, the...

In May, 2008, Denny began work with the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance on a three part capacity building program for humanitarian field personnel.  The first element is distance learning, which involves reading 6 chapters related to humanitarian emergencies, which were written for this program.  The chapters are: Humanitarian Coordination, Information Management, Protection,  Preparedness and Strategic Planning, Advocacy, and Humanitarian Funding.   In the initial roll out of the course, 85 people signed up to participate.  Every two weeks, they each completed a chapter and an exercise at the conclusion.  These exercises were submitted to the course managers, reviewed and received a response. Following the successful conclusion of the distance learning component (Phase 1) the participants were invited to and attended a face-to-face training workshop.  In the first year, one was held in Geneva, a second in Mombasa, Kenya and the third in Bangkok.  These workshops focus  on developing and enhancing competencies required for effective performance in humanitarian...