Connect with Haji Kamal
Monday, April 26th, 2010This online role-play addresses issues of rapport and negotiation. It’s a self-paced adaptation of the classroom Critical Incident Scenarios that we’ve been creating. Because it’s being used in the Senior Leader Course at the Fort Huachuca NCO Academy, it features a Sergeant advising his Lieutenant on how best to proceed through the encounter.
There are 12 ways through the role-play, but only two ways to win it. Can you find one of them? (Click the image to begin the activity in a new window).
Feedback on the “Connect with Haji Kamal” prototype has been positive. Instructors at the Fort Huachuca NCO Academy assign it as homework to prepare students for the culture lesson, which focuses on rapport, communication, and negotiation skills. In discussing what they like about the activity, the instructors have cited its “ease of use,” “that it prompted the majority of the discussion,” and that it “brought forth real world experiences from the Soldiers.”
When students were asked, at the completion of the homework activity, whether they were looking forward to the next day’s culture lesson, 70% responded positively. And 65% said they might use the “Haji Kamal” activity as part of culture training for their own units.
Soldier Story – “Risk and Rapport”
Thursday, March 18th, 2010This is another Soldier Story captured during NATO Forces training. Listen to a Canadian Major describe how taking risk is often a key part of building rapport.
Soldier Story – “The Hand”
Sunday, February 21st, 2010Here’s one of the Soldier Stories that we captured at the NATO Forces training that we participated in. Listen to a Norwegian Colonel describe becoming “a popsicle” the first time his counterpart, a brigadier general, picked up his hand.
Kinection activity incorporated into NCO Senior Leader Course
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
On Jan. 8, 2010, Small Group Leaders at the Fort Huachuca NCO Academy incorporated an activity designed by Kinection in their Senior Leader Course to highly positive feedback.
The activity, designed to help students learn to and recognize the value in perspective-taking and rapport-building, was a “choose your own adventure” scenario with multiple paths to outcomes. The story was closely based on a real-life critical incident in Afghanistan. The activity was designed to take about an hour, half spent running the scenario and half spent debriefing the experience. Because of how well the material fit with their Lesson Plan, the facilitators decided to use the scenario and debrief as a summative activity, tying together content that had been presented throughout the day.
Veterans’ Day
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009By Ed Lavieri
We recently celebrated our nation’s 233rd birthday. Throughout our history, there has been one constant – that men and women are willing to defend our way of life through military service and the willingness to give their life to the same. Each day, the nearly three million men and women of the active and reserve forces serve overseas, in war zones, on and under the sea, are separated from their families, and endure other sacrifices that only they understand.
Kinection has had the fortune of meeting many military personnel this year and is dedicated to providing training solutions that make a difference. Through this exposure, our entire team has come to appreciate the sacrifices military personnel make and the work they do. You are truly all American heroes and we salute you.
Happy Veterans’ Day.
Fort Riley soldiers tell us about their cross-cultural needs
Thursday, August 13th, 2009By Ed Lavieri
Cathy, Brian, and I took a trip to Fort Riley this month for data collection. We met with over 60 soldiers ranging from corporals to LT colonels. Our sessions consisted of small group question and answers. During our visit, we were provided insights into their recent deployment experiences including cultural perspectives, roles, duties, and tasks requiring cross-culture competencies, and training preferences.
This data collection effort mirrored our previous trips to Fort Carson and Fort Leonard Wood. At Fort Riley, we received some key insights regarding the processing time at Kuwait for Soldiers headed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Additional eye-openers for us included the roles the Chaplain Corps, cultural liaisons, and interpreters play with respect to language and culture.
It was a positive experience talking with the men and women at Fort Riley. We appreciate their taking the time to provide us with their insights, perspectives, and opinions.
Cross-cultural SBIR projects featured at ARI meeting
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009By Doug Nelson
On June 3-4, 2009, Kinection attended the U.S. Army Research Institute’s (ARI) Intercultural Assessment and Training Tools Interim Project Review meeting in Crystal City, Virginia. During this two-day event, companies with intercultural SBIRs through ARI shared their project status and discussed opportunities for collaboration. Projects that were represented included:
- Kinection’s “Cross-Cultural Competence Toolkit”
- 361 Interactive’s “Measuring Learning and Development in Cross-Cultural Competence“
- eCrossCulture’s “Social Perspective Taking” and “Decoding Nonverbal Cues in Cross-Cultural Settings”
- vCom 3D’s “Cultural Context for Distributed Simulations”
- CHI Systems’ “CulturePad: Modeling Culturally Accurate Behavior in Multiplayer Game Environments”
- Charles River Analytics’ “CAATE: Culturally Aware Agents for Training Environments”
- ARI-Leavenworth’s “Training Tools to Improve the Teaching and Coaching Skills of Military Advisors”
This informative two day session, facilitated by Dr. Allison Abbe of ARI, gave participants an increased understanding of the content of other culture-related SBIRs.
Interviews at Fort Carson highlight the importance of on-the-job training
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009By Ed Lavieri
Most of our team recently visited soldiers at Fort Carson. One of their big takeaways was the Army’s heavy reliance on on-the-job training (OJT).
Formalized schoolhouse training establishes a foundation that local OJT builds upon. Having served 25 years of active duty in the Navy, I’m a firm believer in the power of OJT and was encouraged to hear that our entire team has embraced its importance.
On-the-job training can be tailored at the unit level and lets commanders control qualifications to create highly capable military units. The adage “We train the way we fight” illustrates how relevant training has to be.
The OJT process strengthens all our military branches. Junior personnel are trained by their supervisors to perform their duties and carry out the responsibilities assigned to them.
NCOs conduct this training for their personnel’s current roles as well as their future roles, since one day these junior personnel will become NCOs.
