Virtual Learning for Now and 2021

Are you planning virtual sessions for Q4 of 2020 and into 2021? Our current situation has been a time of exponential learning and growth for all of us. To help you adapt to new and different ways of doing business, we at Barnes & Conti have been busy converting our programs to virtual formats. We’ve also partnered closely with several of our clients, and these partnerships have yielded excellent results.

Online learning requires a number of options: multiple webinars, virtual breakout sessions, self-paced micro learning, pre-course surveys, post-course follow-up, and more. In order to meet the unique needs of our clients, we realize that virtual training requires great flexibility.

We now have the following popular programs available virtually in a variety of formats:

• Exercising Influence
• Strategic Thinking
• Inspirational Leadership
• Leading World Class Teams
• Intelligent Risk-Taking
• Conflict: From Prevention to Resolution
• Constructive Debate
• Influential Negotiation
• Puzzles, Mysteries and Muddles
• Leading Remote Teams through Influence

We are developing the programs below and will prioritize target dates for completion based on client need:

• Managing Innovation
• Applied Creativity
• Art of Communication

So, please talk with us and let us know how we can help you in the months ahead! Feel free to reach out to Lauren Powers, or 215-850-2882 to discuss your upcoming needs. We are eager to hear from you!

A Knitting Yarn…

Rebecca Hendricks, Barnes & Conti Executive Associate

It was 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve 2006 in San Jose – I was in a church service but knitting furiously. I had promised a completed shawl to a friend, who wanted it as a gift for her best friend. I needed to finish it by the end of the 11:00 service, which meant I was moving the yarn and needles as we sang carols to celebrate the special eve. As my fingers moved, I suddenly realized that I was hearing every word spoken from the pulpit. Usually I am someone who’s mind ‘goes off to Hawaii’ as someone is speaking – I struggle to keep focused on the voices at hand. But that night I noticed that knitting was allowing me to keep my brain in the here-and-now – when my hands were moving, my ears were listening.

I work in the field of training and development and am familiar with the theory of three kinds of learning – visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. I have very poor auditory skills – I dislike talking on the phone and worry about not being able to actually see people as I talk with them. Audiobooks are definitely not my thing. So, I have always assumed I was a very visual communicator – but that evening on Hamilton Avenue, it was clear to me that I was more kinesthetic – if I am handling something, I am paying more attention. From then on, I knitted during church services, local board meetings, and home gatherings. I found I am much more present when I am doing something with my hands and it was a wonderful discovery.

So, I was happily knitting last year when visitors chose to attend our lovely local service. The two women were from the east coast and our congregation had been recommended during their weekend in our coastal community. They hailed from Georgia and were delighted to join us, introducing themselves and lighting candles of joy to celebrate their visit.

After the service, one of the women approached me and asked what I had been knitting. I told her it was a rather mindless ‘vanilla’ project but then showed her the prized piece I had just finished – a lovely aqua shawl made of expensive hand-dyed natural wool. She immediately said “Can I have it? It would be a lovely memory of Cambria and I’ll wear it the next time I come.”

I make decisions and come to conclusions very emotionally – I’m thinking of ‘impact on people’ and avoiding conflict – logical, analytical responses come a bit later. Therefore, the only two immediate choices in my mind were ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ And I would never had said ‘no.’ Later, every person with whom I shared the story had suggestions for what I ‘should’ have said, like “Oh, I would be happy to make you one if you purchase the yarn,” or “I would, but it is my gift to my sister at Christmas,” and so on. I rarely come up with those responses in the moment, because I am primarily concerned with other’s feelings and not wanting to offend someone. That being said, I replied “Of course. It is a wonderful hand-dyed color called Cambria Cool that was customized for the Ball & Skein yarn shop - you will have a one-of-a-kind piece from Cambria.” She was delighted, we took a picture, and I left to go home.

I have been a vendor at countless boutiques and craft sales over the years, offering my handmade cards, knitting, and gourd work, and it was always very important to receive reasonably fair compensation for my labor (we never get back the time we put in). I would never ask someone to give me their creation upon meeting them, and I expected to feel more unsettled about her seemingly unreasonable demand. It took me some time to share it with several other people, and everyone told me that her request was out-of-the-ordinary, bordering on rude.

But I kept picturing her pleasure at touching my shawl, and I realized that giving her this piece was the ultimate in welcoming her to our church. If I make beautiful things, what is more joyous than seeing someone feel love in receiving them? During the following week, I found myself surprisingly happy that I had gifted a stranger a piece which had taken more than 20 hours to complete. How often can we create something that brings the receiver such joy?

I read an article from my Santa Clara University alumni magazine quoting lecturer Eugene Schlesinger – “A gift is not diminishment. I am not less because I give you something. We live in so far as we give and give ourselves freely.” And as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in the essay Gifts: “The only gift is a portion of thyself…Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd his lamb; the farmer, corn…”. It makes me smile when I remember my conversation with a visitor from Georgia, and I like to think that she will have lasting memories of her time in our village and my gift of Cambria Cool.

Recipe: Balsamic Mushroom Quinoa

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raw quinoa, well rinsed and drained
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cups mushrooms, roughly diced
• 3/4 tsp salt, divided
• 1 dash pepper
• 2 tsp garlic, minced (about 2 cloves)
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup dried figs
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

Method:

• Place the water, quinoa and 1/4 tsp of the salt together in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• While the quinoa is cooking, add olive oil and mushrooms to a sauté pan on medium high heat. Add 1/4 tsp of the salt and pepper to the mushrooms and sauté until they are brown and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add shallots and garlic and cook for another 5 minute.
• Turn off the heat on the sauté pan. Add the figs to the sauté pan and then add in the balsamic vinegar. Stir the mushroom fig mixture and let the residual heat from the pan reduce the balsamic vinegar. (Be careful not to inhale the vinegar while it is evaporating) Add the remaining 1/4 tsp salt to the mixture and stir to combine.
• Combine the mushroom mixture and the quinoa. Add toasted pine nuts and stir to combine all the ingredients.

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