S1 E16 ATD
Episode Audio
Azure Kraxberger-Ungers shares what she’s been learning about ATD (the Association for Talent Development).
Connect with Azure on LinkedIn.
Transcript:
The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain typos or spelling errors.
Amy Petricek
Welcome to the share what you learned Podcast. I'm Amy patristic, a learning enthusiast and the host of the show. The share what you learn podcast is designed for learning professionals to share something they're learning in the field of instructional design. Today, I'm talking to Azure cracks, Berger Ungar, Azure, did I pronounce your name correctly? Yes. And we're gonna be talking all about ATD. Welcome to the show Azure.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
Thanks. It's great to be here.
Amy Petricek
I know you from my local ATD chapter at Puget Sound here in Washington. But tell us a little bit about yourself. For those who haven't been able to join our local ATD chapter and get to know you. Who are you? What are you all about? What are we going to get to learn from you today?
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
All right, well, I'm a learning and organization development professional. And I have a doctorate in organization development and experience working in higher education, title and escrow and I'm currently working in health care here locally in Seattle. I focus on onboarding, talent development and process improvement in my professional realm. And though I love all of that, and learning growth and development, I also love the outdoors, yoga, reading and spending time with my loved ones and also being part of all things ATD.
Amy Petricek
We share this love for the outdoors together and swap stories of some of our recent adventures. Have you been anywhere recently that's caught your attention?
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
I have been several places in the last month we my husband and I have been going out on little adventures for the weekends in like Leavenworth or Winthrop. I even spent a weekend. No, the husband was girlfriends, and suncadia. So a lot of little areas around the the kind of like middle of Washington. That's where we're going lately. And it's been great with the fall colors.
Amy Petricek
That's the place to go in the fall around here. So you're crushing it? Well, let's let's like take it all the way back to the beginning Azure, how did you initially get involved with a TD and or what drew you to participate? And I asked that question because I think a TD is out in the world, a lot of learning and development professionals know about a TD, but I think sometimes there's some uncertainty about what does it have to offer me? And why would I want to make that jump into my local chapter. So tell us how you got involved?
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
Well, I also did not know anything about a TD when I was starting off in my career, I had been in grad school for organization development. And I knew about all the professional associations that were related to that area. But I didn't know anything about the talent development or learning development professional organizations. And when I had moved to Hawaii, I was looking for a job and was not finding any luck. So I looked up od practitioners on LinkedIn. And I only came up with like five profiles. So I just literally cold messaged the first person that showed up and ask them like, what do you recommend? What do you do? What how can I get into this field into the in this state, and she agreed to meet me, we meet with me and have coffee. And in that conversation she told me about the local ASTD at the time is what it was called. And I had no idea what it was. So I jumped right in became a member. And like she suggested I talked to the past president and other board members. And I did I started having conversations with them. And when I had met with a past president, she told me about a job opening and she knew about a company that she had previously worked at. So I threw her name on the cover letter and submitted that resume and I got a response right away ended up getting the job and was really fascinated by how quickly it happened when I had the right connection. And I became a member of the local chapter and got really involved and just found really amazing people. And it was a whole new world for me. So all the places that I've lived since then, I've been a member of the local ATD chapters in Oregon, Nevada, Alabama. And then I knew that I wanted to move back to the west coast. So I started looking at the membership for the Puget Sound chapter and the Cascadia chapter, which is in Portland. And I knew that I needed to get information on the listservs for the jobs back then. And that's exactly what happened. I became a member I got a list serve on a regular basis, I found one of the jobs. And that's the job I have right now. It was just from being a member of my local chapter. And since then, since I moved here, I've been a volunteer and a member for over seven years, even served on the board and have just found it to be such an amazing community of people who are just loving and giving and full of abundance. Everybody really wants to help each other out if it's not sharing information, just venting about your experiences as a training department of have one and also just support that you can do it, you got it. And it's just been such a wonderful community and all the atds I've experienced, it's been really wonderful. And I wasn't a national member until I was required to when I was on the board of directors recently and that's what I discovered all of the wonderful benefits of the national chapter and we'll go into more of that later. I'm sure.
Amy Petricek
I think what I hear you saying in all of that is it ATD has Almost like gifted you this network, no matter where you've lived in the country, you and I'm astounded, I didn't realize you lived all those places I knew you. I knew you've lived a lot of places, but I didn't know you lived all those places. And that that has afforded you kind of when you're moving to a new place an instant network, local network that can facilitate getting a job in that local industry or community.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
Absolutely. I think what's most important is the network, like you said, just having a network that's kind of already established, and then also being able to build it, and then tapping into the resources that are available. So with local chapters, there's really great programming with a national level, there's great resources that are available. So if you have a combination of the both, then you're you're really set up for success in that area. Even when you don't know what you're doing, or you're trying to get into the field, it's a great place to just show up and say, I'm curious, and people are going to be there to help you. So you're right, it really is a built in network already.
Amy Petricek
You mentioned some of the roles that you've held at ATD. You've not just been a member, you've you've done some volunteer work as well. So tell us a bit about your work with ATD. And how that's maybe facilitated you in the variety of roles that you've held.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
In my local ATT chapter. I am currently the interest group manager and I co host a Seattle networking interest group that meets every month. And I was also on the board of directors as the director of finance for several years. And in this involvement with the local chapter, I have been able to not only build my network and give back to my network, but I've also been able to gain new skills along the way. So a lot of the information that I've gotten from either local programming, or even the ATD national certifications, has directly helped me in my work in like talent development. So I can take these trainings, I can attend a session, I can have a networking event, and I'm bringing back information that is new to me or I'm relearning it, and I can use that in my job in my day job. And also as a curator of information, I can pass that information along to other people, again, within my network in and in my work.
Amy Petricek
I've heard some people talk about utilizing their roles within a TD almost as a way of gaining some professional skills to advance within their current roles. So for example, if you're, you know, in a department of one, and you're really looking for that promotion, there's not a lot for potentially your manager to compare how you're doing. And so taking on additional responsibilities in a local ATD chapter might be a way to showcase to your current manager, I know how to do these things, I've led people, I've organized agendas, you know, whatever the things are to help you facilitate a promotion, even in your own role.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
Absolutely, it's a really safe space to grow and develop with not a lot of pressure. When you're a volunteer, you have the safe space again to do those things you haven't done before and and then get feedback on it too. And when people see you volunteering in really showing a lot or a lot, adding a lot of value, you can translate that into your own work. And it also has opportunities that you might not know about within the group. So I really think that's like you get out what you put in. And I think that's applicable to life. But I've really seen that come to fruition in the volunteering with a TD again, you can develop your own skills that you might not not have a lot of skills in that area yet, and it's very safe. And then you can also let other people know Oh, I did this successfully over here. And it can go on your resume.
Amy Petricek
We even have at our local chapter, we have a mentoring program as well. And so if there are specific skills that you're wanting that maybe you're not finding in a volunteer position, or you're wanting someone to coach you through some of those mentoring opportunities can be really helpful in professional development as well.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
Absolutely. And I think just having a sounding board, if you are somebody who is working in isolation, if you're an instructional designer who just does your own thing, it's just nice to talk to other people and and talk it through if you're having an issue and you just kind of want to make you just want to see if if you're coming up with the right idea. Or if you've missed something, just even having that opportunity to talk it out to somebody who semi understands what you're talking about really, really helps. And I've seen a lot of aha moments happen in just those simple conversations knowing that okay, that you might not know the specific details of my issue, but you understand the process and how it works. And that can be really, really beneficial.
Amy Petricek
I almost imagined it like a brainstorming session kind of exactly, or
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
a coaching or counseling session and where you can speak freely and confidentially to of course, but if you really have some issues that you're working through, it's a great safe space again, to talk to people and just get a different perspective.
Amy Petricek
One thing I know about you Azure is that you've taken a lot of ATD certifications and I met you early on in the pandemic and it feels like just about every month or so she's on to a new course if you follow her at all on LinkedIn, you will see she's post Seeing all of her certificates, she's very active in their certification. So tell us a bit about your why. And also how some of these certifications have facilitated you and your professional development.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
I discovered the ATD certifications not too long ago, actually, in late 2019, as an ATT national member that was required. When I was on the board of directors, I realized that there was a lot of great resources out there as far as certifications, and white pages and job aids and all kinds of stuff on that on the website. And the certification finally jumped out at me, because it's not something that I had done in the past. But I realized, I really need to take advantage of this. I'm a member. And this is a great resource. And why not? I think that I had kind of gotten bogged down in not training the trainer, I'd spent so much time in my job making sure that other people had the right training material and the right training. And I had to step back and say, Well, you know, what about me, I can do this too. And so the first one that I took was the onboarding certification, because I do onboarding, in my job. So I have all the experience with it. But I decided that this would be a good thing to kind of back up with a certification. I took that one in person several years ago in San Diego, and I was hooked. I was so hooked at the end of the first day, I we were wrapping up and I said, Wait, what we're done for the day? No, let's keep going. There's so much more it was I was so excited that I literally didn't want to stop learning the content that day. So when I finished the two day course, I came back from that really invigorated like, Okay, what else is there and since then I have taken about seven or eight of them because they all moved online. And it became much more convenient for me to take them online. And I must say that the format that they teach online is stellar. It is just so well facilitated, and well run, I'm very impressed. And I could go on and on and on about their delivery system. And also the delivery system is a learning opportunity as well, as you see how well they do it, you can take lessons from that to apply in your own work. So my why is again to make sure that I'm focusing on train, training the trainer, and not leaving myself out of out of those opportunities. And then also just making sure that I utilize the resources I have in the ATT national membership.
Amy Petricek
So my hearing you correctly that pre pandemic, if you wanted to get certified in something with ATT, you previously had to go to a physical location. And when the pandemic hit that transitioned all to virtual Am I following?
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
That's correct, they are now going back and they have both options now. But yes, during during the pandemic, they were just online.
Amy Petricek
So that's a huge opportunity for people who who are interested in checking out some of these ATD certifications, if they are still online, you're eliminating travel costs. And so that's a huge opportunity and a place for people to check this out at potentially a lower rate. That is correct. So are there some go to Courses that you'd recommend? I know in the show where we're predominantly talking to instructional designers, but I'm also curious if you have some certifications or courses with ATD, maybe that you'd recommend for the broader learning and development field as well.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
I do some of the ones that I've either taken or would recommend is this the the general training certificate and the Learn adult learning certificate? I think that one applies to anybody in any parts of l&d just understanding adult learning and how you're going to develop the materials, whatever they may be. There are specific ones for instructional design, like the instructional design certificate or the virtual instruction, virtual instructional design, certificate, the E learning instructional design, and then the Articulate Storyline certificate. So those are all ones that are offered through a TD I have not taken the instructional design related ones, but I would imagine based on the way that they deliver the material that they would be really beneficial.
Amy Petricek
You also just I mean, let's let's give a shout out because like I said she's always taking courses. And before we started hitting record, she's like, oh, yeah, I was just taking an ATT course last week. So which one were you taking last week Azure.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
I just took the consulting skills certificate. And it was a good refresher for me, because this is information I learned in grad school for organization development. This class was specifically for people that are in the l&d space. So it was really, really applicable. It was just taking the stuff that I've learned in a broader context and drilling it down into something that was very, very helpful for the professional in learning and development.
Amy Petricek
I personally have only taken one certification through ATD it was I believe that elearning instructional design, and that was really helpful in my transition into instructional design so I can give a shout out for that one, but definitely check into the other ones that Azure has called out she is again she to me is the ATD guru she She's taken all the certifications been on the board volunteered, been a part of multiple chapters. So definitely follow along with what she's up to as yours there any other tips or tricks or anything, we haven't called out about ATD. That might be worthwhile.
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
Yeah, I just want to say that the difference between the ATT national and they the local chapters are that for me, in my experience with the the ATD, national membership, you're getting a lot of resources. So as a member, you have access to a lot of resources, materials, the trainings, webinars, white papers, job aids, etc. And I think that that's a really great assets asset when you're trying to build your skill set. Also, when you're a national member, the trainings are at a discount. So the certifications that I've gotten more discounted because I was a national member, and also the National ATD puts out a annual or a couple times a year actually sales for a member sales. So you can get an even more of a discount on top of those certifications, if you're timing it right, and you purchase a certification during the sale. So that really, really helps reduce the cost. And again, when they're online, you don't have to travel. So that's really helpful. So it's very cost effective in that way. For the local add chapters. The most value that I get from them is, again, the local programming, which is always really stellar, and also the community and the connection, that's where you're really going to have conversations with your people on a regular basis. If you're attending interest groups, or the monthly meetings or special events, that's when you're really going to get into the community aspect of it. And then you can get information about other resources that are available. So I think that those are the two main things that I really value in both of those national and the local chapters. And again, just having the good discounts in some of the cases for the national and the great, great, great connection to people in the local chapters.
Amy Petricek
That's a really good call out. I also think of you know, when you have those connections with your local chapter two, a lot of times people in the local chapters have connections with people and other chapters. And so it's also you might get to know someone in your local chapter, but then they might introduce you to people in other chapters and you get to know your your network grows even more exactly. Well as your let's transition over to the Rapid Round. These are the questions I get to ask all of my guests. So we're going to start with one that you get to finish the sentence. Azure learning is lifelong, you embody that quite well, I must add. When you're mustering up the courage to learn something new, What song do you put on?
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
Well, I'm not really listening to a lot of music these days. So I always have on my lnd podcast, so then I'm learning something new.
Amy Petricek
You're asked to do a brand new task with a skill set you do not yet have Where do you turn
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
my ATD Network!
Amy Petricek
I love it. Without learning,
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
the world would be a sad place.
Amy Petricek
It really would. I need learning in my life. I do too, as your what's a wave that my listeners could be in touch with you after the show? Maybe if they're just wanting to add you to their network? Or if they have more questions about ATD that I didn't ask or something else that's coming to mind that they'd like to ask you, where can they find you,
Azure Kraxberger-Unger
they can find me on LinkedIn. And I would also recommend them checking out td.org And just in general for the national organization and then make sure that you're looking into your local chapters.
Amy Petricek
Well, thanks so much as your for sharing all about ATD with us today. I also want to give a shout out to you my listeners for learning with us today. Until next time, stay open, receptive and kind.