Eden Alternative Tip of the Week: Education on the Eden Alternative Journey

There are three stages to implementing the Eden Alternative. First the vision of where the journey can take you needs to be defined. Then education needs to happen so that people are prepared to be engaged in the journey toward the vision. Lastly, there needs to be a plan that is implemented. Although it might sound like a straight-forward process, there are actually many twists and turns through the three stages during the implementation of any change along the Eden journey. You are constantly bouncing between vision, education and implementation until the change is completed and "hard wired" into place.

All three stages are important. One without the other two will not lead to success. The one stage that is continuous and ongoing is the education stage. Education is the antidote to fear and resistance along the journey. It is a key ingredient in successful empowerment and engagement of everyone. Without education, nothing will change. People need to understand what to do, how to do it and why it is important.

More than that, they need to have a reason to apply what they have learned as quickly as possible. They need to put the education to use and if possible have the experience of teaching it to someone else as well. That is how adults learn. When you conduct those all-staff inservice education programs, how do you go about assuring that the information is put into action right away? If you are teaching a new skill, you might run some practice sessions with small groups of participants. If you are teaching a new way of thinking, you might hold some learning circles to help people process what they have learned or set expectations that put the new information into action quickly. You might go back a week or so after the inservice and do some interviews to see what people remember about what was covered and how they have applied the learning. Sometimes new education can be woven into the performance evaluation process as a goal or expectation so that people understand what they are to do with the new knowledge.

Education of everyone on the Eden Alternative Philosophy is important along the journey. More than just covering the basics on the Ten Principles, people need to understand how to put the Principles into action. One way to help capture what that might look like is to use the slide show presentation that comes on the Haleigh's Almanac CD. Modify the presentation by building in your home's mission, vision and pictures of life that relate to the Principles. Show it to others (within and outside the home) so they can see the vision of what is possible, not just always hear the words. A great example is a slide show from Christa Monkhouse, International Regional Coordinator from Europe. She captures the essence of life that is important to capture people's hearts and open their minds.

Education is a valuable resource and tool to use along the Eden journey. Make it real, applicable, timely and something you continually evaluate along the way. Help answer the question that is on everyone's mind: What's in it for me if I get involved? When you can answer that, you are halfway home.