The "Concept" of Holiday

It’s that time of year again. Family gatherings, stocking stuffing, turkey stuffing, mistletoe and holiday lights are all around us—all the rituals, images and memories associated with the season, combine to define what “holidayness” truly means to all of us. The holidays are, indeed, a powerful concept.

The concept of the holidays is powerful enough to send us all out in search of the “perfect” gift, to bake cookies, to sing carols and travel cross-country every year to visit our great-aunt Irene. There are elements that any of us would recognize as being “holiday-like”— eggnog, Santa, the three wise men and jingle bells. And, there are those special memories that each of us hold—forever connected to what the holidays uniquely mean to each of us. The power of the holidays to move us comes from both a universal experience of the meaning of the holiday and the personal meaning that experience evokes.

Walking down the aisle of the local video store, listening to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas playing in the background, I was struck by how powerful the concept of “holidayness” is. The common meaning was everywhere: the music playing, the lady next to me with the sweater that had jingle bells all over it and the wreaths hanging on the wall all shouted that the holidays are here.

At the checkout line, I glanced to my left and saw all the standard holiday movies. There was Scrooge, Jimmy Stewart in "It’s a Wonderful Life", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman". One caught my eye: "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", a wonderful cartoon built around the concept of Santa as an orphaned outcast who eventually grows up and brings joy to children around the world.

On a deeper level, that little cartoon connects me to what the holidays were like in my home, as a child. As I looked at the cover of the DVD, I could see myself watching that cartoon, for the first time. I was 6 or 7 years old, sitting in my favorite, little chair in front of the coffee table in our living room, eating chocolate pudding. My little brother was sitting next to me, trying to scrape the pudding off his pj’s with a spoon. I loved that cartoon. Every year after that, I would look forward to seeing that movie, a sure sign that the holidays had arrived. And, as I stood in the aisle looking at the cover of that DVD, I was moved by the wonderful memories of the holidays in my childhood home.

The most powerful and moving concepts are both common and unique. Great trainers and leaders understand this. They bring us together around a powerful, shared concept and then create an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our own personal understanding of it. This experience of the universal and the individual coming together transforms, inspires and moves us.

I now have 3 little girls of my own, and last night we all huddled up on the couch to watch "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". No pudding, this time— just pj’s and hot chocolate, instead.

Happy Holidays,
Jeanine O'Neill-Blackwell
President/CEO, 4MAT 4BUSINESS

Designing Concept-based Training

To really connect learners to the content you are sharing, you have to ask yourself what is the underlying idea? The essence of the content? The greater meaning? Just as the core meaning of a movie can be summed up in a word or two, so can training content. Just as the core idea unfolds throughout a movie, so can the core idea, or concept, of a training experience unfold.

To create powerful, learning experiences, we have to define a concept and create experiences around that concept. Think about teaching a class on "leadership." What is the big idea? Leadership is really a study in "________?" Coaching, integrity, alignment, direction, walking the walk- all could be interesting concepts to explore with learners. Once you define the concept, you can begin to design activities to weave throughout your training.