Success Stories: From Teacher to Trainer with Chrissy Flanigan

Luis Malbas  
All right. Welcome, everybody. Happy 2023 To all of you happy new year. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, we've got another TLD cast first one of the air. And I'm very happy to be back, took a little break there for for the holiday season, which was good. I did everything that I could to stay away from the computer for about two weeks. But now we're back at it. We go ahead and change some of my notifications here. And so we can have a lots of dedicated time for our guests today. Christy Flanagan, Chrissy, I actually was introduced to you because of that article that you wrote last year, I think it was, was it the spring event that we did that?

Chrissy Flanigan  
It was the fall event

Luis Malbas  
was the follow event? Okay. All right. And it was so nice of you to, to attend the event and to and I'm glad you got a ton out of it. I

think that these things that we put together are always just wonderful. The community really comes together and and does its best to produce some some incredible content for everyone. And,

and yeah, and so now you're here, and I've got a bunch of questions for you. We've got that road to l&d event coming up at the end of the month. And I thought this is a great way to kind of start it out by talking to you who got so much out of one of our transitioning teacher events. And and we've spoken already in the past. So I'm looking forward to to learning more about you. So everybody, there is a q&a section that I think in this new version of Crowdcast. You might see it on the right hand side. That's where I see it anyway, at least from the admin side of things. And if you have any other questions, please feel free to add them. But right now we're going to go through I've got about 10 or so maybe a dozen questions that we're going to ask Chris Christie about her journey and l&d and we're going to start out with the first one like When did your career and education begin?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Yeah, well, first, I want to say thank you for having me. This is so exciting for me to be here. Honestly, my l&d career started like with a TL DC event, the one in the fall. And it was so impactful for me. So to be here now is really, really cool for me. My education career started out of college, I went into PR public relations. That's what I thought I wanted to do. And I did that for about a year and a half until I very quickly realized I did not want to do that anymore. And so I got my alternative teaching certificate and became a theater teacher. I did Performing Arts in high school, and loved that environment, it completely changed my life. And so I was a theater teacher for at a middle school for three years. And then for the last five years, I taught at a high school I did acting classes in technical theater, and I was the manager of our campus auditorium. And then the last couple of years, I was also the fine arts department chair for campus. So I had a lot of educational roles, directorial roles, leadership roles. And I absolutely loved my job, I loved what I did, I felt so lucky every day to be building relationships with the kids and with the parents and the community. But it was that last year, we had a leadership change in my immediate team, and in my administrative team. And it was a very difficult year that it taught me a lot about change management, and what I value in leadership and really kind of put me in a headspace of if I want to continue to grow professionally and personally, I'm going to need to push myself outside of my comfort zone a little bit and try something different. So I left my teaching career last may not knowing what I was going to do. I didn't even know the Learning and Development existed until I started literally Googling, what could I do as a former teacher. And I thought maybe I would go into you know, fine arts administration. I was in the middle of finishing up my master's in education. So I kind of spent the summer finishing up my master's, figuring out what I was going to do. And I happened upon in my PhD foray into the world of LinkedIn, found the TL DC and jumped in the to the to the conference that was going on. And at the end of that week, I was like, this is, this is what I want to do. So it was really kind of the first time where I felt like I knew what I was going to do next and felt confident that I had the experience and the skills to be able to make that jump. Meanwhile, knowing very well that there were going to be some gaps that I would have to fill. While you know, teaching is incredibly, the skills that you have are applicable. It is a very different world. And I kind of recognized that early on. So spent a lot of time upskilling and networking and kind of just diving headfirst into the world of l&d to kind of start that journey.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. So did you finish your masters?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Yes, I

finished it. mid August of last year.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. Congratulations. Yeah. It's pretty impressive. Yeah. All right. So it was really like, you went to LinkedIn. You're like, Hey, what's that real free event that I'm gonna sign up for? And literally been there? And was it was it hard to I mean, I don't even remember what the what the sessions were like for that one. But I mean, were you were you able to, like what made you comfortable about the decision to move into instructional design?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Yeah. Well, I think it the thing that resonated with me is that it was very much geared towards teachers who are wanting to make a transition. And it you know, I, I kind of discovered a little bit Oh, there's this whole career of learning and development. Well, what all does that include? And I think the conference lineup, the sessions that were included in there, really answered so many questions about the world of l&d for me at like the perfect time, like some of the some of the ones where, how to networking and why networking is important, or the different tools that you learn as an instructional designer, I think there was a conference on all the different titles or roles that you could have in learning and development. Like truly, if, if anybody watching has not watched the sessions from that conference, like I cannot recommend them enough. Excuse me, because they it like was a complete comprehensive overview of someone wanting to train to transition into that world.

Luis Malbas  
That is great. I'm going to try to grab, I'm going to try to grab those, those the link to those recordings now. Come up in  a second. So prior to that event, you didn't know anything about l&d or just

Chrissy Flanigan  
know like, I I, I'm pretty sure I found out about learning and development as a career in like, July maybe? Like, like I said, I didn't even know that it was like a career field.

Luis Malbas  
Okay. Okay. That's very interesting. Yeah. Now, how about this question? And this is a question that, that somebody had asked in one of our other success stories episode. What do you wish you would have known before starting your teaching career? That may have changed your career choice?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Oh, wow. I don't know that I that I would have done anything differently. Okay. Like I said, like, I, I felt very fortunate and very lucky to be doing what I was doing. And I loved it for such a long time. I think that if I had not gone through that experience of my last year, with all of that change administratively. I think I would still be teaching really? Yeah, I really do. Because I loved it that much. I was in a unique position where I wasn't teaching like a, a core content, like I wasn't teaching science or math or something. i Yes, I had teaching during the day. But a huge part of my job was as assistant director for a performing arts program. So we put on productions throughout the year, that was very much an environment that I loved. But in those last couple of years of me, kind of taking on more leadership roles, starting my master's in in education and thinking about administrative roles or you know, taking on more curriculum development I I was kind of faced with this idea of and honestly going through the pandemic and stuff I was like, I love what I do. But if I want to continue to challenge myself and honestly have like more of a work life balance so something's got to change, like something's gotta give, because I would be teaching all day and then be in rehearsals all day until like 10 or 11. Like, year long, that was my life and I loved it. But it I was like if I want to continue to grow professionally, I need to pull myself out of this environment and try something new. And it was, it was very bittersweet leaving. But looking back now I feel like it was the right decision.

Luis Malbas  
Do you still maintain contact with any of the people

Chrissy Flanigan  
ideal? Actually, last night, I have a bunch of kids who are in college now. And they came home on Christmas break. So I get to see them every now and again, they came over and we kind of just caught up on everything. And I keep up with their parents, like I'm telling you like, I know, I felt very, like I feel very blessed for the relationships that I was able to build. Through my time there.

Luis Malbas  
That's wonderful. Yeah. So how about the biggest adjustment now that you've had to make, like coming out of that world? You know, high school, faculty? Now you're, you've moved into the world of learning and development, you know, as an instructional designer? Yeah. What's been the biggest adjustment so far?

Chrissy Flanigan  
One of the biggest ones was the mindset. And something a resource that really helped me was Kathy Moore's book, map it, write it as a, as an educator, we're very much teaching for knowledge sake, like kind of like teaching to the test if you're doing standardized testing in your state, unfortunately. But in the world of like, l&d, it's not, in an ideal world. It's not just knowledge, for knowledge sake, you're creating training to close like a performance gap. Right? It's all performance based. And so making that kind of mind shift of why you're creating curriculum, why you're developing resources was something that was really important for me. And honestly, I think that my specific experience as an educator of performance are like what we were doing was focusing on performance and in a different way. But a lot of like, all of our assessments were very intuitive and very formative. So it the the environment of a performing arts classroom is very much different than like a core content classroom you're working on. Like I said, like pre closing a performance gap in some way. So it wasn't like a huge leap for me, but that was definitely something that I had to learn to kind of wrap my head around. And when from the perspective of when you're creating curriculum and talking about like the purpose of it, if that makes sense.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no, so that's interesting, because I've spoken to actually enough that it's memorable. A lot of other theater people.

Yeah, that have moved into, into l&d. In fact, like, you know, I work I used to work for the eLearning Guild and the co founder of that organization was actually a theatre person. She used to be a ballerina, and then she moved into theater and had that whole performing arts background. So that was always a part of the things that we did. Is there anything specific from that that has legs that you've been able to take into what you do now? Do

you see any any connections there?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Oh, my gosh, yes. One of my I'm such an advocate of the arts, I really think that there, any kid needs to be in some kind of have some kind of exposure to the arts? Because it gives you like, yes, you know, you get to learn things about that specific art form, but the soft skills that it gives you for the rest of your life, it's, it's life changing. So things like you know, being able to speak in publicly or adjusting, being flexible and working with other people and taking direction from people and communicating and all of these different things, I think, throughout my time in that world, has 100% prepared me for this because like, even when I was a teacher, I was in in some of my other sub positional roles, like I was doing fundraising and communicating with community members and in leadership roles, working with different levels of administrators and working with third party vendors. So dealing with budgeting and maintenance and like wearing 1,000,001 hats, but I think all of those roles have really been helped me to develop a perspective that I always kind of like, tried to keep the full picture in mind, I think it can be really easy to kind of like have blinders on and focus on, you know, if you're working on a project or something you only focus on like your elements of the project and what you have to contribute. But one of the things that I really like to do is to keep the full picture in mind. So, you know, who has touched parts of the project before me, who's going to touch parts of the project after me and kind of developing that inclusive perspective, I think has really made an impact on the way that I that I work in project management and working with others and things like

Luis Malbas  
that. No, that's great. That is actually really, really helpful for and I'm just thinking Kim is in the audience right now.

Chrissy Flanigan  
I know. Hi, Kim. Thank you for being so kind,

Luis Malbas  
saying I bet that helps you understand client stakeholder expectations. Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. And Kim, actually, as a background, she's a vocalist in a choir. Orchestra. I think it is Kim. I don't know. You can correct me if, if I'm wrong there. But. But yeah, I love that her background is in performing arts or has a background in performing arts as well. Yeah, for years. Oh,

Chrissy Flanigan  
wow. That's amazing. Right? Yeah.

Luis Malbas  
No, that's very, very cool. Yeah. So how about mistakes that you've made? Have you made like, as you've come into this, and, you know, and gone on this path? Anything that you any mistakes you've made, or anything that you'd go back and change?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Oh, man. I think one of the one of the things and I don't know if it was subconscious, or, or what I've really tried to soak up as much as I could, from as many people as I could, and, you know, using everybody's experience to kind of give me a greater perspective on this world of l&d, you know, whether that be looking into the different kinds of resources that are out there, like, there's so many free resources out there, so many quality resources out there. So kind of being able to, to weed through all of that stuff, I think has been really helpful for me, you know, and I've approached it in a way that I think has been beneficial. I would say that one of the things that I felt very much at the beginning is that there were so many things out there, I kind of didn't know where to start. And that can feel very overwhelming when you are trying to make a career transition into a world that you kind of think you understand, but it's still very different. So I just tried to, you know, like I said, soak up as much as I could, like, even things when I was, you know, trying to build a portfolio, right, I would look at so many other people's portfolio and kind of take things that I myself thought, Oh, I think that's really cool. Or, Oh, I think that's communicated really well, always trying to have kind of, like I said, that unique perspective of trying to meet what you know, hiring managers would look for, while creating content that also like felt true to myself. I think trying finding that balance of meeting expectations and communicating that I was qualified, while also like having my own personal voice in, in that process, I think was something that was, like I said, just something subconscious that I did. But also, you know, kind of giving myself like the space to like process, everything new that I was learning and being willing to like, make mistakes and just like jump into software that I had never done before. I think, you know, going into this career transition, I knew that though I would need to try and fail at things. Yes. And I think allowing myself to do that really gave me the opportunity for the greatest amount of growth.

Luis Malbas  
That is great, Chrissy, I mean, you're totally going about it the right way. Because I know that there are some folks that transition. I mean, you could feel pretty desperate, you know, because you're like, you know, career change. You know, and you're like looking for answers. You might have the resources or the funds to actually like You know, pay somebody a ridiculous amount of money to help you through this and whether or not you know, paying somebody is the right or wrong thing. I'm not gonna judge. I've seen a lot of sort of bad opportunities out there available to people that are just kind of money grabs. Yeah. But really is it's kind of I think you've gone about it the right way. You just sort of take a look around, there's ton a ton of free resources, you just have to put in the work. Yeah, right. And it really does feel like everybody's journey is kind of unique to themselves, because there are so many directions that you can take. Yes, career in. And, you know, in learning and development, there's just a bunch of different things that you can do anything in particular, that's been a surprise to you like?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Well, one of the things that real quick, one of the things that Kim asked is if there were any mistakes that other teachers might have moving into l&d, and I think while we're on that topic, I really think I don't want to, I'm trying to be PC about it. But I would say you pay attention to the resources that are out there. Because I think there is a sense of like, desperation, when you're trying to learn all these new things that you know, paying a lot of money for an academy, I'll just say, you feel like that's, that's going to, you know, put you a step ahead. And that's what you need to do. And I'm not gonna lie, I was looking at, you know, academies or resources like that. And I thought that you know, what I needed, but I think you just need to really take a step back and fully kind of explore everything that is out there and kind of decide for yourself, what are the things that I personally need in this transition? Like, do I need to learn new software? Okay, what are the resources out there? In which I could do that? Can I do it on my own by looking at YouTube videos? Can I do it on my own by attending webinars that do like walkthroughs? Or do I need to be with some kind of support system, some kind of cohort to like, help me through that process? So I think I would, one of the biggest things I would recommend to people making this transition is really kind of evaluating, like, what it is that you think that you need to make this transition, like, listen, listen to all the opinions out there, but then go back to what is it that you need? And what are you willing to put in? Whether that's, you know, something financial, or the time or the effort or what have you, if that makes

sense?

Luis Malbas  
So I you know, I am curious, I know that, that you work with Cara North? Yes. And was there is there like, I mean, was that is kind of Cara and her sort of archetype as an L&D professional, is that sort of the one that you gravitated toward you felt like, okay, that's the direction that I want to go. So she that, you know, she's she's, she's, what works for me?

Yeah. Well, I connected with Cara after attending the the TLDC webinar, we we connected and she very much saw that I was trying to break into the field that I was trying to put myself out there and network. And through the connection that we built. Very kind of organically. She was like, Do you She offered me Do you want to kind of come and you know, meet with me every now and again. So we can talk through your journey. And having her a part of that transition was absolutely instrumental for me because she, you know, was able to provide me insight she brought me on as a consultant for her company, which really gave me like, specific client experience was, which was one of the gaps that you know, I end some of my interviews, they were like, You are fantastic and what we're looking for, but we need someone who has a little bit more of what like direct client experience. And through my networking with and working with Kara, I was able to get that. So not only like working with her and like having actual, you know, clients and projects to work on that I could talk about in my interviews, but you know, her mentorship and her insight that she provided has absolutely been valuable. And I think the more that you spend time in this, l&d community, you very quickly pick up on who is kind of not necessarily in it for the right reasons, but who has good intentions and who you know is going to be a A trustworthy and sustainable voice. And in this community, like the you can recognize the good ones and the ones who are kind of just there to, like, offer offer their unsolicited advice, if you will.

Right, right. No. And, and I do think, like, I'm not sure exactly how I would kind of categorize. Kara's sort of, I guess, bubble or her where she's at. But I know that if you were somebody that was more technical focus or somebody that you maybe you have, like more of a dev tendency, you want to build stuff, then find that person. Exactly. And go that direction. Or if you're somebody that is more focused on on writing, on writing, that would be something like hit up, Kim. Yeah. Oh, yeah. out and have conversations with Kim and talk about like, what's your, what has what is your career like? And they have any guidance? And they're all out there? And I do know that. Yeah, it can be just completely overwhelming how much there is out there. In fact, personally, I don't even like to look because I start to get freaked out when it's out there. I I tend to stay away from LinkedIn, just because I get overwhelmed by, by by anything. So now that you're actually, you know, in l&d, anything surprising about it.

Chrissy Flanigan  
Coming from education, the amount of resources that like the corporate world has is insane. Like, and educate like, honestly, in education, and we're like scraping the bottom of the barrel and, you know, in the corporate world, or like, what do you need? Oh, you got it. Great. I will say one of the other most surprising things is, it was the timeline of just different different projects. The, the collaborative nature, but also how do I say this? I feel like in, in teaching, you wear a bunch of different hats, and you kind of essentially have to do at all, when you're moving into something like l&d you, I think in a lot of ways, pick a specialty. So to put it in to, like, you know, equate it. If I were in l&d, and like a teaching environment, I would be doing all of the things I would be, I would be the Smee, I would be the instructional designer, I would be the LMS administrator, like I would be the project, like I would be doing all of the things. And I think what's been really refreshing and really nice is that I don't have to do all of those things, I can kind of focus on my specific role and dedicate my time and my expertise to that, and let you know, the other people who are experts in what they do, contribute in their own way. And that's been that's been very foreign, but a very welcome. new environment.

Luis Malbas  
Right, right. I do have to say, though, there are situations

people that have to do that still have to do everything and, and somehow manage it to Yeah, like, yeah, then just it's amazing. Like how, how, because I actually work in an environment where everyone has specific roles. And that took me a while to adjust to because I was kind of one of the where, you know, where a bunch of different hats type of person, but it is nice to just focus on the one thing that you're really good at and do that. So I think that, you know that that can be really, really ideal.

I got to just a couple more questions for you, then we got to wrap it up. Yeah. So currently now how are you staying on top of your professional development?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Oh, that's a great question. Um, honestly, through LinkedIn, like, I now that I've moved into like, a full time position, like in my mind, I'm like, Okay, I'm not done. Like there are so so many things that I want to learn and I want to explore and people that I want to continue to connect with. So I'm making it a priority to like, stay up to date with, you know, the different communities that I'm a part of, and, and keeping a pulse on, on the l&d world and kind of what's happening and what people are talking about and really just making a point to carve out the time in your schedule to attend conferences and connect with people and, you know, maintain those relationships. I think it you know, when you're kind of going through the whole process of I'm discovering l&d and going through the job process. You feel like, you're there's all this stuff that you are working towards getting a job. And okay, but now once you have the job, like, yeah, you're working and you've achieved your goal. But what's your next goal? Like, what's the next thing that you want to work on? Like, I, by no means consider myself, you know, an expert, I'm the first one to admit that I'm a lifelong learner, there's, there are things that I'm always going to want to learn. So I think really trying to make it a priority to, to continue to stay a part of the community. And honestly, to, you know, give back. So you know, showing up today and sharing my story, if anything that I say, or any part of my experience can resonate with someone who was going through the same thing that I that I just want to like, that's something that I, that I'm really passionate about. And I think I get that from Kara, because she's very passionate about that, too. Like, she really enjoys the process of like, helping teachers specifically come into the world of l&d. And she was the one who told me, she said, you know, many years ago, someone took a chance on me. And I want to pay that forward. So you know, at some point in my career, if I'm able to take a chance on someone else, I think, Oh, that'll just become like full circle. You know,

Luis Malbas  
that's awesome. So highly recommend everybody connect with Chrissy on LinkedIn. And I just last question, because this one's important to me. Are you going to continue to nurture your passion for the Performing Arts?

Chrissy Flanigan  
Oh, I love that question. Well, I'm going to the musical in January, they put on at the end of January, they put on a my old job they put on a musical every year. But I am also a part of are still kind of connected to the world of making sure that arts say in schools, and, you know, districts have funding for that. So I'm a part of some organizations that kind of work with our state funding for arts programs, because like I said, that it's really important for me that that be that that always be an option for kids to stay in those programs. So, yeah,

Luis Malbas  
well keep doing it because the kids need you know, it's important. It really is so, all right, Chrissy. With that, I'm going to wrap it up. Oops, let me um, I'm going to grab that link to the event and drop it into chat. So

if anybody wants to check out the recordings for that transitioning to L&D event that we had this last fall there in the chat now. And there you go. Kim is saying it's important for the kids and our whole society. Absolutely. Agreed. Yeah, it's major and so and Chrissy so if you're somebody that you know is passionate about that as well keep nurturing it because I know with my son I want him to get into the performing arts and you could use somebody like like you and his life so

keep it going. All right, that's it for today. Thanks, everybody for joining love to be back here in 2023 continuing to do TLD casts if any of you have any desire whatsoever to come on to broadcast, let me know I haven't set a schedule yet. I've been so busy trying to, to build events, but I would love to have you on I'll probably be reaching out to the membership to to to try to get more guests on for for the future weeks and months. But with that, I'm going to go ahead and close it out. Thanks everybody. Have a

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