Dress For Success

Project Title: Dress For Success

Tools used in Development: Mindmeister, Google Slides, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, Canva, Adobe Stock 

Time in Development: Approximately 2 weeks 

Client: N/A this is a concept instructor-led training project 

*Scroll down to see the Training Facilitation Guide, Slide Presentation, and Tip Sheet below

 Background and Problem

Women who face socioeconomic barriers often have difficulties entering or advancing in the workforce due to a lack of access to professional attire and/or a lack of knowledge of what constitutes professional attire in corporate environments.  Research suggests that when employees look sloppy or underdressed for their profession at meetings, people are less likely to pay attention to, or value, what they say.  Adopting a polished and professional look can help draw positive attention to women transitioning into corporate environments, allowing them to be seen, heard, and valued in the workplace.

Solution

The Dress for Success course is designed to provide foundational information of dressing professionally in a corporate environment, basic knowledge about building a capsule office wardrobe, and to teach learners how to source inexpensive clothing. The course is divided into three modules, however only Module 1 is included in this portfolio.  

 For this project, I acted as the subject matter expert and drew on my training and experience in fashion styling (with a pending certificate from a course by the Fashion Institute of Technology x Women's Wear Daily), interviewing candidates in my previous job roles, and from research data referenced in the book "New Woman's Dress for Success" by John T. Molloy.

 I used Action Mapping and Gagne's 9 events of instruction to design this instructor-led training course.  In the below action maps, the first one shows the main goal of the course in the center, branching off into three high level actions that further branch off into activities (not shown for modules 2 and 3); the second mind map shows module 1 in full detail.

I used thought provoking discussion questions, current events, activities and a quiz to create an engaging course that will stick with learners as they pursue their professional endeavors. 

Results

In creating this course, I found it challenging and time consuming to determine the topics and details that should be included but action mapping was extremely helpful in helping me to narrow down such a broad topic into the most important parts pertaining to the overall goal.

While developing this course, I received and implemented peer and coach feedback in the IDOL courses academy.  On one occasion, a peer brought to my attention that the current events discussed in this course could elicit an emotional response from those with access to the course (see screenshot "2. discussion of related current events" above).  

I considered removing the discussions from the course, but after doing some research, I read an article in the Association for Talent Development (ATD) magazine which explains that emotion can actually be a powerful learning tool that strongly impacts learning outcomes, retention, and effectiveness. (Tap Into Emotion to Meet Learning Objectives | ATD ) 

With this information, I decided to keep the discussion and add facilitator notes stating the following *The slides discussing current events(slides #4-5) may be viewed as controversial and may evoke strong emotions from the audience.  If this occurs, acknowledge the feelings as valid and shift the discussion forward, using a neutral tone and words.  Set the context of the discussion to the overall relevance of professional dress and not whether they agree or disagree with the events.  In both events, someone’s employment was or could have been affected by the way they dressed in a work setting. * Doing this allows for the facilitator to be prepared to acknowledge and validate emotional responses, while also keeping the discussion on course.

I set out to create a course that is both meaningful and could have a positive impact on society.  I enjoyed creating this instructor-led training and am happy that I was able to meet my goals.    

See the full Training Facilitation Guide, Slide Presentation, and Tip Sheet below

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