I travelled to Vienna last week, and met with a number of trainers from Central & Eastern Europe. I enjoyed our discussions about varying levels of use and application of experiential and activity based learning techniques in various locations. One particular discussion however rather disturbed me – I met a Polish trainer and showed her some of our metaphor-based tools such as Images of Organisations and problem-based activities such as Seeing the Point. She maintained that she did not like any of them and questioned how useful such tools could be in training. My concern was not that she disliked RSVP Design activites but that she seemed to hold such strong personal feelings about what is ‘right’ without even considering what her ‘trainees’ might need or want. How often do trainers let their personal likes and dislikes colour the training material they design and use? Is there a particular cultural reason why experiential or activity-based learning would not be popular in Poland?

cultural adjustment, Experiential Learning, learner engagement, learning challenges, Learning Design, Learning Games, learning styles, learning tools, motivation, thinking styles, Training Games, Training Tools Hide

I’ve been reading and watching a lot of interesting stuff recently. For example there is a wonderful piece of an animated, annotated presentation from Dan Pink on motivation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

There’s also a really interesting new leadership study from IBM here: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/ceo/ceostudy2010/index.html

However while both give some examples of why what we’ve previously thought about motivation and leadership might be wrong, and tell us what we ought to be doing, neither give the L&D community much insight into HOW we help people get there. As an engineer by training I’m more interested in how to apply theories than the basic research of how they came to be ‘agreed’. While I reckon that some great individuals will be able to demonstrate the behaviours and skills described as ‘ideal’ ,  I also reckon that most of us need to learn new skills, unlearn old behaviours, and practise to get better. So how do we do that? What practise fields do people use to make sure these theories and concepts move from just being an understanding at an intellectual level to a level where they they are understood by heart as well as head, and demonstrably improve performance?

creative leadership, Experiential Learning, learning challenges, Learning Mindset, Lifelong Learning, motivation, Training Games Hide

Welcome to RSVP Design’s website and online shop. We are designers, authors and facilitators of a wide range of activity based learning tools, resources and programmes.

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brain based learning, change management, communication skills, effective lifelong learning, Experiential Learning, facilitation, icebreakers, introductory team activities, learner engagement, learning challenges, Learning Games, Learning Mindset, learning tools, Lifelong Learning, motivation, simulations, Training Games, Training Tools, whole brain learning Hide