How Enjoyable Should Learning Be?

Watch any episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (where the celebrated chef spends time with a failing restaurant to help them out) and you will observe some of the following stages of learning:

* Unconscious incompetence - the moments before Gordon arrives, when the owner/ chef is looking forward to Gordon "helping them out"
* Conscious incompetence - just after Gordon has sampled their food, when Gordon subtly informs the cook/ manager of how poor their restaurant is (watch their faces as they learn)
* Conscious competence - after days of changing the menu, redecorating as the team puts new ideas/ menus etc into practice successfully (if they get that far)

The final stage is unconscious incompetence, which will happen after Gordon has left (sometimes) - the sort of "do it in your sleep" capability that experts exhibit.

Now any of you who have watched this programme (or others like it) will recognise that few owners find this process either enjoyable or easy in the short term. As Gordon bluntly explains just how bad things are, they quickly reject the painful process of going from where they were to their new level of understanding (going from unconscious to conscious incompetence).

This is the real heart of the programme - the people reject suggestions, they argue that Gordon doesn't know what he is doing, they blame everyone else but their own incompetence. There is anger, tears, trantrums, you name it. What you are watching is the the painful process of learning how much you don't know. They demonstrate just how difficult transformatory learning can actually be.

It is very tempting as a facilitator to ensure that your learners enjoy themselves throughout your workshops/ presentations. Learning can be, and should be in many instances fun. But fun rarely gets your learners leaving their comfort zones (which by definition would be uncomfortable), nor will it transform their attitudes, knowledge or skills.

If you really want to create change, then you have to be prepared for your learners to be uncomfortable, to be challenged, to hear things that are difficult to hear.

If what you design leaves them enjoying their learning too much, they might learn nothing at all.

As William James once said "A great many people think they are thinking when they are just rearranging their prejudices". To me, the word thinking can be replaced with learning to describe that lovely safe learning experience where nothing much changes.

So go on, I dare you.
I dare you to create discomfort in your learners and move them into conscious incompetence.....

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #8

Neither shalt thou get thine audience jumping around after lunch, nor shalt thou put on a long video in the dark

As a facilitator or presenter, one of your core jobs is the manage the energy of both the group and yourself.

To do this well, you need to be able to assess energy levels: to know when your audience are bouncing and when they are slumping. Here are a few signs to look out for:

1) Body language - are they slumped, doodling, eyes vacant? Or are they alert, engaged and following your movements with their eyes?
2) Level of interaction and engagement - what happens when you ask a question or set a task?
3) Your own energy levels - if the room has low energy you might find your own levels are drained as you try to raise theirs.... Conversely when their energy is full-on it tends to make you feel great too!

There is always a balance to be struck, as reflected in the title. After lunch there can be a significant lull in energy levels, as blood moves to the digestive system (if you can, choose a lunch with less stodge). Don't put the lights out and show a video unless you want them to have a snooze. After lunch is a great time to get them working on a case study or interactive exercise.

What signs and evidence can you find or have you noticed that reflects the energy levels of your audience when you are presenting? Post your comments here....

Real-life stories to capture the imagination

I recently watched a great channel four documentary on the Hudson River plane crash (watch it on-line at channel4.com/4od in the next 25 days...) This story is emotional, has a happy ending and many of your audience will be familiar with it from the news. Being current it can really help bring your presentation or workshop bang up to date.

Here are some interesting themes that you could highlight:
* the importance of training for 'what-if' scenarios
* the importance of being creative and finding alternative solutions fast
* the prevalence of video and cameras in the modern environment so that live videos exist (see YouTube)
* how the public are trumping journalists in photos/ videos of events
* design of planes for double engine failure at 3000 feet
* the effect of a near death experience on the passengers
* the response from people watching/ phoning 911/ ferries who went to rescue the passengers

With some video clips or photographs, some quotes from the programme or other sources such as newspapers and a clear set of learning objectives, modern news can be used as an interesting and vibrant addition to your presentation or workshop.

So keep your eyes and ears open for interesting news stories that you can use to stimulate discussion, especially if you can find a unique or interesting angle to it!

Beyond PowerPoint

Today I have been pulling together some tips on Beyond PowerPoint. In mentioning creative training and the need to avoid PowerPoint, one person reacted by saying "I'd be interested to see what she does instead"....

Are we really so wedded to this software that we cannot think of anything else?
Do we really believe that the best way for people to learn is to absorb facts and information through their eyeballs?

So here are my suggestions when it comes to taking your training Beyond PowerPoint:

* firstly aim only to cover NEED TO KNOW information. Think about this in advance and you may find that your event is substantially reduced. The best trainers are ruthless editors.
* next get your learners to tell you what they need to know about the topic. Use a cocktail party style icebreaker where everyone stands up and when they meet someone else, shares one thing they would like to learn from the session. Combining all these at the end on a flipchart gives you a great focus for your session.
* next find out what people already know about your topic. So ask small group of around 3-4 people to brainstorm things that they know (perhaps about specific elements) and to write these on a flipchart. You may be amazed at how much they already know - one person within a group might know quite alot and they will have already taught their colleagues, and by asking each group to summarise their flipchart, they teach the rest of the class. Anything that is inaccurate or wrong, please correct at this point and add key missing items to.

Now you have a clear focus for your event and you haven't even touched your projector.

When it comes to covering the information that bridges the gap between you have a number of alternative options:

* Card Exercises. Here small groups (2-3) are given a set of cards with words or phrases on them. They then have to either put them into some sort of order (first to last, most important to least important) or categorise them (true/ false). Even with little prior knowledge of a topic, people will start thinking, discussing and will do most of this without help. You can then coach them on a few cards they are unsure about. This is a powerful way to interact with information and works for a wide range of topics.

* Case Studies. You provide some scenario or case study for small groups to discuss. If need be, you can also give them some summary information, books or reference material, where they can search for further help. This helps people get to grips with what they already know or don't know and you can provide the information or skills they need to improve dramatically.

* Stories. Find someone who has a powerful, emotive story relating to your topic. If you cannot actually invite them to the session, then video their story. Imagine the power of someone who has your widget keeping them alive in their artificial heart to inspire your technicians to tighter manufacturing tolerances. Imagine the impact from a mother who has lost a child to gang violence.

* Quizzes. By setting simple or complex questions, you can test and evaluate what people know. By providing clear answers, you can teach them a whole range of vital information. Quizzes are very flexible and you can ask questions aloud (preferred as you can alter the questions to suit your learners on the day), and then ask teams to hold up cards with their answer, move to somewhere in the room based on a multiple choice answer (a, b or c for instance) or write their answer down.

Here I have shared just a few techniques to help you go Beyond PowerPoint. I hope you are inspired the next time you are designing some training to step back from the keyboard, and write some cards, or a quiz and a case study, to inspire your learners in new ways.