Monday, January 20, 2003
Invoking The Playful Spirit In Training
I was Googling for "Playful Spirit" and serendipped my way to an article by Leslie Brunker, called "Invoking the Playful Spirit in Training."
Apparently, Ms. Brunker teaches training and presentation skills to coaches and trainers. I, also, have been very interested in this aspect of the business world, where the sense of theater is very much alive. Sadly, despite all the theatrics of training room, the sense of playfulness remains a radical concept. Which is what drew me so much to this article.
Ms. Brunker writes: "As adults we have come to think of learning as hard, serious, laborious, and often painful. From that framework it’s a real stretch to accept that people not only can learn from play, but actually tend to learn better through play."
The observation that people learn better through play is pivotal. Though she doesn't have any research to substantiate this claim, she does back it up with her own first-hand observations as a swimming teacher: "...my approach to teaching people how to swim was that I first got people safe in the environment. When people were so distracted by fear how could I teach them survival skills? What I did was to override their distraction with another distraction. Play!"
She, like I, also encountered people who were looking for fun and games and good jokes so that they could spice up their training. She comments: "...fun and play are not what we make happen, but more what we allow to happen. We allow it through invoking the playful spirit, both in ourselves and in our participants." A profound distinction that: not what we make happen, but what we allow to happen.
So, you ask, how do we do "allow" the playful spirit into training? "To invoke the playful spirit in training we must remember to first pay attention to the safety of the learners in this environment. At the same time we must notice the common bond we all have in being human. Then challenge ourselves, moment to moment, to accept the absurdities of our perspectives and play with the magic that comes from taking ourselves a little more lightly."
Apparently, Ms. Brunker teaches training and presentation skills to coaches and trainers. I, also, have been very interested in this aspect of the business world, where the sense of theater is very much alive. Sadly, despite all the theatrics of training room, the sense of playfulness remains a radical concept. Which is what drew me so much to this article.
Ms. Brunker writes: "As adults we have come to think of learning as hard, serious, laborious, and often painful. From that framework it’s a real stretch to accept that people not only can learn from play, but actually tend to learn better through play."
The observation that people learn better through play is pivotal. Though she doesn't have any research to substantiate this claim, she does back it up with her own first-hand observations as a swimming teacher: "...my approach to teaching people how to swim was that I first got people safe in the environment. When people were so distracted by fear how could I teach them survival skills? What I did was to override their distraction with another distraction. Play!"
She, like I, also encountered people who were looking for fun and games and good jokes so that they could spice up their training. She comments: "...fun and play are not what we make happen, but more what we allow to happen. We allow it through invoking the playful spirit, both in ourselves and in our participants." A profound distinction that: not what we make happen, but what we allow to happen.
So, you ask, how do we do "allow" the playful spirit into training? "To invoke the playful spirit in training we must remember to first pay attention to the safety of the learners in this environment. At the same time we must notice the common bond we all have in being human. Then challenge ourselves, moment to moment, to accept the absurdities of our perspectives and play with the magic that comes from taking ourselves a little more lightly."
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