A new discussion.
I heard about a training organisation which uses improvisation and rock music to teach business and communication skills. One example is an improv execise which helps the learners understand that negative power of the word 'but' and how to replace it with 'and'.
e.g. "That's a great idea but how are we going to make it work?" vs. "That's a great idea and how are we going to make it work?"
Here is a link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005qgy3
I know we use roleplays now, but they tend to be quite dry and there seems to be a clear model performance with evaluative feedback rather than an opportunity to explore and discover through the roleplay.
What do you think?
Chris
Replies
It's a bit like the story of the frog in a pot of water on the stove. The water starts of cold then the stove is lit and the water slowly heats up. Because the temp increase is gradual the frog never realises at the end that the water is boiling. This analogy could be how we tackle transformational learning in CN, a little bit at a time so they don't really notice the change in methodology until down the track they come to expect this type of training (okay, I know that track is quite long but there IS an end to it.....)
"They have always asked us to comply and fit a rigid thinking pattern. Now suddenly they are asking us to be creative and design destinctive courses - and they wonder why we can't. What do they expect?"
It is a stretch and needs buy-in from the course sponsors - some are more far-sighted than others.
I would say this kind of approach would help people be more creative, productive and energetic in their work. Could be great at helping people with problem-solving skills. I suppose that comes down to the old question of are we looking for a compliance-thinking mentality or a creative-thinking mentality?
hmm....
http://improvyourbiz.com/
http://www.academy-of-rock.co.uk/
Chris
Hmmm, comedy and rock and roll to teach business. Actually I could see an immediate training application for the first example they gave whereby someone starts the story and people have to add one word responses to continue the story. This could be a great KLP energizer with people standing in a circle. For an English application the instructor starts the story which is maybe 'creating an email', people have to add their 1 word responses using vocab used so far in the 'writing an email' training session. For business skills the instructor could begin the story with 'giving feedback' and people continue the story with 1 word answers based on that topic.
The next example in the recording was as you descrbed - using AND and not BUT. This is a coaching technique which I like, and again it could be used initially as a KLP energiser using the example in the recording and then continue its usage in a role play situation.
Now, using rock and roll?? Not sure......., actually our CN students might be better at this than Western students. As a vocational trainiing course it would probably work but in a business environment I'd be worried that people would have trouble seeing the benefit of this technique, more so when the participants go back to their work and tell their manager how they spent their 8 non client charging hours writing and performing a song.
How could we describe the workplace benefits of using rock and roll as a training methodology?