The Magic of Making Training FUN!!

By Dato' R Palan

Fun in Training, Learning environment, Professional facilitators, Interacting with learners, Effective adults learning, Fun Training Programme, Learning Tools. Redesigning Training, Successful Learning Programme, Learning Environment, formula for Successful training, Enthusiastic Facilitators, Learner Needs, Communicating with learners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SMR Group
• Release date: Mar 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9789675223198

Book preview

2008

PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION

Why another edition?

The fifth edition with all the reprints had a successful run and they sold out. As we ran more workshops internationally and built a community around the use of FUN in training and learning, I thought it best to do some tweaks and bring out the sixth edition. There are no major changes to this edition other than to make it more current given the avalanche of social media these days.

Carynn, Agnes and our friends at Advantage Media have done an incredible job in bringing out this edition. This edition is now available as a kit with companion items: a tips book, a game cd and a snippet video cd of the programme Magic of Making Training FUN!!.

I sincerely hope the FUN journey will continue and we can help people learn and perform in a far more effective way. And, finally, a sincere thanks to all the wonderful friends and participants who have made this FUN journey possible.

Best Wishes

Palan

April 15, 2011

PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION

Oops! That was me when I was four years old. When I turned 50 a few months ago I decided to revise a book I wrote about ten years ago. My wife has got used to my late night writing. My editor as usual went berserk because of my late submissions. The FUN SMR team went crazy trying to meet deadlines. Remember the saying: Life begins at 50 not 40. When I turned 40, I had put on a little weight, changed my spectacles to multifocals and began to walk a little slower. Many young people begin calling me uncle. When I turned 50, I had my executive assistant reminding me about my statins intake to reduce the cholesterol and exercise regularly. But, let me tell you, I still feel young and I believe in FUN learning and training.

If you are about to embark on a journey through this book, you deserve to know the FUN inside story. I emphasise the use of FUN in helping people learn because it is an enabler. Its origins go back to as far as the early 80’s when I was figuring out the possibilities of making learning easy, exciting and FUN! In my earlier days, my own experience as a student was far from exciting. Except for a few lecturers or teachers, most of them poured out too much information, and that overwhelmed me. As a young trainer, I searched for better ways to help people learn.

During the course of my search I had the opportunity to interact with several creative trainers starting with Don Kirkpatrick, Thiagi, Bob Pike, Mel Silbermann and Dave Meier in the United States. They employed creative training tools to help people learn effectively. Some of the experiences I encountered were rooted in strong theoretical foundations while others were superficial. I enjoyed and started to like the thoughts of Vygotsky who articulated the need for a scaffolding approach. While I refrained from becoming dogmatic, I liked the thinking behind some of the theoretical foundations.

The seed to write was firmly planted in my mind by Dr.Nat’s continuous persuasion. Dr. Nat, my colleague and friend, suggested that I write about our experiences in the field. He was a great believer that we should develop a body of knowledge and he was particular that tools used in Asia should take into account Asian practices. Over the years we have used these ideas in many different cultures globally.

Though many supported my decision to write, a few objected. Those few colleagues were of the opinion that I did not have enough gray hairs to articulate my views. They were concerned that a shift to writing, from training, would greatly diminish our revenues.

It would have been a wise and practical counsel if only my ambition had been limited to money. I wanted to do much more by sharing my views and pursuing my passion to help people learn in a FUN way. So, I discarded the views of these colleagues and decided to embark on an ambitious journey as a writer, to become a Rainbow Creator. It was a dangerous journey indeed, for a young trainer who was strongly drawn by a compelling passion to follow a dream to write about FUN tools that help people learn effectively.

My goal was not to become a guru, but an enabler. My journey started with using some of these tools, adapting and refining them during my workshops. I began to have FUN and so did the learners. I borrowed ideas from other practitioners and tested those ideas, before shaping my own FUN model. In the process of developing the FUN model, I recognised the importance of ‘I’ as in innovation.

The power of the ‘I’ over the ‘E’ as in experience is what separates the winners from the losers in the competitive world today. It is the ‘I’ more than the ‘E’ that shapes the winner. This is the reason why this book is divided into 5 ‘I’s - it is all about innovative learning strategies.

We first published in 1997, with 10 ‘I’s. The subsequent editions, followed the same structure with a few more activities. However, this edition is totally restructured and revised. Some of the readers familiar with the earlier versions have commented that they still like the earlier editions for the simplicity. Over the years we have grown and hence the need to update and make the book more substantive.

The criticism received for the early editions were that they focused too much on involvement and intensifying retention. We have addressed this issue by focusing more on instructing actively. Our practical experience in the last ten years has shaped and refined our thinking greatly. For example, we had thought that Symbolic Charades was a great tool for presenting content, but we later found that it was far more effective as a retention tool. We also discovered that one of the alternatives to lecture can be reworked into an effective tool, named ‘lecturing without calling it a lecture’.

This is a book for those who believe that passion and FUN are as important as content.

Whatever the shortcomings of this book, they are mine; whatever its strengths, they owe much to the contribution of others:

  The thousands of participants we had the privilege of training in SMR wThe thousands of participants we had the privilege of training in SMR workshops.

  Dr. Nat, who informed and challenged me in countless ways. He helped shape my thinking and develop several new ideas in this edition.

  My former creative director Ms. Khiem for her enthusiasm and creativity.

  My colleagues at SMR HR Group who shared a disproportionate amount of executive burdens, and allowed me to take time off to write this book.

  My editorial team who strengthened the manuscript with their excellent proof reading, language check and feedback.

  Numerous friends, who let me interrupt their busy lives to share their views with me.

  Don Kirkpatrick, for kindly writing the foreword.

  Ms. Gaik, my former talented Executive Assistant for coaching me on an almost daily basis and for her tireless efforts in getting me to spend time on completing the book.

  Last but not least, to everyone in my family - particularly my mum, wife Kamu, sons Maha, Subbu, daughter Shrieeya Sethu and nephews Arasu and Muru for their patience and support, for which I will be forever in their debt.

Palan

November 13, 2008

part

one

WHAT HAS FUN GOT TO DO WITH IT?

What Has FUN Got To Do With It?

THE RELEVANCE OF FUN IN LEARNING

Have you heard the famous Tina Turner song from the 80s,

What has FUN got to do with it?

I have and I believe FUN has got everything to do with learning. It is a great enabler. FUN has great relevance for facilitators because it is a very powerful stimulus for learners. Throughout this book, I prefer using the term facilitator to refer to a trainer or teacher since in all of these roles, we are facilitating the learning of others.

FUN is a catalyst that makes learners construct their own knowledge through active experiences and social interactions with colleagues and the facilitator. FUN glues the learners to the content. This happens as they start enjoying the learning process. Occasionally, parents ask a question: why is that the television or the computer attracts kids much more than the books? The answer is obvious – they enjoy the screen much more than the text book.

In the FUN learning sessions, we have conducted learner apathy, indifference or negative reactions have never been a worry. Even with difficult subjects, where learning and facilitating have been tough, the use of FUN to enable learning has resulted in a magical transformation within learners. Learner responses have been very positive and encouraging.

In the last ten years, we have used FUN tools to enable thousands of participants learn the content in an exciting manner. They came from a diversity of settings from over 30 countries. Just to name a few, we have participants from the government and private sectors: the armed forces, health care, financial, manufacturing and petroleum-related industries.

WHAT IS THE MAGIC OF MAKING TRAINING FUN ALL ABOUT?

The Chamber’s English Dictionary describes the word magic as the art of producing marvelous results.

The Magic of Making Training FUN is about creating an active learning environment with the use of FUN tools to produce superior results -comprehension, retention and application. It is a theory of learning practice that draws lessons from all the meta-theories of learning, though adult learning principles dominate the theory. While adults are the focus of FUN learning, the theory is also applicable to helping children learn enthusiastically. It also draws the influence of cultures on learning. The goal of a FUN learning session is to create a sustainable learning experience for the learner. The following eight ideas will elaborate the use of FUN in facilitating learning:

1.   FUN x Content = Results®:

Palan’s Magic formula for effective adult learning,

2.   Using FUN to accelerate learning,

3.   Being FUN, not funny,

4.   Understanding the new learning context,

5.   Understanding learning and the classroom,

6.   Privileging the learner,

7.   The 5 I’s of the FUN facilitator,

8.   Sensitivity to different cultures.

1. FUN X CONTENT = RESULTS®: PALAN’S MAGIC FORMULA FOR EFFECTIVE ADULT LEARNING

Content is an important ingredient in any learning situation. Holding learner attention and ensuring their comprehension and retention are important for learning goals to be achieved in a shorter and cost-effective way. In this context, FUN plays a critical role.

FUN is a powerful vehicle to deliver content. It is a process, not the end. FUN is a facilitative input, while the content is a required condition. Both are inter-dependent and there is a strong positive correlation between the two factors: FUN and Content. The formula FUN x Content = Results® (comprehension, retention, and application) can be termed as an algebraic sum. Thus, ‘0’ value for any one factor will nullify the results, i.e. negatively affect comprehension, retention and application.

Though we may use FUN to deliver content, we cannot ignore the fact that all learning is contextual. This requires us to vary the FUN or the content element, depending on who the learners are. If the learners constitute senior management, it may well be that the element of FUN is reduced while the emphasis on content is increased. If the learners are operators, there may be a need to increase the FUN element, while decreasing the emphasis on content. Of course, the ideal situation is to balance FUN and content in equal proportions. In reality, this needs to be linked with the learner profiles.

Our goal is to accelerate learning with FUN tools and make the learning curves as short as possible. In a competitive environment, learning curves need to be continuously shortened for cost effectiveness and productivity demands. The content has to be absorbed by the learner effectively. The delivery of the content is intended for the learners and until the learners are willing to receive the content, any amount of effort you put into delivering content is ineffective.

This magic formula considers FUN as the facilitative input, which activates the willingness of learners to receive content in the required condition. In all of these, the learner holds a privileged position.

2. USING FUN TO ACCELERATE LEARNING

Take the example of young kids going to school. Look at the way they learn the nursery rhymes. They enjoy the learning though it is not mandatory to do so. This