The Inspirational Trainer

The Inspirational Trainer - a guide to making training more spontaneous, adaptable and creative.

By Paul Z Jackson

AA Books, Training Book of the Year.

A visitor to a training trade fair asked me how improvisation could help him be a better trainer. Preferring to demonstrate rather than explain, I asked if he was willing to have a go. He was.

Together we made up a story about a ship. We worked within a simple structure - each using one word at a time, alternating words which formed the story. Between us we told of a voyage in which the ship and its crew survived storms and piracy.

After about two minutes the tale ended and my visitor asked 'Whose story was it?'. We work out the answer: sometimes he led, sometimes he followed.

He gained insights into the subjects of taking charge and letting go. On the basis of this story-telling experience, we discussed leadership skills. He realized that there were benefits here for trainers, and introduced himself as a publisher.

This book is a direct result of that meeting. I can also trace its origin to a BBC management training course five years earlier, in which participants were offered a chance to take over the course for a day and share skills with each other by leading some of the sessions.

Comedy

At the time I was a senior producer in Light Entertainment, making comedies and quizzes for the BBC radio network and for several years I had been teaching drama and improvisation to performers who applied their talents to the stage, radio and television.

I knew that some of the techniques and skills were accessible to non-performers as I had learned them myself as a shy amateur. And I knew they were fun to try.

The essence of improvisation is spontaneity, and spontaneity usually generates laughter. So I organized a session for the BBC course's assortment of location managers, graphic designers, accountants and producers.

We used warm-ups, team exercises, trust games and role-plays, many of which are familiar to theatre students, but were a revelation to the middle management of the BBC.

Not only were the processes enjoyable, they proved to be useful. Clearly, these sessions were a refreshing way for managers to develop their presentation skills, communication, creativity and teamwork. The time had come to combine Stanislavski with Charles Handy.

Since then, I have developed the techniques of rehearsal, performance and improvisation and applied them in many organizations. Apart from drama, I have drawn inspiration from sources including Accelerated Learning, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), the Alexander Technique, sports psychology and many management writers and practitioners.

Context for Inspiration

The Inspirational Trainer is designed for use in a wide variety of training contexts. My own experience ranges from one-hour motivational sessions, through half-day workshops on teambuilding and one-day courses in sales and negotiations to week-long events on managing change. Some training programmes are sustained over two to three years.

It is possible to empower people in virtually any encounter. We can always listen, empathize and support. Both parties may learn. Training could be defined as any experience where we have deliberately structured a prospect of learning taking place.

Many organizations are demanding more flexibility of their members, and almost anyone can find themselves assigned a role in which they have to organize, present, facilitate, mentor, coach or train. The principles in this book should prove useful to anyone in these circumstances, and are equally applicable for external and internal trainers.

The aim is to help trainers develop trainees' skills - in short, to enable learning.

Whatever series of events makes up a training programme, there is scope for more excitement, fun and effectiveness. Whether you prefer to run brief gadget-free courses in bare rooms, technology-laden seminars, indoor retreats or outdoor adventures, self-directed open-ended programmes or tight qualification-based modules, shop floor or boardroom events - you can improve them all with the guidelines offered here.

The Inspirational Trainer consists of tools plus attitude!


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