Creative Learning - Letting the sunrise in your training

As the sun rose over Salisbury plain hitting the stone circle, I breathed in deep and took in the magic of the moment.


Rewind 6 hours and I was completely out of my comfort zone. I had never ‘done’ the summer solstice before, not even in the comfort of my own home, let alone in a field full of strangers. It was cold, noisy, and was heavy with smells last encountered coming from the student union building at college!


As the evening continued, I settled into the environment, people mingled, sang songs, and moved around the stones exploring. As the fateful hour approached (somewhere around 4.40am) more people arrived, and we all faced in the same direction, feeling the warmth of the summer sun on our faces. 


Job done, we scurried back to reality and a massive full English at the local pub. But the experience lives on. This was 5 years ago, and that moment has stayed with me ever since.


How does any of this relate to training?


I’ve worked as an L&D professional for over 25 years now. At the very beginning, as a much younger naïve trainer, I expected people to leave bathed in new light and looking to change immediately. As I progressed in my L&D career, I recognised that learners often leave before the sunrise moment has had chance to take place. This is largely down to the ‘traditional learning’ approach: tell them something, check they understand it, set an action plan, off you go!!! 


So, I started doing some research and came up with my own version of Creative Learning Principles which I now use in my own sessions:


1.    Creative exploration – Playful learning
2.    Distracted reflection – Time for the brain to digest
3.    Succeed or learn – be prepared to not get it right first time and understand that’s ok


Training is an experience, it should allow for that moment when the sun rises, (Minus the student union smells!) It gives people the space to experience new things, to challenge what works and what doesn’t, to come together with likeminded individuals, to put into practice and recognised successes and future learning too


So, on this summer solstice, I’d like to know… how do you let the sun rise in your sessions?


https://www.curiouslighthouse.co.uk/workshops.html


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