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Treat of the Week: Fun in Math Class

November 6, 2009

You gotta love this guy.  I’m sure that I, like many people, wish that all their teachers had been this fun in class and taken this kind of approach to learning.  And most likely, the majority of us can only actually remember a few who left a lasting and positive impression – if that many.  But what about in corporate training?  Is it really that much different? Or, in that case, does entertainment compete with education?  Well, no big surprise here, I have an opinion.  Regrettably, I feel that in the training world, (for the most part) substance is either forgone for fun or that the substance itself is so dry and boring, it could kill you.

I can remember being in some training programs that made me laugh out loud.  But in the end, those same classes left me wondering what I’d actually learned and what, if anything it had to do with my job and being able to work "better."  In fact recently, a prospective client asked me if I knew anything about the program that had a bear walk into the room while people were throwing balls back and forth.  “And the point?” I asked.  “We were learning about listening and paying attention to customers’ needs,” was the response. Huh?  “Did it work?” I asked.  “No, not really,” the person answered.  “But doggonnit, it was fun!”  And so I ask, is this really how companies should be spending their money?  You could go to Cirque du Soleil and get the same results. 

Posted by Donna Flagg on November 6, 2009 | Comments (2)