Creating A Positive Learning Experience

The ultimate guide to creating transformational workshop experiences (Even if you're not a natural facilitator) Ever had that gut-punch moment after a workshop where you just know it didn’t land? I’ve been there. Back then, I thought great workshops were all about cramming in as much content as possible. You know what I mean: - Slides with inspirational quotes. - The theory behind the frameworks. - More activities than a summer camp schedule… Subconsciously I believed that: The more I shared, the more people would see me as an expert. The more I shared, the more valuable the workshop. And participants would surely walk away transformed. Spoiler: they didn’t. They were hit-and-miss. But then on a leadership retreat in 2016, I stumbled onto something that changed everything. Something so obvious it's almost easy to miss. But when you intentionally use them, it took my workshops from "meh" to "mind-blowing": Three simple principles: 1️⃣ Context-based Learning People don't show up as blank slates. They bring their own experiences, challenges, and goals. When I started anchoring my content in their reality, things clicked. Suddenly, what I was sharing felt relevant and useful — like I was talking with them instead of at them. 2️⃣ Experiential Learning Turns out, people don’t learn by being told. They learn by doing (duh). When I shifted to creating experiences, the room came alive. And participants actually remembered what they’d learned. Experiences like roleplays, discussions, real-world scenarios, the odd game... 3️⃣ Evocative Facilitation This one was a game-changer. The best workshops aren’t just informative — they’re emotional. The experiences we run spark thoughts and reactions. And it's our job to ask powerful questions to invite reflection. Guiding participants to their own "aha!" moments to use in the real world. (yup, workshops aren't the real world) ... When I started being intentional with these three principles, something clicked. Participants started coming up to me after sessions, saying things like: "That’s exactly what I needed." "I feel like you were speaking directly to me." "I’ve never felt so seen in a workshop before." And best of all? Those workshops led to repeat bookings, referrals, and clients who couldn’t wait to work with me again. Is this the missing piece to your expertise? - If so, design experiences around context. •Facilitate experiences that evoke reactions •Unpack reactions to land the learning ♻️ Share if you found this useful ✍️ Do you use any principles to design your workshops?

As the world evolves, our educational approach must also adapt, inspiring stewardship and understanding of global challenges. I’ve crafted curriculum outcomes that blend primary school subjects with real-world activities, fostering curiosity and a proactive mindset in young learners. 1. The study of rainforests - Let’s build a classroom mini-rainforest to explore biodiversity and promote ecosystem conservation. 2. The study of writing letters - Let’s impact future policies by writing persuasive letters to leaders about environmental or social issues. 3. The study of insects - Let’s create a habitat for beneficial insects to promote local biodiversity. 4. The study of history - What can we learn from historical events to improve community cohesion and peace? 5. The study of the food chain - Let’s adopt a local endangered species and start a campaign to protect it. 6. The study of maps - Let’s explore the impacts of climate change on different continents using interactive map projects. 7. The study of basic plants - Let’s cultivate a garden with plants from around the world, focusing on their roles in sustainable agriculture. 8. The study of local weather - Let’s build weather stations to understand climate patterns and their effects on our environment. 9. The study of simple machines - Let’s engineer solutions to improve water and energy efficiency in our community. 10. The study of counting and numbers - Let’s analyze data on recycling rates and set goals for waste reduction. 11. The study of community helpers - Let’s explore how people around the world help improve community well-being and resilience. 12. The study of basic materials - Let’s investigate how everyday materials can be recycled or reused creatively in art projects. 13. The study of stories and fables - Let’s share stories from various cultures that teach lessons about community and cooperation. 14. The study of water cycles - Let’s design experiments to clean water using natural filters, learning about sustainable living practices. 15. The study of world populations - Let’s look at population distribution and discuss how urban planning can address housing and sustainability challenges. 16. The study of ecosystems - Let’s restore a small section of a local park, linking it to the role ecosystems play in human well-being. 17. The study of cultural studies - Let’s hold a festival to celebrate global cultures and their approaches to sustainable living. 18. The study of physics - Let’s discover renewable energy sources through simple experiments. These projects encourage real-world application, teamwork, and problem-solving, emphasizing the role of education in shaping informed, proactive citizens ready to face global challenges. This approach makes learning relevant and essential for today’s interconnected world. Which one will you try? #education #school #teacher #teaching

One of the clearest signals of whether a transformation is working isn’t in the plan - it’s in the conversations happening in your teams. So pay close attention to the frequency of healthy debate, constructive challenge and openness to new and divergent ideas that takes place. If the frequency is low… …there is the risk of creating the illusion of performance because people readily ‘understand’ each other, agree on everything, collaboration seems to flow smoothly and there is a collective sensation of progress. However, the opportunity cost is teams gets trapped in their own paradigms, opportunities get overlooked, risks ignored - and ultimately their output becomes derivative not innovative, performance diminishes as opposed to improving and compounding. If the frequency is high… …there is a level of psychological safety that allows for team members to be more objective, to speak up with relevant ideas, to constructively challenge each other, and bring their diverse perspectives and experiences to the table - in the knowledge it won’t be held against them. This opens up the opportunity of reframing the paradigm, and connecting different perspectives and ideas. Ingredients for creativity, innovation, resilience and performance. You see homogeneous teams might feel easier, but easy doesn’t translate into Performance. Here are a few ideas to experiment with your teams… 1. Intentionally foster a team environment that replaces scepticism with intellectual curiosity, an open and learning mindset.   2. Consider how you can create a ways of working that allows all ideas and perspectives from everyone in the room to be heard. 3. Encourage dissenting perspectives. Surrounding yourself with people who are willing to disagree with you and challenge your perspectives and each other. 4. Consider whether you may need to invite others to that creative or idea generation meeting to ensure you get a broader perspective. 5. De-stigmatise failure through sharing past mistakes and celebrating lessons learnt. 6. Institutionalise a team culture of healthy candour. Candour is one of the key attributes to improving the quality of output, levelling up creativity and enabling effective collaboration. What would you add? #transformation #culture #psychologicalsafety

If you’re tired of team exercises that feel forced, try the Start / Stop / Continue ritual that actually builds team bonding. Here’s how to do it: Step 1: Pick a topic Choose one specific area you want to improve. You can do this as a team (like marketing strategy, branding, or workflow) or even as a couple or family (like health habits or household routines). When my team did this for our marketing strategy, we asked: “What’s working? What’s not? What should we try next?” Step 2: Sticky it up Give everyone a stack of sticky notes. Each person writes down every task they do related to that topic (one per note). Then, color-code: • Different colors for different people (for transparency) • Or all one color if you want to keep feedback anonymous This part alone often surprises people. We realize how many invisible tasks we’re doing, and how much effort goes unnoticed. Step 3: Place the tasks Draw three columns on the board: 🟢 Start – New ideas or things worth trying 🔴 Stop – Tasks that drain time or add no real value 🟡 Continue – What’s working and worth doubling down on Then, together, sort each sticky. When we did this at Science of People, we learned: • We wanted to start experimenting with Medium and LinkedIn posts • We needed to stop wasting time on low-return platforms (sorry, X) • And we should continue doing more of what was driving real results (YouTube, email newsletters, and blog writing) If you disagree on something (like we did about Medium), place it in between columns as a trial. Set a test period. For example, “Let’s try this for 2 months and then review.” Step 4: Create a safe space This is a critical step. Start / Stop / Continue only works when feedback feels safe. You’re talking about the task, not the person. We even use different colored stickies to separate ideas from ownership. That way, no one feels attacked. When people feel psychologically safe, they share the truth, and that’s when real improvement happens. Step 5: Assign and act Insight without action is just decoration. So before you finish, assign ownership: • Who’s starting the new tasks? • Who’s stopping or phasing out the old ones? And for the “Continue” column, ask: “Can we make this even better?” A bonus: It works outside of work, too I even do this exercise with my husband once a year, for our health and habits. We’ve listed things like: • Start: Morning protein shakes, evening routines • Stop: Buying soda, eating out too often •Continue: Yoga and weekend soccer We walk away feeling more connected and intentional. The takeaway: When you pause to ask, “What should we start, stop, and continue?” you give yourself (and your team) permission to refocus energy where it truly matters.

Collaborations benefit from pre-mortems, or moments in which we identify potential risks or barriers we’ll encounter BEFORE the work begins. In a 1989 study, researchers measured the effectiveness of imagining that an event has already occurred. Participants imagined themselves in the future, at the end date of an event (such as a project deadline). They were asked to imagine that the event ended either poorly (for example, the project had not been completed and was over budget) or well (for example, the project was completed on time and under budget). Using that frame, the participants then had to identify reasons for the event’s imagined failure or success. The exercise of imagining that an event has already occurred increased both the number and quality of reasons participants provided for the final result. That is: Hindsight (even imaginary hindsight!) can help us identify causes of an event more readily rather than trying to predict what might happen. That’s because looking back at events that have already happened (or are imagined to have happened) triggers WHY questions. By comparison, trying to predict future events tends to trigger less useful WHAT questions. I use these insights in my work with leadership teams so that the members create guardrails that can prevent problems before they start. I like to formalize group norms as “team charters”: a written agreement negotiated among members at an initial planning session that specifies how they will work together. The process of crafting a team charter encourages members to ponder over their collective mission and objectives; recognize individual strengths, weaknesses, and work styles; delineate roles and responsibilities of members; and establish the team’s decision-making process and distribution of accountability. The resulting document, if done right, will help minimize dysfunction within the collaboration. Establishing ground rules at the outset not only sets expectations but ensures that everyone is aware of these expectations. When the team gets stuck or run into difficulties, the members can use resets to review and modify the rules as appropriate. Super helpful, I find. #collaboration #teamCharter #leadership

Most teams I have worked with struggled with teamwork and psychological safety because they didn’t have a clear system for working together. While I help teams design their own set of norms, commitments, rituals, and routines in my Team Synergy Workshop to make collaboration easier and safer, this book may be an inspiration for you. 📖 Team: Getting Things Done with Others by David Allen and Edward Lamont takes the famous GTD methodology and applies it to groups. It shows what it takes for teams, not just individuals, to actually get things done together. Here are 5 ideas from the book that I find especially relevant: 1. Separate “stuff” from commitments Most conflicts come not from workload but from unclear expectations. First agree: is this an idea, an action, or just noise? 2. Define the “next action” in team language Saying “let’s improve communication” means nothing. Saying “Anna drafts an agenda for Monday’s meeting by Friday” gives clarity. 3. Close open loops quickly Every unaddressed promise or vague task lingers in people’s heads and drains energy. Teams that regularly clear the air free up enormous capacity. 4. Use context, not just priority Not all tasks fit neatly into “urgent” or “important.” Ask instead: what can we do here and now, given who is present and what resources we have? 5. Ritualize review, don’t improvise it A weekly review is not optional. Without it, teams lose alignment, let small issues pile up, and slide into chaos. With it, they reset and refocus together. Building these simple practices will not only improve your team's productivity, but it will also help your team to create the clarity and trust that make psychological safety and high performance possible. P.S.: What book or idea has recently improved the way your team works together?

Most people think the lesson starts when the teacher begins to talk. It doesn't. It starts the moment curiosity walks into the room. A learner stood before a simple cardboard display. On one side, Conductors. On the other, Insulators. Then came the real magic. Instead of asking students to memorize definitions, he connected a battery, a bulb, a buzzer, and wires. One by one, different materials were tested. Aluminum. A safety pin. A screw. Plastic. Wood. Paper. An eraser. A pencil. The bulb either lit up or stayed dark. No long lecture. No pressure to cram. Just discovery. In that moment, science stopped being a chapter in a textbook. It became an experience. And experiences stay longer than explanations. This is the kind of learning Africa needs more of. Learning that invites questions instead of silence. Learning that encourages learners to predict before they are told the answer. Learning that replaces "Because the teacher said so" with "I saw it happen." When students touch, test, observe, fail, laugh, and try again, they are not only learning science. They are building curiosity, confidence, critical thinking, and problem solving. The future will not reward those who only remember facts. It will reward those who know how to investigate, experiment, and think. At EdSkills Africa, we believe every classroom can become a laboratory of ideas, even with simple, affordable materials. Because the brightest minds are not switched on by electricity alone. They are switched on by meaningful learning experiences. What practical classroom activity has stayed with you long after you left school? Share it in the comments. Let's inspire more teachers to make learning unforgettable. #EdSkillsAfrica #ExperientialLearning #STEMEducation #TeacherInnovation #FutureReadyLearners

If we want teachers to design learning that's real-world, meaningful and hands-on, we need to radically re-think Professional Development for teachers. Here are 3 ideas to shake-up your PD in August before school starts: #1: For real-world connection: Partner with 3-4 non-profit groups in your community. For a 1/2 day, send your teachers out. Have them volunteer with the groups. Learn what they're about and build relationships. For the 1/2 half, teachers create a presentation for their colleagues about how the organisation could be integrated into project-design, exhibition spaces or learning experiences for kids. Outcome: knowledge of local organizations combating local issues. Contact people within these organizations. Easier real-world integration learning. BONUS: Invite guests from other local community organizations during your ongoing PD over the year to give 1 hour presentations about their mission and what they do. #2: For subject-relevance: Partner with local companies that are integrating academic learning into what they do. Send your English teachers to a publishing company or the local newspaper. Send your science teachers to the bio-tech company in the next town. Send your math teachers to visit engineers. Use 1/2 the day to visit these places, talk about the real processes they use academic learning in. For the 1/2 have of the day, teachers work in their subject groups to dive deep into how their subjects can be connected to real careers in project design. Outcome: experience for how subject learning is used in content and processes outside of school. Relationships with professionals who can be experts for kids, projects that support kids to become writers, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, etc. #3: For MAKING: Use what teachers have planned for the first project of the year and spend 1/2 of the day having your teachers MAKE the product they want their students to make. Want kids to make a film? Go out and make a film. Portrait drawing? Draw it. Use 1/2 of the day de-constructing the making process. What steps are necessary? What supports are necessary for kids? Use this experience to help understand better planning for Project-Based Learning. Outcome: More scaffolding for kids in the making process. Creating frames to give freedom and allowing for more student-driven work that is high-quality and integrating a "learning by doing" experience in PBL. BONUS: Make this a regular part of project planning. From the wise words of Jeffrey Robin: Do the project yourself, first. Basically, get teachers OUT. Move PD from academic learning and into experiential learning. We cannot expect teaching for kids to change unless we change how teachers are learning. Need help? Reach out. info@imagineif.dk 📸 : 2023: Lynghede School partnering with Kongernes Jelling where teachers became students and used the museum to create a whole-staff theater performance in one day. #pbl #projectbasedlearning

As a corporate trainer, I’ve learned something the hard way. You can nail your delivery, have the slickest slides, and get heads nodding during the session—but if people walk out and forget everything a week later, did the training really work? That’s the real challenge: 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸. And over the years, I’ve found that some of the most powerful reinforcement techniques aren’t the ones everyone talks about—they’re the ones hiding in plain sight. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝟭𝟬 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 (𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲) 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗜 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 Ditch the hypotheticals. Walk through a real scenario—good, bad, messy. Then ask, “What would you do?” It sparks discussion, debate, and insight. 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 They’re magic for process-heavy content. Learners see the steps, decisions, and consequences. Visuals beat bullet points every time. 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 Introduce a strong framework early on, then revisit it in different contexts. The repetition deepens understanding without feeling repetitive. 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 Data informs, but stories transform. A real tale of failure, success, or growth can anchor a lesson in ways no diagram ever could. 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 Sure, it makes people squirm—but that discomfort mirrors real-world pressure. It’s safe space practice for high-stakes situations. 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 Bring in someone who does the work and let people watch them in action. Then debrief. It’s simple, powerful, and often overlooked. 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Create a mini version of the real world. Let people experiment, fail safely, and troubleshoot in real time. It builds both confidence and skill. 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 Not just fun—functional. A little competition can supercharge recall and encourage participation, especially for complex topics. 𝗠𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀 Quirky acronyms, catchy rhymes—your brain loves them. They give people a shortcut to remember critical info under pressure. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 Give learners a challenge to solve—preferably in teams. They’ll apply content, wrestle with ambiguity, and own the outcome. The trick isn’t using just one of these. It’s layering them, mixing things up, and reinforcing key ideas through multiple angles. That’s when learning becomes lasting. #𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 #𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 #𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 #𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 #𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 #𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 #𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 PS: Would you like me to teach you how to use all these methods?