Table of Contents

Did Malcolm Knowles Have It Wrong?

Every once in a while, I’ll look at a post-training evaluation form and see glowing praise for a PowerPoint-based lecture.  Lecture receives a 5 out of 5 on evaluation forms?!  With feedback like that, I sometimes wonder if Malcolm Knowles knew what he was talking about.  Is the effort that goes into interactive, engaging sessions really worthwhile?

The other night, I had a 3-minute interaction with a co-worker that re-affirmed for me that Malcolm Knowles, John Dewey, Jane Vella and the rest of the adult/experiential/dialogue education crowd indeed knew a thing or two about effective educational experiences.

As we were finishing our call, she mentioned that her staff was wondering when I would be returning to facilitate another workshop.  The comment surprised me a bit.  The last time I was in India I had designed the session but it was mostly facilitated by my Indian colleagues in Hindi.  I understood little of the conversations that took place.

“Yeah, well, they want you to come back.  They still remember the towel activity.  It transcended language.”

Several months ago, I had been asked to help put together a teambuilding session for a team in India that was transitioning from a workplace culture that valued individual efforts to our workplace culture which required a substantial degree of teamwork.  We didn’t want to just talk about teamwork but we weren’t going to take everyone out to a ropes course, either.

I worked with my India-based colleagues to design a half-day workshop as a kick-off to a series of monthly sessions we would offer to this new team.  We began with an activity that required smuggling a few towels out of my hotel (the aforementioned “towel activity”).  The team had an hour-long conversation about our mission, vision and core values.  To wrap up, we gave each team member a small stick.  We asked them to break it in half.  Then we asked them to break the two halves in half.  Holding the four quarters of the stick in one hand, the team members could no longer break the sticks.  Four small pieces together were much stronger, less breakable than one individual stick.

It was flattering that they wanted me back, but I asked my co-worker for specific examples of anything that’s changed since this workshop.

“Brian, they communicate now.  They cover for each other.  In the past, if someone was working with a family in the hospital, I wouldn’t know about it for hours… if I ever found out.  Now, if someone is working with a family, someone else gives me a call and a third person sends me a text.  They’re truly working as a team.  And that’s very different.  They put your session into practice.  If it hadn’t been so interactive, I don’t think they’d have remembered.  They still have their sticks!”

Sticks2 Sticks3 Sticks1

The Train Like A Champion Blog is published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  If you think someone else might find this interesting, please pass it along.  If you don’t want to miss a single, brilliant post, be sure to click “Follow” at the top of the page!

Articles Similar to Did Malcolm Knowles Have It Wrong?

Learning & Development
Brian Washburn

Where Sales Enablement Meets L&D

Natalie Mazzie, an experienced sales enablement professional, feels there is a lot that general L&D folks can learn from the sales enablement field. Here’s our conversation.

Maria Leggett on learning & development resumes
Learning & Development
Brian Washburn

A Learning & Development Resume that Gets Noticed

When you’re applying for an L&D job, how do you best position yourself to get a call from a recruiter or hiring manager? Experienced HR professional, Maria Leggett, offers her insights in today’s podcast.

pivoting into the world of learning and development
Learning & Development
Brian Washburn

Career Pivot into L&D?

If you’re looking to pivot into a role in the corporate training or learning and development space, today’s podcast will give you some insights and questions to think about.

Tim Barnosky on building an L&D team
Learning & Development
Brian Washburn

Building an Internal L&D Team in an Organization (Part 1)

How do you build an L&D team from scratch? Tim Barnosky of Innovative Solutions is currently in the process of answering that question. Today’s podcast revolves around his vision and the challenges he anticipates.

Subscribe to Get Updates from Endurance Learning

Brian Washburn, Author

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll send you the latest updates from our blog. Thanks for following!

training facilitator evaluation rubric - page 2

Download the Facilitator Evaluation Rubric

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the rubric to help you assess the skills of someone delivering training.

Find Your L&D Career Path

Explore the range of careers to understand what role might be a good fit for your L&D career.

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the What’s Possible in L&D Worksheet.

What's possible in L&D

Let's Talk Training!

Brian Washburn

Brian Washburn
CEO & Chief Ideas Guy

Enter your information below and we’ll get back to you soon.

Download the Feedback Lesson Plan

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the lesson plan as a PDF.

feedback lesson plan
MS Word Job Aid Template

Download the Microsoft Word Job Aid Template

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the Word version of this template.

Download the Free Lesson Plan Template!

Enter your email below and we’ll send you a Word document that you can start using today!

free lesson plan template
training materials checklist

Download the Training Materials Checklist

Enter your email below and we’ll send you the PDF of the Training Materials Checklist.

Subscribe to Endurance Learning for updates

Get regular updates from the Endurance Learning team.