Perhaps it is the hedonist in me, but I believe that gatherings designed to achieve useful results can only be fully effective when the participants are having fun. The issues on the table, and the implications of the outcome, may all be deadly serious, but creative interchange, to say nothing of innovative results, seems to … Continue Reading ››
Category Archives: Learning
How we learn best
Book review: Turning to one another
Margaret Wheatley has written another beautiful book, and this time the topic is conversation. Meg (as she's known) believes strongly in the power of conversation and dialogue to bring people together and to promote individual and shared development.
She starts the book by explaining her reasons for writing it, and by explaining her view … Continue Reading ››
Book review: Inner skiing
"Inner Skiing" is an excellent account of how learning occurs, but this time it's not at work, it's out on the ski slopes.
As every skier knows, skiing can be a wonderful experience, when you're in flow, your skis obey your every command and you zoom down the mountainside. And every skier knows the … Continue Reading ››
Getting it wrong
If you're not having a fair degree of failures, you're not exposing yourself to the upside of getting it dramatically right on dark horses. If you don't like going home at night with a feeling of uncertainty, then you're not cut out for it. If you try too hard to improve your failure rate, you … Continue Reading ››
Quote
I remember the Vietnamese spiritual teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, right after 9/11, speaking in New York City. Somebody asked him what would he do if he was able to meet with Osama bin Laden. He said, "If he had his choice, he would sit down and listen to what Osama bin Laden had to say, … Continue Reading ››
The ultimate test for Open Space meetings
Harrison Owen has written an article about an Open Space meeting held in Rome, where fifty Palestinians and Israelis gathered to talk about themselves, their future, and the possibilities of peace.
It was certainly not easy, but hope emerged from the meeting. Which is a testament to the ability of Open Space meetings … Continue Reading ››
It was certainly not easy, but hope emerged from the meeting. Which is a testament to the ability of Open Space meetings … Continue Reading ››
Quote
Few of us can understand any longer the enthusiasm of Caliph Ali ben Ali, who wrote: "A subtle conversation, that is the Garden of Eden." This is a pity, because it could be argued that the main function of conversation is not to get things accomplished, but to improve the quality of experience. - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi … Continue Reading ››
Learning styles
While webresearching about learning, I found some info on learning styles. It seems there are different basic approaches to learning.
You can be either:
Active or reflective:
Active learners learn by doing, reflective learners learn mostly by thinking
Sensing or intuitive:
This is the same distinction as in the MBTI personality type. Sensing … Continue Reading ››
You can be either:
Active or reflective:
Active learners learn by doing, reflective learners learn mostly by thinking
Sensing or intuitive:
This is the same distinction as in the MBTI personality type. Sensing … Continue Reading ››
Free to learn
I recently attended some very different training. I?m used to going to highly technical Java training, to portal seminars and to IT seminars, but over the last couple of years I?ve tried some different stuff.
And it has been great. Not only have I learned stuff that?s way different from what I normally learned, … Continue Reading ››
And it has been great. Not only have I learned stuff that?s way different from what I normally learned, … Continue Reading ››
Exercise: Being and becoming
We define ourselves by what we are. This goes for individuals as well as groups of people.
But life is change and learning. Everything is always in flux, is always developing. So shouldn't you define yourself at least as much by what you're becoming? I think, that if you derive your identity solely … Continue Reading ››
But life is change and learning. Everything is always in flux, is always developing. So shouldn't you define yourself at least as much by what you're becoming? I think, that if you derive your identity solely … Continue Reading ››