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 Structured
games are very effective learning activities. It is however important
that the facilitator lets the participants flow with the game and
not manipulate them for any specific outcome, warns MOHAN BANGARUSWAMY
Facilitators
utilise structured games for various reasons. Structured activities
are utilised as ice-breakers, to get people energised, to introduce
the fun element, to enable specific learning through experiential
mode, etc. Games allow participants to work in a non-threatening
environment. On most occasions, people bring their natural behaviour
into play while participating in such events. The facilitator has
the opportunity to offer various perspectives to the participants,
based on the observation made.
Participants
react differently to the circumstances that they face. They could
have different ways of learning. D Peter Honey and Alan Mumford
classify learning styles into activists, theorists, reflectors and
pragmatists. The “activists” like practical games and
exercises, as they prefer to try new things and move on quickly.
The “reflectors” like to have time for introspection and
discussion. The “theorists” like to see the learning material
in the form of a framework. The “pragmatists” like learning
material based on “real-world” examples—they have
a need to be practical.
There
are bound to be participants with different learning styles in any
given group. Structured game is one of the mechanisms by which the
facilitator can cater to the learning styles of various participants.
Games allow the “activists” to move on with the learning
agenda; the “reflectors” get the opportunity to introspect;
it may be possible to link the learning with a framework and thereby
cater to the “theorist” and linking the activity to practical,
“back-home” situations keeps the “pragmatist”
satisfied.
The
relevance
When
these games are conducted for the sake of the games themselves and
the learning is not drawn out, participants are often left wondering
about the relevance of the games. Structured games can play an important
role in learning, provided proper processing is done. It is not
so much the outcome that is important, but the processing of what
happened and drawing learning from it that is significant. The facilitator
needs to observe keenly and enlist observers to assist, if required.
During the debriefing or the processing, various observations can
be utilised to lead the discussion and to offer perspectives to
the participants.
The
key to getting value out of structured activity is in the processing
or the debriefing. The interaction of the participants, the way
decisions were made, non-participation from some people, etc, are
various aspects that are critical. The facilitator can pick up various
incidents from the exercise and work with these to offer perspectives
to the participants. Aspects such as “meanings that people
assign to incidents that happened”, “need to control the
group”, “refusal to talk until invited”, reactions
to some of the incidents, etc, are a few of the things on which
the facilitator can lead the discussion and elicit responses from
participants. Do people value or see themselves as resources? Do
they initiate interaction or do they wait till they are drawn in?
The way people behave during these exercises offers insight to some
of their values and beliefs, the meaning that they assign to events
that occur and the way they carry themselves. The facilitator cannot
make generalised statements based on the observations during the
activity. He or she can utilise the observation as a hypothesis
and offer perspectives to participants. These perspectives can be
utilised to check if these are normal behaviours—-and if they
value-add or impede people in their daily lives. The perspectives
can be offered to specific participants and also to the group in
general, to enable them to look at additional ways of dealing with
similar real-life situations.
Go
with the flow
It
is important that the facilitator lets the participants flow with
the game and not manipulate it for any specific outcome. Sometimes,
I have seen that facilitators are comfortable with a specific set
of results that enable them to prescribe solutions to the participants.
The participants feel manipulated and can turn hostile. It can lead
to missing the richness that can result from letting the game flow.
The important aspects in conducting the structured exercises and
in the debriefing are “focus on spontaneity instead of looking
at forced outcomes”, “be descriptive instead of evaluative”
and “lean towards provisionalism
instead of certainty”.
I
have found it works well to check with the participants on what
they felt about the exercise, what they have learnt, how they relate
this learning to their work or personal life and to then bring in
the various observation and elicit responses from the participants.
The key is to offer perspectives and not to be prescriptive.
Games
offer a way to bringing congruence of thought, feeling and action.
Feeling is one of the neglected aspects in the corporate world.
The logical, rational way reigns and people sometimes tend to bury
feelings. This could result in lack of nourishment in the growth
process. Sometimes structured games enable participants to deal
with the “feeling” side.
Careful
selection
There
are many standard games available. It is also easy to design games
if one has the purpose clearly outlined. Games need to be selected
with care. I have found that various books seem to recommend a given
game for a given learning situation. In my experience, the participants
by their behaviour bring in the complexity and that there are other
learning apart from the suggested areas. The facilitator needs to
have the flexibility and the depth to bring in this aspect. Sometimes
it may be required to introduce a variation in the rules of the
games to suit the requirements of the programme.
I
have been facilitating learning programmes over the years and have
found that structured activity offers an interesting way of facilitating
the learning process. The key is to focus on the process and not
to get lost in the activity itself.
Mohan
Bangaruswamy is vice president-IT services and organisation development,
Apara Enterprise Solutions. E-mail: mohanb@apara.com
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