What can we learn from Charlie Brown and Peanuts?

On a recent trip to Santa Rosa in California, I was one of the very many who discovered the Charles Shultz museum.

Charles (Sparky) Shultz has touched everyones lives. From my parents generation to my youngest child. If you were like me, you grew up with Charlie Brown, the round faced person everyone could associate with, and his dog Snoopy, named after Charles’s own dog Spike. And of course the rest of the gang, Lucy, Linus, Woodstock, Sally, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Pigpen, Franklin, and Rerun, they all had quirks and brought their unique perspectives on life to the strip.

Sparky Schultz said in 1999:

“Children do not converse. They say things. They ask, they tell, and they talk, but they know nothing of one of the great joys in life, conversation. Then, along about twelve, give or take a year on either side, two young people sitting on their bicycles near a front porch on a summer evening begin to talk about others that they know, and conversation is discovered. Some confuse conversation with talking, of course, and go on for the rest of their lives, never stopping, boring others with meaningless chatter and complaints. But real conversation includes asking questions, and asking the right ones before it’s too late.”

David A. Kolb (born 1939) is an educational theorist whose interests and publications focus on experiential learning, the individual and social change, career development, and executive and professional education.

In the 70’s along with Roger Fry they wrote the concept of the Experiential Learning Module which has become the defacto standard for how we learn during an experience.

In a book written with Ann Baker and Patricia Jensen called Conversational Learning  they  assert that business conversations can be seen as social experiences through which we discover new ways of seeing the world, destroying the barriers between us. When this occurs, new knowledge can emerge or be developed. How can people learn from their differences, rather than be divided by them? One way is by creating conversational spaces–areas where conversation occurs.

The book is available on Google books

http://books.google.com/books/about/Conversational_learning.html?id=R9lIoOH7YeQC

For some time I have been on about Learning Conversations as a learning model. Never more than now is the time to combine the Social media everyone is so desperate to use in learning with the experiential learning model we know works so well. The art of directing conversation is a new art of Conversational Instructional Design. The methods to deliver this conversation require our ability to record the conversation and act upon it, (for mLearning see   Phone2Know and look at Performance support) or as a mentor or coach direct a conversation to enable learning.

Charlie Brown and the ‘gang’ spent their whole lives talking to each other, in each strip someone learns something and at every point they are having and gaining new experiences.

I wonder how it would have been to have had Charles Shultz and David Kolb working together?

It tells me one more time, if we want to learn new ideas and gain new experiences we must have more conversations.

Let’s talk!

 

Where have I been?

Some may have thought I was suffering from SoMeFat (social media fatigue) if you were one of those you were wrong.

For the last three months I have been busily working away to reposition what the world knew as Trainer1 into The Learning Coach. A transformation that has taken much soul searching and research into what L&D is asking for and needs. I hope I have got it right.

The result you can find at the website http://www.thelearningcoach.co.uk

There are new people on board including Alan Samuel (ex Tata Interactive and Ogilvy) and Delia Walton Kennedy (ex Central office of Information) who join the regular team forming a great new partnership.

So I am back to blogging and tweeting again, it’s all about the art of conversation.

Need some advice? Looking to improve your skill set or your team’s knowledge? Let’s talk.

Trainer1 becomes The Learning Coach – Building capability

PRESS INFORMATION ISSUED ON BEHALF OF:

The Learning Coach

Devonshire House, 582 Honeypot Lane, Stanmore,
Middlesex, HA7 1JS

Tel 020 7624 4844;
Web: http://www.thelearningcoach.co.uk

London 13/7/2011

The Learning Coach, Building capability. Improving performance.

The Learning Coach – previously Trainer1 – is a new independent ‘training and advisory’ company made up of experts dedicated to helping organisations and Individuals achieve true “ROL – Return on Learning”, which they define as training and learning coming together to build capability and improve performance.
The Learning Coach is completely independent of product and software sales, enabling them to provide impartial, objective advice and evaluation. Their advisory and capability building services cover: Strategy, Learning infrastructure, Learning design and Development methodology. Solutions are customised programmes, delivered face-to-face, virtually and as one-to-one coaching and mentoring sessions. The Learning Coach also offers a calendar of open capability building programmes.

With a team of professionals that bring years of knowledge, skills and experience in learning and learning technology, The Learning Coach is the first company dedicated to helping you create learning employees will ‘love’.

Neil Lasher, with over 20 years of exploration, innovation and excellence in learning and learning technology and the managing partner of The Learning Coach said, “ To date it’s all been about the technology and what to buy, those days are past. It’s all about what you create, when you create it and how you create it. Having your own capability to do this is the only measurable success, this is what the Learning Coach offers.

Alan Samuel, previously with Tata Interactive and now The Learning Coach’s partner responsible for Client Solutions, said “ Working with companies to build a relevant base of knowledge, skills and capability is the way to ensure their future in the learning space, we are one of the few truly independents offering services like this”.

End

Notes for Editors:

About The Learning Coach (http://www.thelearningcoach.co.uk)

The Learning Coach is a company specialising in building capability for their clients. They achieve this with a programme of specialised and customisable modules including seminars, class based modules and one-on-one coaching sessions. The outcomes are teams able to create world-class learning for the most demanding of professionals.

The Team:

Neil Lasher, The Learning Coach’s managing partner has served on the board of the eLearning Network, the Global Network of ASTD UK, is an advisor to the Institute of IT Training and a trainer for London 2012. With the eLearning Guild, Neil has hosted the MOSHpit at mLearnCon for the last 2 years.

A leading consultant in the learning world, Neil is a regular well known International speaker at conferences including Learning Technologies, Learning Solutions, DevLearn and mLearnCon. and works to ensure technology is meeting the needs of users worldwide, as well as the guidelines determined by the governing groups in the eLearning industry.

Alan Samuel has spent the last 10 years in learning and learning technologies. As Vice President of Tata Interactive Systems in the UK, Alan worked with FTSE 100 companies to develop their eLearning strategies, build their eLearning portfolios and infrastructure. As a lead learning consultant, Alan has extensive experience and an excellent track record in managing large, complex customer engagements and relationships built on mutual knowledge, trust and respect.?

As the partner responsible for Client Solutions, he manages the ‘advisory’ side of The Learning Coach. He works with companies to identify their Learning Technology strategies and build the relevant base of knowledge, skills and capability.

Suzy Cooper, has been head of development and lead instructional designer for Trainer1 for over 10 years. She has designed and built over 500+ hours of eLearning for both corporate and academic organisations.
An experienced instructor and coach in the adoption and use of use of authoring tools, Suzy runs regular workshops on ‘using authoring tools’ to design eLearning.

As a partner in The Learning Coach, Suzy coaches and instructs companies in-house development teams in the practical use of authoring tools. Her expertise covers a suite of tools including Articulate, Captivate, Camtasia, Lectora and Toolbook.

Delia Walton-Kennedy, has spent the last 18 years in L&D and is a highly experienced trainer and coach. Delia’s previous assignment in the Public Sector was with the Central Office for Information, designing and implementing several training, coaching and cross cultural programs using both traditional and eLearning methodologies.

With The Learning Coach, Delia leads projects using her L&D experience to advise, support and coach companies in-house L&D development teams.

Further information from:

The Learning Coach offices located at
Devonshire House, 582 Honeypot Lane, Stanmore, Middx HA7 1JS
+44 (0) 20 7624 4844; http://www.thelearningcoach.co.uk