Impro Learning: How to Make Your Training Creative, Flexible and Spontaneous Review

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(More customer reviews)"How to make your training creative, flexible and spontaneous" is the subtitle, and indeed the aim, of this new release from arch-training-publishers Gower. There is a great deal of excellent wisdom about training here which would serve any trainer well.
Jackson's background as a BBC producer and a journalist serves him well. Not only is this book unusually well crafted, but he brings his experience of working with leading impro comedy performers like the London-based Comedy Store Players (Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence et al). The basic thread of the book is the parallel between designing and running a training event and performing "impro". Jackson manages to address this parallel philosophically as well as practically, resulting in a book which will satisfy a range of audiences (trainers, HR staff, performers, people people) at different levels - no mean feat. As such, this is a rare beast - a book that says something genuinely new.
The book takes us through the various roles of the trainer - setting things up, bonding the group, acting as a model for the learners, setting goals and supports, creating novel activities, keeping the group's (and their own) energy up, drawing out resources from participants, and being spontaneous through to the final "performance" and subsequent reviews. NLP trainers may particularly enjoy the variety of thoughts and practical suggestions in the book, all of which would fit well into NLP contexts. I personally enjoyed Jackson's sections on the impression of confidence and spontaneity - these tricky subjects are dealt with simply yet subtly.
Impro Learning is unusually well-crafted as a piece of writing. Jackson's journalism background is an asset, and the words are well chosen, clear and at times unexpectedly witty in a rather understated British way. This allows the author to cram a great deal into his 200-odd pages. There is a great further reading list, along with full references and an index. The only potential downside is the rapidity with which Jackson leaps from, for instance, the philosophy of rule-based games to some basic discussion of icebreaker exercises - I was occasionally left dizzy, but elated by the melange. The price (£42.50) is outrageous, as with many of Gower's books which are clearly aimed at corporate training departments with budgets to match. However, it's only rarely that a really new idea appears in print, and this is worth a place on any discerning trainer's bookshelf.

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This training book treats creativity as the door to success, and aims to provide the keys to unlock it. Drawing on sources as diverse as theatre, accelerated learning, sports, co-operative games and psychology, the author reveals practical methods for enhancing all aspects of training, from joining instructions and bonding to detailed course design and evaluation. The emphasis throughout is on participation and results, and the text is packed with warm-ups, energizers, team exercises and innovative processes. The techniques in the book aim to help design and deliver training programmes that achieve demonstrable results and to improve skills as both a platform presenter and a group facilitator. It also helps to apply the principles of learning to broaden the range of training the reader can offer and enhance confidence and the ways to project it.

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