Monday 2 June 2008

Processes v people?



When I remember my favourite teachers from school days, I don’t picture them reading their course out of a book. They made eye contact with the class, put their point into perspective and left some time for us to react and reflect. Some of them even used emotional triggers, as in storytelling, to facilitate the learning process. This requires self-awareness, openness and the capacity to "fall into the present".

Organisations need management processes for measurability, security, consistency etc. But processes without "people skills" become excuses to escape the present, like the sheet of paper isolating boring speakers from their bored audiences.

About academia's relationship with improvisation see: Keep 'em guessing from the Times Higher Education website...

Picture source: wikimedia