Why Having Fun Helps People Learn

All of the programs delivered by Canoe Images are powerful, often transformational, learning experiences for participants.  They are also great fun!

Creating an environment where participants have fun is obviously better than creating one that does not but there is more to this than meets the eye; people actually learn more effectively when they are having fun.  People become more creative, are more open minded and lose their inhibitions or preconceived ideas which all lead to opportunities to learn.

Neurologists have discovered that when learners are having fun a number of physiological changes occur in the body; levels of dopamine, endorphins and oxygen in the body are increased which leads to an overall pleasurable experience for the body.  The brain, being the powerful organ it is, associates this pleasurable experience with whatever triggered it and attaches the emotion to the event – locking it away in the memory which is able to be recalled at a later date.

Entirely the opposite is true as well.  When the body is uncomfortable, stressed or physically or emotionally tired, it reduces the amount of dopamine, endorphins and oxygen available to the body.  Further, if those conditions continue, the hippocampus shrinks leading to memory impairment and any available opportunity to learn is lost.

So when you are with the Canoe Images team and you hear lots of laughter, people are not only having fun but they are also actively engaged in learning.

Leader vs. Manager

Leadership and management are commonly seen as the same thing. They are not.  Leadership is also misunderstood to mean directing and instructing people and making important decisions on behalf of an organisation.  Effective leadership is much more than this.

A simple way to explain how management is different to leadership is:

• Management is mostly about processes, systems and procedures.
• Leadership is mostly about behaviour, people and relationships. 

We could extend this to say:

• Management relies heavily on tangible, measurable capabilities such as effective planning, the use of organisational systems and the use of appropriate communication methods.
• Leadership involves many management skills but generally as a secondary or background function of true leadership.  Leadership instead relies most strongly on less tangible and less measurable things like trust, inspiration, attitude and personal character.

Effective leaders are followed chiefly because people trust and respect them rather than solely because of the skills they possess.  Leadership is about behaviour first, skills second.

Do you agree? What do you think? 


(Contributed by Dean Cunningham, facilitator at Canoe Images)

What do we know?

Building teams since 1992!!

Over 20 yrs my brother Bernie and I have worked hard creating a unique style of learning for team & leadership models & concepts. A means of learning that is not just classroom based but includes hands on, experiential situations that are lived and enacted with real outcomes and consequences. Through this style of program the learning is compounded and has a huge impact on participants. With the encouragement and support of thousands of participants and our clients we would like to introduce our new and second RTO venue “Castle Hill" in the Central Highlands Daylesford. Our website Canoe Images provides information on the venue and the programs available. Facebook provides lots of photos and feedback from participants.

Without good leadership are we just blind followers?

We would invite people to follow our Blog or through Twitter where we will notify of weekly short stories or case studies and invite comment. Eg. What is the difference between Leadership and Management. The longer I work in this industry the more I realise that most people just don’t know what leadership is and that includes lots of our community leaders.

Remember there are 100’s of things a good leader can do but only 3 things that people will follow.

What are they? Watch this space......