Should Training Be Fun?

In a word... NO.

Wait... does that mean training should be boring?  No!  Not at all! 

Good training should have an impact.  It should bring about a change in the individual, making them see the world differently once the training is over, so it should be memorable.  For this to happen, a number of elements need to combine well:

• the content - should be appropriate to the audience and relevant to their needs
• the materials - should present the content in an easily-digestible manner, aiding memory and forming good reference materials once the course is over
• the trainer - should be engaging, promoting discussion and stimulating learning, inspiring people to greater things.

What's high on the list?  Appropriateness - for both topic and attendee.  Do you have the right audience?  What are they expecting?  If they're all expecting a different topic, change to that topic.  Work with the audience.

Training is about the trainee, not about the trainer

And this is where good trainers will be flexible to the audience needs: a great trainer can make a boring topic interesting, a terrible trainer will reduce a (potentially interesting) topic to dullness through a poor delivery.

Which is why people believe training must be fun.

Don't believe that "fun" equals "memorable and engaging".  I've spoken to people claiming "fun" automatically means "exciting" - hence engaging and memorable.  Conversely, not fun means "boring and forgettable".... right?

No. Let's see why this is the wrong approach:

• What's the opposite of fun? Serious.
• What's the opposite of engaging? Boring.

One does not necessarily imply the other: it's possible to be serious yet engaging. Sadly, it's also possible to be funny and boring at the same time.

The Obligatory Analogy...

Let's take films as an example: there are plenty of humorous titles available, some of which are very memorable: Deadpool and Office Space may cause nods among some of you.   Conversely there are limp and lacklustre comedies, full of puerile jokes, forced humour and contrived situations.

Similarly, there are plenty of immersive dramas: Schindler's List, The Godfather and Mr. Holmes to name a few... and yet these aren't "fun" films. 

Can you imagine studio execs telling Frank Darabont that Shawshank Redemption needs more "fun", otherwise people will find it dull and disengaging?

Quick sanity-check time: we're not saying that training should automatically be serious.  Going back to our films analogy, there are plenty of dramas where the underlying message is lost in monotony and mediocrity due to poor directorship.  Making the film "fun" won't address that issue; making the story gain impact will.

So before talk of making things "fun", first ask yourself one question:

are you really seeking to make your training more engaging?

If that's the reason, perhaps you ought to look less at the content ... and more at the boring delivery.  Because oh trainer, my trainer, that's possibly where the problem lies.

And no amount of "energisers" or "ice-breakers" can help out there.