Imagine someone, let's call her Ági, listening to a lecture on a topic that interests her. It's a good lecture, the speaker is brilliant, and they talk about important issues in a cohesive and engaging way.
Ági concludes that she has heard very good ideas and that it would be worthwhile to apply them in her own life. Yet, when she finds herself in a situation where those new ideas would come in handy, caught up in the rush of events, she simply forgets to apply them.
Or perhaps they do cross her mind, but she doesn't dare try using them, and instead resorts to her old, familiar routines and solutions. Even though she knows she shouldn't, that she has something better up her sleeve... somehow she still doesn't dare take the risk. What if it doesn't work for her, or not quite right?... Not now, maybe next time, by then she'll be better prepared and more confident—she reassures herself.
Sound familiar? Probably everyone has experienced something similar at some point.
Theoretical knowledge, practically for naught? It is a completely everyday experience that we actually realize only a small percentage of what we know in theory in practice. Knowledge in itself is not yet a skill. For example, if we tell someone, "It would be worth communicating more assertively," it is roughly like telling a swimming learner: "Don't sink in the water." Useful information, just not necessarily executable.
The training method was specifically developed so that we can bypass this trap. In trainings, we do not primarily receive theoretical knowledge; rather, the emphasis is placed on practical trial. One of the goals of a good training is that the participant should not just know something, but also be able to use it.
Of course, there can be significant differences from one training to another, but what they all have in common is that they are fundamentally different from the passive, impersonal form of learning we might have experienced in the system of university lectures and exams.
Practice and development – but playfully, in small steps For my part, I strive to build up the new skill for the participants step by step. Whether it's communication training, conflict management, or self-awareness—we deepen every new element through exercises. There is an opportunity to try, try again, and then try something else as well.
And this is where I see the role of playfulness: a structured pair or small-group exercise, a simulated situation, or role-playing can have a liberating effect.
By its very structure and the characteristics of its working method, training relieves you of the internal compulsion of "I have to do it right the first time," "I have to prove I'm capable." Here, it is precisely the trials that bring the most valuable moments. The new skill is built from small advances and the internal realizations associated with them.
Playfulness brings an experience into trainings similar to how we related to the world as children. We didn't want to conform, we didn't want to prove ourselves, but rather to experience and absorb the experiences. Playfulness is not the same as lack of seriousness—its power rather lies in the fact that it moves and engages our whole personality, not just our gray matter.
I am convinced that a good training is one where participants can get lost in it. Where the hours fly by almost unnoticed, and when it's over, no matter how tired they are, they almost regret that there aren't any more good exercises or tasks for that day.
Of course, the measure of a training's effectiveness is not how enjoyable it was—but whether something extra remains from it that participants can use later on.
What can a training offer when viewed through the eyes of a psychologist? Training turns into true development when the exercises do not stay in the training room. When a week later, during a difficult conversation, something we tried out there comes to mind, and we are able to change direction. Or when, in an old, familiar, frustrating situation, we suddenly have a new response.
A training is not group therapy, and as a psychologist, I specifically take care that it does not slip into therapeutic group functioning either.
A training is discovery, trial, practice, realization, encouragement, perspective-expansion. This is what I strive for, and this is how we work in my trainings.
