The ballet of state management

One of the pillars of Brain Friendly Learning is “State Management”

As Kim Hare, Managing Director of Kaizen Training says in her book The Trainer’s Toolkit: Bringing Brain-friendly Learning to Life

“State is everything (well almost)”  But what exactly is she talking about?

Exforsys offers us the following:

State is a combination of the internal representations of the mind and the physiology of the body to form a complete Neuro-linguistic state of consciousness. Such states are a part of our day-to-day life. Some states bring us empowerment whereas others limit our potential.

That’s quite a mouthful but for a simple chap like me I prefer to use a simple example.

Put simply, we can identify our own state by carefully listening to the internal dialogue we are having at any particular time. For example if our internal dialogue is running something like this:

I am not enjoying this and I do not feel comfortable

Our state is likely to reflect this; we will exhibit the physiological signs of being uncomfortable and we will be using language which others would be able to interpret fairly easily as “this person is not having fun and does not want to be here”.  OK in the dentist’s waiting room but pretty much a disaster in the training room.

The key factor here is that in the training room our state can have a direct influence over the state of our learners.

• Have you ever been in a training session where the trainer is clearly bored by the subject?
• How easy was it to detect their boredom?
• How vibrant were you feeling at the time?

Our state as facilitators needs to be exactly what we want the state of our learners to be.  Kim once told me it’s about a 2:1 ratio:

“State management is about yours, yours and then theirs”

So if we want them to be curious we need to be curious; if we want them to be excited we need to be excited.

Why is this important?  All the latest research shows us that learning and emotional connection are fundamentally linked. We have known for some time, for example, that when we remember something, the emotion we held when we stored it comes back with the memory. (Think “anchoring”)

So if the state of our learners is neurologically linked to the learning and our state can affect theirs, how we manage our state becomes fundamental to their experience.

If we are to manage our state we need to identify two things:

1. What state do we want to be in (what is the most appropriate and supportive state for our learners at this point in the session?)
2. What are the triggers that cause this state within us

Once we have identified these two things we can begin to work on our strategy to manage our state and therefore, theirs.

Let’s imagine that we are going to run a programme for a group and we want them to leave feeling highly empowered and “up for it” (whatever “it” might be)

Clearly if we want the group to feel like this we cannot deliver the programme from a position of “bored” or “insecure” or “curious”. If we want them to leave feeling charged, we need to feel it too.

Try this: Think of a time when you felt absolutely unstoppable. Bring that memory to the fore. Focus on what you see, hear and feel now that you are back feeling absolutely unstoppable. Bring up the intensity of the colour in the memory, increase the sound levels, make the feelings bigger as you recall that time when you were absolutely unstoppable.

• Are you feeling unstoppable yet?
• Maybe a bit?
• Maybe more than a bit?  –  whatever your level of unstoppablity right now, you are defiantly not feeling “bored”

So we can create the state we want when we want it if we know how and this is where the internal dialogue comes in to play. If we want to be in a particular state we can get ourselves well on the way by talking to ourselves “as if” we were in that desired state. By changing the internal conversation we are having we can also affect our physiological response as well. We begin to walk and stand in the state we are thinking in.

This may feel a little creaky to start off with but it does work and it is worth practicing and once we have gained some confidence with this approach a whole new set of options become available to us:

• Imagine what it would be like if you could transition seamlessly between states, taking your participants with you as you go
• Imagine how their learning experience will be enhanced by linking a range of learning with a range of emotional states carefully created by you
• Imagine what this will do for their depth of learning and their ability to recall key points when they need to

So how do we get into the state that we need?

Here are the two most popular ways:

1. Think of a time when you were in the desired state. What was the situation? What did you see, hear and feel when you were in this state? Enhance the memory by making the colours brighter, the sounds louder, the feelings more intense. Really load up the intensity. Notice what your internal dialogue was like during this time and keep it going just like that.
2. Think of someone you may know or have seen who is a master at being in this state. How would they deliver this session? What do you think they see, hear and feel when they are in this state? Imagine being them and delivering the session as they would while still being you. (This is called modelling and will be the subject of an article in the weeks and months ahead so watch this space)

If you still feel unsure, try practicing at home first.

For example what state would you be in if you got home after work feeling tired and drained and your partners says “I’ve agreed we are going to go for a drink with Sarah and Paul tonight.” My guess is that your internal dialogue would go something like “Oh please! Can’t you see I’m tired. I’ve been on the go all day and all I want to do is have you pour me a glass of wine and peel my grapes and if you make me go to the pub tonight I am going to be grumpy and anti-social” (Or something like that. The grapes bit might just be me!)

Not a very empowering conversation or one that is likely to lead to a pleasant evening out with some friends who enjoy your company.

So, what state would be more empowering? What internal dialogue would be going on if you felt this way?

There will be plenty of examples in your day to day life where by choosing to be in an empowering state deliberately will lead to a different outcome to what you would have got if you hadn’t.

Give it a try and see what happens.

By practicing these state management methods we can get really good at smoothly transitioning between states and then fine tune them to ensure that our learners are always in the most appropriate and empowering state possible. This will then stay with them every time they recall and use the valuable learning they will be getting from your sessions.

Designing and delivering with regard to state management at this level now becomes something far more elegant and subtle.

It becomes a carefully considered ballet: a wisely crafted dance balancing learning styles, emotional state and environment ( see “Boosting recall by 15%”)  to give our learners a multi-layered experience enhanced to maximise learning.

And the most exciting part of all – recognise that you now have control over your state and that you can choose whichever one you want that will give you the best outcome in any situation. How’s that for a life skill!

Paul and Ally are working on an exciting 6-part (online) course to help your learners fully engage with your training - sign up for the 'early bird' list for advanced notification and more info

If you liked this, you may also like these:

1. Great Learning State = Focus + Physiology The state of our learners is crucial to the quality of their learning and their state can...
2. Bleeding ears, nervousness and a paddling duck In this third installment of music week, Paul shares his experience of stage fright before performing at...
3. The Truth About Icebreakers 02 – missed opportunities In Pt.2 of this three part series on icebreakers and energizers, Paul considers the missed opportunities of...
4. Do you want to boost recall by up to 15% This seems to indicate is that by doing all our training in training rooms we are depriving...
5. Take your learners to a concert (or two) The use of background music during lectures, vocabulary decoding, or group readings is a cornerstone of Accelerated...