Seminar 1

The first seminar took place from 14 to 18 May 2017 in Poland.

The seminar “Communication in motivation”

as an example of planned educational process.

The idea

Meeting new people, that don’t know each other in a place, that is new to everybody, gives goosebumps. It can be excitation, concern or inspiration, or all together. The idea of Life Long Learning gives rather untypical methods of learning and conveying knowledge. Every meeting is different, because people are different.

Preparation

The process of preparing this seminar was an exceptional task, its assumptions are based on the context ofparticipating institutions, the participants, the countries where they come from, but also on the tasks accomplished by the participants, their professions and preparation.

The preparing team decided to treat the seminar as an opportunity show the advantages of the place where ithappened, treat the participants as people who come with curiosity but also limitations, but also as an opportunity to build an exceptional plan, that will respond with the participants’ needs. So this event was divided in 3 layers.

The basic level includes meetings with professionalists, based on their knowledge and experience, which canbe noticed and used as a separate parts of the seminar. When speaking about the workshops, there are descriptions, exercises and effects. In this way we can use them in a different situation, including the context of the whole seminar.

On the next level we put the participation in the seminar, having in mind the participants’ abilities. Each day wasplanned with consideration of following one.

Each meeting was supposed to be connectedwith the previous one, make people familiar with the place, integrate, open to their own experiences from the communication field, deepen the relations in teams, gain knowledge about motivation and consider creating a model of motivation for further work, ending with reflective journey encouraging to exchange thoughts and to set experiences of the previous days in order.

The last layer was connected to Life LongLearning idea and exchanging knowledge through sharing experiences. Everyone has a right to gain and share knowledge. What seems really important in this process is to create a friendly atmosphere and space. We didn’t care about the age, position at work, sex, language skills – the basic assumption is inclusiveness and creating common space to share knowledge and experiences.

The first point on the schedule was getting some information about theAssociation Solidarni Plus. Our guide in Wandzin was volunteer Paweł. We could learn about the specific educational activities for people addicted to alcohol and psychoactive substances.

After the presentation an exchange of experiences we were ready forfirst workshop session, moderated by Piotr Wołkowiński: “Dialogue and communication toward motivation to change”, based on being active, dialogue, but mostly compassion and asking existential questions: who am I? Where am I going? What is the quality of my life?

The first session opened the space for finding answers to theseimportant questions in a personal perspective, being ready to and motivated to cooperate.

Visual coaching

Visual coaching method and its role in communication is another workshop held by Anna Szczepkowska. During the workshops we paid attention to usefulness and effectiveness of picture communication, which is often useful in the planning tasks with colleagues, clients or students. The participants improved in the art of picture writing, learned mind mapping and expressing themselves though drawings.

Communication farming

If you need to consider something, think that it might be worthto act. That’s why after two exhausting days we organized a field game, which connected physical and intellectual activity in a sensible way. Making it short: not only heads “were on”, but also legs. Communication farming consists of 3 tasks, which include motivational dialogue, cooperation, building relations and community spirit. Making totems, motivating a stranger met in the woods, common poem writing, saving an egg from a view point – what does it have in common? Finally we overcame difficulties, that stood in our way to effective cooperation to finish the game.

In the end all three groups made food together, in Master Chef style. We didn’t have scallops and controversial dainties Foie gras, but cooperation, a lot of laughter, salads, kebabs, and the common meal listening to a music band ZOL Band.

Motivation in organization

The next day Bartek Karcz madea big piece of good work, running an interactive workshop, reffering to cooperation and empowering motivation in organization. Personal experiences were filtered through communication and motivation models.

Reflection trip

Our brain need space to arrange and tidy up knowledge. So a bicycletrip to the Bory Tucholskie forest was a great occasion to give our brains the space to work on streams of consciousness and knowledge, that appeared between our heads. Besides, it was a great introduction to evaluation and drawing conclusions from the common meeting.

The last day was to sum up

Conversation is the basis. We all left glad about the time we spent together on learning, exchange of knowledge and experiences in the area of communication in motivation, both between employees, but also educators and services’ receivers. Seminar “Communication in motivation – theory and everyday practice in the process of social inclusion” is finished. Three terrific moderators – Peter Wołkowiński, Anna Szczepkowska and Bartek Karcz, several engaged participants,50 hours of workshops combined with theoretical introduction, gulf of knowledge, sea of experiences and ocean of questions, which we don’t entirely try to find answers to both in personal and professional life. And above all, a solid plan.