Project 1: Literature Review

Comfort Zone: Model or metaphor?

I’m a Comfort Zone model fan.  Predominant in Military Adventurous Training and Adventure Therapy (Plummer, 2009) for injured Servicemen, the words used to roll off my tongue every time I wanted resources.  Brown’s 2008 articles got me thinking about how I’ve used the model and, importantly, prompted thoughts for the future.

His well researched argument is that stretching Comfort Zones may not maximise learning.  Indeed the trauma involved could even produce a negative outcome and he argues that peak learning requires trust and support to prevail; perhaps I need to create those conditions first.  He also argues that transfer is not a given.  I agree that many people cannot link abseiling with a job interview, and Carlson (1996) provides some additional reading on this issue. 

Brown’s key message though is that Comfort Zones are not “one size fits all” and this is supported by other such as Connolly (2003).  Every individual is different and this concept is expanded further by Fenton who proposes a wider activity range:  

The time has come for the adventure industry to promote positive learning paradigms through, for example, flow, in a broad range of activities, from meditative to physically rigorous, in order to increase self-awareness and self esteem. (2008, p. 90)

I already do but can I do more?  How do I ensure individual experiences for my entire group?  How do I measure peak learning?  Answering these questions present a challenge but I still believe the Comfort Zone framework is valid.  Perhaps the way ahead is Comfort Zone - doctrine not dogma.

     

Brown, M. (2008) ‘Comfort Zone: Model or metaphor?’, Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 3-12.

Brown, M. (2008) ‘The Comfort Zone: Reflection on a taken-for-granted model’, Ki Waho, Spring/Water edition, pp. 28-30.

Carlson, T. (1996) 'Adventure into education: Innovation in teaching in tertiary settings', Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, [accessed 20/9/2011].

Connolly, R. (2003) Pegasus NLP Newsletter [online], available from: http://www.nlp-now.co.uk [accessed 20/9/2011].

Fenton, L. (2008), 'Adventure Education and Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory: A Critical Analysis of Stress and Optimal Experience as Learning Tools', Abstracts from the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors Ninth Biennial Research Symposium, Indiana University, 11-13 Jan, USA: State University of New York at Cortland, pp 89-90.

Plummer, R. (2009) Outdoor Recreation: An Introduction, New York: Routledge.

Soft Skills Facilitation: A Personal Viewpoint

Over the years, and particularly recently, I have become very focussed on soft skills and rank delivery of soft skills very high in my priorities in the outdoors. 

The main reason is that I genuinely believe that, if tackled correctly, soft skills can be transferred.  It may not be obvious and a lot of the time our job is to explain or get the participants to consider how they can be transferred, but it can be done.  I’ve seen many examples in the military and also have personal experience of leading a month long expedition to Namibia where soft skills development was paramount.  In short, the participants may never need to abseil again but they will be required to step into the unknown and if we can help each individual develop coping strategies for such occasions then we are doing our job.

This brings me on to a key issue with soft skills transfer.  If you’ve got the participants for a month, there is time to make considerable inroads.  What if you’ve only got them for a week, or a day, or just an afternoon session?  Is there any point in delivering soft skills for such a short period?  I believe there is as it ensures that the soft skills tap remains dripping throughout their experience and subsequent experiences in the outdoors.  Taking Kurt Hahn slightly out of context, we need to spark the fire for others to keep alight.

Could the participants develop in the same way even if we don’t deliver any soft skills as suggested in Baillie’s concept from the 1960s of “letting the mountains speak for themselves”?  I think they probably would but it would be a slower process and arguably less constrained.  Essentially, we would have less control over the outcomes.  From personal experience, I’ve noticed that some participants need lots of my time whereas others seem to get it without a lot of interaction; this latter group seem to fit Baillie’s concept.

For me as part time a freelance leader, I’m in the fortunate position to pick and choose what I do.  I enjoy soft skills development and hence I’ve targeted that area to enhance my own job satisfaction.