Flipchart Number 2 June 2016 | Page 42

2 - What do you think it is the role of companies (and especially Team Mais) in the educational system? Whenever change happens, there are always small groups of people questioning the mainstream practices and pushing the limits of the current system by proposing new ideas and disruptive approaches. We like to see ourselves as those people. We are constantly looking for new ways of dealing with the challenges of learning in the 21 st century and growing in times of crisis. We are active contributors to the movement of change in the educational system each time we help teachers re-invent themselves in the classroom, when we encourage young people to take a stand for what they believe in, when we support companies to became learning organisations or when we boost communities to build up new strengths through collaboration and active participation. 3 – Which educational methods do you use more, or prefer to use, in your company? Active, fun, meaningful. Lectures can be inspiring. At best. They can introduce us to new concepts and maybe, afterwards, we reflect about if and when we want to change something in the way we do things. And then we generally don’t. In Team MAIS, we seek to create enriched learning environments, where people learn new concepts but also have the time to discuss and explore them; to experiment and practice; to inspire each other; to enjoy the process and to find meaningful results for themselves. We are also strong believers in the power of Play. It’s not that we don’t take our job seriously, by the contrary. It means our actions are generally fun and relaxed, even when the matters are serious, difficult or urgent. When we play - as we did in our childhood - we enjoy our time, we are curious, we feel that we are in some kind of flow and we relax, we lower our defences and open to others. 42 What we strive to accomplish in the organisations we work for is to generate that playful state-of- mind that allows their teams to transform problems into something less scary (maybe more like puzzles that can played with); to allow failure as part of the process; and to enable questions, information and new ideas to flow continuously. After all, as Einstein once said “Play is the highest form of research.”