THE PHASES OF SOT METHODOLOGY

Each SOT training project develops into the following methodological phases:

• Analysis of the training needs and competences that have to be developed in partnership with the company; analysis of the corporate policy to determine the macro metaphor and the metaphors related to the single experiential activities; analysis of the target (knowledge, skills, attitudes, difficulties, expectations, fears).
• Planning: identification of the macro metaphor that will represent the thread for the training activity; choice of the activities to include and the sequence in which they will have to be performed; identification of the location; supplying of the equipment; drawing up of the teaching notes for the trainers, etc…
• Start up: presentation of the experiential methodology, the training objectives, the used metaphor, the logistic information, the behavioral and safety rules.
• Warm up: a series of exercises that do not necessarily imply a didactic reworking, but that have the goal of letting the participants know each other more deeply and of ‘breaking the ice’ , so that they can feel free to express themselves in the subsequent ‘core’ activities (by getting over the initial embarrassment, for example towards physical contact), thus giving the trainer a means to learn more about the participants and the team.
• Briefing: presentation of the individual activities to be performed with the instructions and the rules of the game given.
• Playing: performance of the outdoor activities.
• Debriefing: logical-rational and emotional-affective collection of what has happened by using the discussion, the exchange of feedback, the comparison, the filling up of grids and questionnaires, the comment on video recordings or photos.
• Carry over: identification of mental models, principles and techniques to transfer into the daily business activities and into one’s own professional role.
• Follow up: check of the activity performed after a while and building up of an individual development plan realized by each participant during plenary meetings and/or individual coaching sessions.