Five Essential Programming Tools

Tool #1: FUNN

Your Most Powerful Magnet to Attract Engagement

If we want people to grow, learn, and develop – and we accept that this only occurs when they stretch beyond their comfort zones – how do we influence them to stretch when humans naturally seek comfort?

The most powerful strategy: have fun.

FUNN is a whimsical acronym coined by Karl Rohnke, meaning “Functional Understanding Not Necessary.” It operates on a simple principle: if it’s fun, I want to be part of it. Obvious fun is very hard to stay away from. It’s contagious and speaks everyone’s language.

Fun isn’t a push out of the comfort zone – it’s a magnet that invites people to try something new. A liberal dose of fun is absolutely essential to influence the way people feel and create an environment that encourages them to step outside their comfort zones. Fun changes how people feel, which changes how they think, which changes what they do.

Consider this: asking someone to stand up and introduce themselves in the first two minutes of a program can be daunting. But performing this same task after several hours of highly interactive, non-threatening fun that generated sharing, laughter, and energy is suddenly easier. Why? Because you’ve changed how they feel.

Fun isn’t frivolous – it’s fundamental to human development. Dr William Glasser identified four core psychological needs: belonging, personal power, personal freedom, and fun. People may suffer if fun isn’t taken seriously.

Like detergent, fun has the greatest power to cut through resistance. It’s not one tool among many – it’s the foundational tool that frames the use of all other Essential Programming Tools.

Tool #2: Setting Goals

Articulating the Difference Answers the ‘Why?’ Question

The process of setting goals and working towards them is unquestionably beneficial. Research repeatedly shows that groups achieve more when they set goals because goals motivate people as much as they guide and direct energy towards a common objective.

But most facilitators stop after identifying a goal like “build team skills” or “develop leadership.” That’s a start, but having a goal is not the same as making a difference.

Go deeper. Ask: Why does this goal matter to the group? How will achieving it make them feel? What difference will this make to their real lives – school, home, work, play? To whom does this matter most?

When you can clearly articulate what difference you’re going to make, you can identify exactly how you want your group to feel when they leave the program. This emotional clarity transforms good programs into remarkable ones.

Tool #3: Honouring Choice

Creating an Environment Where People Feel Comfortable Making Decisions

None of us enjoys being forced or coerced to do something we don’t want to do. Even when activities are “good for you,” an approach that gives people power to choose will always be more successful than external pressure.

Challenge by Choice, a concept coined by Karl Rohnke and popularised by Project Adventure, honours people’s choice to determine their own level of involvement in any activity. Nobody should be coerced into doing anything they don’t want to do.

This isn’t simply about saying “no.” Honouring choice allows people to pull back from a challenge that might push them into panic and instead find another role that works for them – choosing one’s level of challenge rather than opting out entirely.

Challenge by Choice shifts responsibility onto the facilitator to create an environment that encourages participation. It’s not about whether participants choose to engage – it’s about whether you’ve created a space where people genuinely feel comfortable willingly stepping outside their comfort zone.

Language matters: “You are invited to…” not “You have to…” Environment dictates performance, and creating an environment where all group members can make appropriate choices consistent with your program goals is one of your primary responsibilities.

Tool #4: Full Value

Creating a Working Agreement Values Everyone’s Contribution

If honouring choice acknowledges that people enter experiences from within their comfort zones, creating a “full value” working agreement is the vehicle they use to interact safely and productively within their stretch zone.

A working agreement – like a seatbelt – helps individuals and groups achieve program goals in a safe and supportive environment. It creates a coherent, shared, and conscious understanding of how people are expected to behave.

Every program benefits from consciously defining behavioural expectations. Programs involving the same people over an extended time need working agreements significantly more than shorter, one-off programs.

The core purpose is to keep the space as fun as possible and as safe as possible. All people have a right to be valued, and valuing oneself is as important as valuing others.

With clearly defined boundaries, people know where they stand and comfortably make decisions about their type and level of involvement. Ambiguous boundaries make groups less inclined to interact outside their comfort zone.

Tool #5: Reflection

Learning Through Experience Turns Doing into Learning

If education or professional development is a program goal, reflection becomes one of the most powerful tools available.

Here’s the critical distinction: experiential learning is “learning through reflection on doing.” The practice of simply “doing” does not, in and of itself, create “learning.” The process of reflection makes all the difference.

A child learning to ride a bike doesn’t learn by doing it successfully. They learn by discovering all the ways not to do it successfully, reflecting on what went wrong with guidance from a facilitator (parent), and trying again with adjustments. The learning occurs in the reflection process.

The Experiential Learning Cycle follows three steps – What? So What? Now What? – to transform concrete experiences into applied learning. Not every activity requires deep reflection. Some exist purely for fun and connection. But when learning is the goal, reflection is what makes it stick.