Francis Laleman

George Supreeth

In this small collection of essays covering learning design, teaching, facilitation, and coaching for individual and organizational development & growth, Francis Laleman makes a case for something new and fresh altogether. This is not a manual, not a textbook, not a do-book. Rather, expect a series of transformative thoughts and exciting possibilities - for trainers, facilitators, (agile) coaches and assorted HR professionals. Following up on ideas first introduced by the Japanese designer Kenya Hara, Francis brings the concept of ex-formation to the world of adult learning and organizations, merging it with ideas taken from Rabindranath Tagore, Herman Teirlinck, Paulo Freire, Augusto Boal and many more – thus transforming Kenya Hara's communication method by making things unknown into a social, artistic and educational movement, a model approach of exploration, discovery and learning, uniquely adapted to the field of HRD, or, as Francis would rather see it, the development of resourcefulness in human beings. Francis Laleman was first a teacher of Sanskrit, the classical language of India, before he moved to social work, experimenting with non-conventional means of education among the destitute and the downtrodden – in urban slums, and on the paddy fields with landless farmers. Much of his educational philosophy and approach was shaped in grassroots communities, before he turned to applying his work in HRD environments, in companies and organizations, from the early 1990s onwards. For more than 40 years now, Francis has been a husband and a father, an educator, a teacher, a train-the-trainer, a workshop facilitator, a painter and a writer. When he isn’t traveling the world doing workshops and creative ateliers, you are most likely to find him in the lushness of an English garden – or perhaps in a Japanese monastery.

George Supreeth

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