More engaging training… no safari required

What can a zebra, an elephant, and a giraffe teach you about how to conduct a workplace investigation?

This isn’t the start of a safari joke, it’s a strategy for learning.

I’ve spent time in Uganda, Zambia, and Botswana teaching children how to draw African animals. (At one point, I taught more than 300 students how to draw a shoebill stork — and yes, we all attempted the face.) Those classes work because they’re engaging, a little messy, and built on trusting your instincts.

A lot of legal training misses that mark. It’s dry, overly legalistic, and quickly forgotten. We’ve all sat through “Death by PowerPoint.”

Last week, I saw something different. A group of participants — from HR, Compliance, and Legal — leaned in, debated (politely), made judgment calls, and even changed their minds. In other words, they actually learned. Why? Because we made it real. The zebra team looked for patterns. The elephant team focused on the big picture. The giraffes pushed us to take the long view and evaluate risk. The slides were still there — but they weren’t doing the heavy lifting.

Because here’s the thing: people don’t learn investigations by memorizing steps. They learn by doing — sorting through incomplete facts, making judgment calls, and sometimes getting it wrong. We may internally roll our eyes at the idea of audience participation (the introvert in me still says, “Yikes!”), but the truth is, it’s far more engaging, and that’s exactly why it works.

I didn’t always approach training this way. I used to think a polished deck (with a well-placed cartoon) would do the job. It helps, but it’s not the point. The real learning happens in the discussion, the tension, the “wait, that changes things” moments.

Maybe you *can* teach an old elephant new tricks. And maybe the goal isn’t just strong investigations — it’s building teams that are conflict-capable: able to recognize issues early, think clearly, and respond thoughtfully.

If you know a team that could benefit from that kind of learning, we’d love to bring it to you. No safari required.