Experiential Learning
How Experiential Learning Can Step-Charge Your Key Employees
Learning by doing is the best way to embed new ways of working in your teams!
When I ask most people I meet what was the best learning and development experience they have had in their career there is a strong theme running across the vast majority of the replies – significant personal involvement in the programme leading to enhanced enjoyment and benefit. This is what is known as experiential learning.
Experiential learning is “learning by doing” as opposed to “learning by being lectured to”. There are a few prerequisites or abilities that the potential learner must possess in order to derive benefit
- a willingness to be actively involved in the experience
- an ability to reflect on the experience
- the analytical skills to conceptualise the experience
- the decision making and problem solving skills to use the new ideas gained and provided he has these the results can be outstanding.
One of the best examples of experiential learning in a corporate context is the business simulation game. The reason why games are so popular as learning tools has a lot to do with the “fun factor” which we first discovered as children and which formed the basis for all of our early years learning. In fact, according to recent research by the National Training Laboratories in Bethal, Maine, USA, whilst we typically retain only 5% of the content of a typical lecture, we can retain up to 75% of what we experience in “learning through doing”.
The great thing about experiential learning, apart from the fun element, is the fact that people can experiment with ideas in a totally safe environment. In a business simulation, for example, delegates can test out potentially high risk/high reward strategies knowing that the worst that can happen is that they will reach the conclusion that there are better ways to tackle an issue than the way they selected! In real-life, the potential consequences would have been far more serious. Experiential learning also tends to promote teamwork in a group learning environment, usually much more readily than a more traditional lecture-style approach.
As a final word on the subject, the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, is said to have observed, “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand”. To be honest, I could not have put it any better myself!
PEARSON CONSULTING is the official GCC partner of the PROFITABILITY UK and offers the flagship CORPORATE PROFITABILITY business simulation in the region and across Africa. For more information...Click here.
