Experiential Learning isn’t just a buzzword in educational contexts. Experiential learning also provides a valuable opportunity for staff across corporate, business, organisational and/or volunteering to learn too.
Through experiential learnings processes and techniques, staff can improve their own wellbeing, think differently about their purpose and approach at work and learn to more meaningfully interact with customers, clients, colleagues and leaders by learning from real-world examples.
Experiential learning offers an multitude of discovery opportunities. By making the learning and development process engaging and relatable, staff can grow through gaining valuable skills, capabilities and resources that benefit them as they work, as well as in their personal life.
I've really enjoyed the privilege of working with a range of staff teams through experiential learning opportunities. Below are a collection of my reflections on how I believe experiential learning can be best implemented in the day-to-day corporate, business, organisational and/or volunteering world.
Harness the Full Cycle of Experiential Learning
Learning by doing. This is the basis for experiential learning which focuses on the idea that the best ways to learn things is by actually having experiences. Those experiences then stick out in your mind and help you retain information and remember facts. The experiential learning theory works in four stages - concrete learning, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. The first two stages of the cycle involve grasping an experience, the second two focus on transforming an experience. The value of experiential learning comes from equally embracing all four stages.
Make It Fun and Games
Experiential learning is about creating an immersive learning environment so staff not only absorb but retain information better. Ideally, it should make learning, development and growth appealing. Staff will have an easier time recalling information that they can associate with feel-good experiences as they create emotional signatures in the brain. Games, activities and/or adventures are useful tools that allow staff to connect to learning in a fun, different, yet influential and meaningful way.
Use External Help to Build In-House Experiences
By designing and implementing an experiential learning program in-house, an organisation can develop an entirely customised program which directly benefits staff. Acquiring external help is valuable, but only if they are prepared to come alongside the organisation, learn about your outcomes and utilise their skills to develop a program on behalf of the organisation. The experience needs to be real, one that each staff member can apply or relate to their work.
Rethink Another Team's Challenges
Teams are already providing the mechanisms for meaningful experiences. Take real-life scenarios and role play the observations, challenges, potential setbacks, and ideal outcomes. When the challenging events show up within the team or another team in the organisation, we can ask staff to work out how they would have approached the issue. By rethinking the scenario, we can create the space to be curious and asks questions, in turn helping the team think deeper and more creatively.
Ideate what 'Workplace' can Mean
Look to change the working environment, if only temporary. Get staff outside, into nature (or spaces which reflect nature), surrounded by new/different stimuli. Shifting learning to new environments breeds creativity and taking new approaches fosters inclusion. Furthermore, it improves social, emotional, physical and mental wellbeing.
Get Adventurous
There is no harm in using what many perceive to be as a hobby, as a learning opportunity. Outdoor Adventures are a perfect example... where an emphasis should be placed on the process, not the action. The activity provides an engaging way to circle through the experiential learning stages, while also learning a lot about each staff member’s own strengths and capabilities. Opportunities include mountain biking, nature art, bushwalking, journalling, craft, paddling and more.
Embrace Learning Diversity
The ways and styles in which people learn is diverse. Learning styles include Visual (spatial), Aural (auditory-musical), Verbal (linguistic), Physical (kinesthetic), Logical (mathematical), Social (interpersonal), Solitary (intrapersonal) or a combination of some. Experiential Learning accommodates these diverse learning styles, some which aren’t embraced in day-to-day work environments.
Start with Staff Culture
The best way to implement experiential learning in the workplace is to encourage it as part of the organisational culture. When staff feel as though there are no "right or wrong" ways to go about a task, when they're actively encouraged to think proactively and creatively and when they know that creative solutions to problems are encouraged, experiential learning can become commonplace.
Experiences Can Transform Culture
Experiences can be harnessed to take values off the wall and incorporated into day to day actions. Experiences can be utilised to demonstrate strength-based leadership, trust, communication and autonomy among staff. Culture is determined not by titles, strategies or contracts, but by how people authentically feel about their work and the environment in which they work.
Simulate Real-World And Role-Specific Scenarios
One of the best ways to implement experiential learning in the training process is through simulations that mimic real-world challenges that staff face in their roles or as part of their teams. This approach enables staff to ‘professionally develop’ in live and virtual environments, assessing competencies, customising feedback and coaching, while being able to ‘fail safely’, self-correct and learn by doing.
Plan to Incorporate Experiential Activities
There are steps to take when incorporating experiential components:
Know your staff and determine their needs
Think of problems to be solved rather than information to be remembered, and
Identify appropriate activities for your staff and the learning experiences.
It's not the particular learning activity that is experiential, it is the way that it is framed (the process) that makes it experiential.
Connect It to a Bigger Picture
A key outcome of experiential learning is to cultivate embedded mastery, not just intellectual cognition. One way to do this is to create experiences that allow staff to make a meaningful connection between what they're learning, how it links to their organisations purpose, and the place it has in their local, national and international communities. Staff should be afforded the opportunity to undertake experiential learning at their own pace, is as much about self-discovery as it is about skill development.
Treat Experiential Learning as a First Step
Currently, most experiential learning opportunities are a ‘one-off’ rather than the initial foundation for a longer learning cadence of experience, understanding, application and practice. Organisations will benefit in a more meaningful way if they are able to appreciate the value of experiential learning, which just like acquiring a new language, is a multi-step process in which the first opportunity is only the first step.