The Power of Experiential Learning

As the name suggests, experiential learning involves learning from experience. The theory was proposed by psychologist David Kolb. According to Kolb, this type of learning can be defined as : “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combinations of grasping and transforming the experience.” (Kolb, 1984)

As the name suggests, experiential learning involves learning from experience. The theory was proposed by psychologist David Kolb.  According to Kolb, this type of learning can be defined as : “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combinations of grasping and transforming the experience.”   (Kolb, 1984)

It refers to a style of learning that occurs when a person is interacting with the environment, including the people, animals and situations involved. It puts your employees at the centre of what they need to know.  It is learning by doing.

As an old Chinese proverb says :

 “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand,”

So experiential learning is essentially learning by doing, but there are other important steps which Kolb believes we should consider for it to be useful. It involves a cyclical process of action, in which employees reflect upon and then adjust their actions accordingly based on what happens. This cycle can be described in four parts:

1. The learner has concrete experience with the content being taught.
2. The learner reflects on the experience by comparing it to prior experiences.
3. Based on experience and reflection, the learner develops new ideas about the content being taught.
4. The learner acts on her new ideas by experimenting in an experiential setting.

As new ideas are put into action, a new cycle of experiential learning begins. This is also known as learning in the flow of work.

Here at Pro-Development, we believe that experiential learning is an opportunity to revolutionize how companies train their employees and develop leaders from within. This is backed up with research which shows that those who undertake experiential learning retain 68% of information after two weeks verses those who just read material who only retained 29%.

So why do we love it so much here at Pro-Development?

Its not just because we like to be out in the great outdoors, tramping across the moors or paddling across a lake in a stunning setting – but of course that’s an added bonus!  The beautiful environments we choose to deliver our sessions in enable us to :

• Create situations in which our clients are given the opportunity to apply ideas and put them into action in a real situation in which they must play an active role. Enabling them to understand how their behaviours influence outcomes

• Develop each individual’s capacity to adapt to new situations and change while leading a team – connecting the lessons learned to real-life challenges

• Develop activities and situations that bridge the gap between theory and practice to ensure that the optimum amount of learning takes place.

• Create an environment and culture within the sessions that provides a safe space to fail – and provide support to analyse why specific actions produce certain results

• Support clients to accurately assess their own skills and areas for development and experiment with new behaviours to test the outcomes

So why is it important?

We believe that it provides a unique opportunity to experience real emotions and adopt new patterns of thinking, it enables us to promote experimentation in problem solving, and develop group awareness and trust.

We know that people believe more in knowledge discovered themselves than in knowledge presented by others and this makes the experience extremely powerful for our clients. And we understand that changes in perception of oneself and one’s social environment are necessary before changes in actions, thoughts, attitudes and behaviour take place. The supportive, accepting and caring environment that we create enables our clients to feel freer to experiment with new behaviours, attitudes, actions and thoughts. Which in turn enables them to become confident, knowledgeable, adaptable authentic and inspiring leaders for you and your business.

Here’s what Louise Anderson from Rafi’s Spicebox had to say about the recent 7-month Experiential Leadership Programme she attended: –

“I’ve done a few leadership courses and so was somewhat familiar with some of things we had begun to talk about. I felt like it was going to be a lot of old stuff just packaged in a different way. Wow, was I wrong! My breakthrough moment came when we met the horses. At that point I understood what Pro-Development were trying to do with the experiential course. By throwing us into situations where we could use what we were learning almost immediately made me understand what the theory is in action and to let it sink in and stick.”

If you would like to know more about how we can help you develop and transform your people, leaders and teams through our approach to experiential learning, please get in touch so we can understand what you are looking to achieve.