learning in the fresh air

Experiential learning … a chance for a knees up on the company credit card?

No!

Experiential learning is far more than just a development fad and has been discussed as far back as the 1900’s. It was brought to the forefront of the development industry over 20 years ago when David Kolb published his 1984 book, ‘Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development’, and has long since been an important and well-respected medium in the learning and development industry.

Once David Kolb’s book was published, a craze swept the nation that saw experiential learning as a key method of delivering learning and development. Organisations were keen to get their managers hanging off cliffs, upside-down while dressed in fetching waterproofs, which was initially well received as it was a complete opposite to the traditional training format.

Although countless organisations achieved great success using experiential events, many employees became sceptical about its purpose and saw it as a ‘happy-clappy’ team event, with little learning involved, instead of seeing it as a useful and beneficial learning tool.

Obviously, the effectiveness of experiential learning depends on the design and implementation so it is imperative when embarking on an event that relationships are built between the training provider, the client organisation, and more importantly, the delegates.

Righttrack Consultancy, a learning and development specialist with over 20 years experience is incredibly passionate about experiential learning and has a growing reputation for providing inspiring and behaviour changing events.

Kasmin Cooney, Righttrack’s Managing Director, says, “Experiential learning is a brilliant tool that gives delegates first hand experiences when learning new skills and different behaviours.

Designing and implementing a brand new experiential event is incredibly exciting and is something that the team at Righttrack love to do; it really gets our juices flowing.

Having designed many events over the years, we have found that encompassing an experiential event as part of a modular development programme generates the best results. This is because the reasoning behind the event is obvious to all involved and allows the learning to have a physical element for delegates to refer back to. This really helps with the transition of learning, which after all is the overriding factor when evaluating a development programme to be either a success or failure.”

Experiential learning does not necessarily mean being outside in the elements, although this is a popular option, it can also include theatre events, fashion shows and visiting other countries without actually needing to leave the training room.

Whichever event is chosen, as with any form of learning and development, ensuring delegates understand why they are being asked to participate is essential, as it will help create commitment, motivation and a positive learning environment.

So, although there are still sceptics and ‘I’m not doing that’ people out there, the majority of people are probably more than willing to get stuck into an experiential event if the reasoning behind it is just, with proven results. After all, a break from the day-to-day grind is as good as a rest.

-End-