Just recently I have had an interesting conversation with a colleague here in South Wales who asked me if the word ‘experiential’ actually existed! This person speaks five languages fluently yet had never heard of something that us professional trainers are very familiar with.
So it made me think about how wrapped up we all get in our own little world with our own jargon, specific to our work area. We then use that language to talk to our potential clients and in some cases we may as well be speaking Martian. I was intent on using this language in some marketing that I am doing to develop my business and this encounter has made me stop and think about ensuring that I use language that is understood by my audience or if it is not, then I have to explain it.
Here then, is my brief guide to Experiential learning and why it is so much better for you as the learner than more traditional methods of learning.
Experiential learning is the way that we learn from experiences. Aristotle said “for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them”. So if you think about learning to drive a car, it is not until you are in the car trying to engage the clutch, steer the wheel and look in the mirrors, all at the same time, do you experience how difficult it is. Yet now you do this sub-consciously, without thinking when you drive because you have had the experiences and developed your skills.
Sticking to the driving analogy, if you had sat in a classroom and been told how to engage the clutch, steer the wheel and the need to look in your mirrors, would you have known how to drive? You might have the knowledge of these three skills, but you need to put it into practice to develop your understanding of how difficult it is to do all three things at once! This is the key part of the learning process. You do not learn just from hearing information in a classroom/lecture type situation you have to practise & experience the skills in order for you to develop and learn how they work.
Think about this now in the manager/subordinate situation in a busy work environment. The former tells the latter what to do & how to do it. If this instruction is not clear and if it does not involve the former establishing understanding in what the task is and if the subordinate is then not given an opportunity to practise this new skill there is a very high probability that they will fail. This failure is not the subordinates fault, it is the fault of the instructor who has not ensured that the learner has learnt…this is known as the learning cycle and is for another time.
Therefore, as a manager when you are hiring a training company or trainer one question you might want to ask them is how will the learner’s get experience of the skills & knowledge that you are going to share with them. What practical exercises are they going to undertake or is the session just going to be all one way communication, trainer to delegate? As a trainer do not get caught up in the ‘chalk & talk’ and ‘death by Powerpoint’ learning practise, as it will mean that the amount of actual learning that takes place for your learners will be minimal as all they will have experienced is you talking!
Thanks for your time, Suzanne Unsworth
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