What is experiential learning? Part 2

Just presenting a 'hands-on' exercise does not mean you’re using an experiential learning tool. The activity has to have an element of unexpected learning within it. The trainer must take a backstep from the learning environment and become a challenger or a last resort consultant. The trainees direct the learning environment.

A simple example is a game I designed for trainees learning about marketing for the first time. There were some important concepts we needed to get across to them without using the time-honoured PowerPoint-Talking-Heads scenario they were so used to. Instead, I designed a game that took a number of production and employee faults/issues/challenges and created them as obstacles on a classic roll-the-dice board game. I controlled all the ‘issues’ so it was far from experiential learning.

I added an extra learning challenge, however, in that the rules insisted that counters on each lane of the double-track could not get further apart than three spaces. The learning outcome from that would come out in discussion – employee skills and production rates are interlinked. But it was still not experiential learning.

In a group more open to different types of learning, I could have turned this into an experiential learning challenge. Sure, I would have given the board, and the basic rules/format, to the teams but I could have left the teams to come up with their own version of the game to illustrate given goals.

Let’s look at how that would have fitted into the parameters of experiential learning:

• A process of thinking – They would have had to use the KWL (What I Know,/What I want to know/What we learned) process to research and test the process


• Team work and good communication – They would need plenty of team work to do the research and design the rest of the game


• Role recognition – They would have had to acknowledge team member skills and assign roles


• Time and project management – They would have had to apportion time to tasks
  
• Managing conflict – They would need to manage conflict if there were disagreements about what needed to be included


• Group decision-making – And of course they would have to use good decision-making to come to a successful conclusion

If you would like to use the boardgame as a method of teaching about productivity issues I have arranged a generic set with blank cards that you can download free. You will need some light card to stick the boardgame onto, and to create the cards, plus dice and counters.

The set gives some examples of issues you might adapt to suit your industry. Then you can decide whether you want to control the learning about the issues or let your trainees use their own knowledge about production issues to create a game.

Now's not the time to trim training

Invest Wisely
So often organisations facing tough financial times, as the world's markets appear to be creating at the moment, look to cut budgets in two areas - the advertising budget and the training budget.

This reaction is so short-sighted. In tough times the two vital things you have to make sure about are that:

1. People know about the value of what you have to offer so they choose your products or services
2. Your employees are committed to working their butts off to make the best product or service in the most efficient way

If a company has downtime, then use it to give your employees further training. Invest time in developing their so-called 'soft' skills:

• Communication
• Team work
• Report writing and presentations
• Problem-solving

Downtime means there is a better chance of taking employees off-line in a group, and group dynamics can improve through an enlightened choice of training activity. And surprise, surprise many of the training tools on the Net are 'problem-solving' activities. They're the activities that naturally include the other three skills.

But the big bonus for companies who see a lack of work as an opportunity to improve is that they build loyalty. Employees will start to utilise their problem-solving skills to do what the company desperately wants to do - survive. You'll find the 'bright sparks' in your organisation.

"Bright sparks are at every level of your organisation. Don’t overlook them, engage them in forward thinking. Bright sparks don’t know the limits so they push the boundaries and that's what moves the whole organisation forward. - Heather Sylvawood, EdutechKM Ltd"