Unleashing Personal Growth: The Power of Experiential Learning

Updated July 5th 2023

Research and theory conducted worldwide on human learning repeatedly indicates there are a range of learning styles. According to psychologist and educational theorist, David Kolb (1984), we all have different preferences in how we learn. Kolb has spent much of his adult life studying adult learning, and has drawn heavily on the work of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget. Most of us are not even aware of what our own learning style is. Any group of people will be made up of individuals with different learning styles, making it difficult for each and every person in a group training to learn effectively. To have a significant impact, training programs should consider individual learning styles.

When learning, some people need to know the facts and figures and models, others need to experience what they are learning about in practice, yet others need to observe others doing what is required, in order to learn. Another way of putting it, is that we all have preferences in the sensory experience of how we learn, some prefer to watch, others to listen, other to feel and experience and others to talk through or be talked through step by step how something works. Either way, whichever way we learn, the most important thing is that once we’ve learnt we need to practice for it to stick long-term. Hence our focus, at Adaptas™, is on finding a mixture between allowing people to observe, to be presented with the models and the facts as we know them, and ultimately all our trainings involve a focus on practicing and ‘doing’ everything that is being learnt about. Our focus, in other words, is on experiential learning.

Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Simply put, experiential learning is learning from experience.

There is a famous saying by Confucius (551-479 BC) “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand”. We at adaptas™ know that ‘involve me’ requires presenting the information in a variety of ways so as to target all learning styles and personalities within one group of people.

When it comes to learning how to effectively communicate, a person could read every book ever published telling them how to be a good communicator. However communication is only necessary when another person if involved, so all the books in the world or traditional classroom learning is never going to be effective in teaching somebody, for example, how to sell or influence customers, or how to work effectively in a team.

Furthermore, we all operate from a place of habits and patterns, most of which are learnt early in life, and which no longer serve us. Yet again most of us are unaware of these patterns, and how many of the patterns are effecting how we interact with everyone; family, friends, colleagues, and customers etc.

Experiential learning engages the learner at a more personal level by addressing the needs and wants of the individual, even when learning as one of a group. By developing people as individuals, rather than simply transferring arbitrary capabilities, we develop people’s confidence, self-esteem, personal strengths, and crucially a rounded sense of purpose and fulfillment, which fundamentally improve attitude, life-balance and emotional well-being. These immensely important outcomes are just as important for sustainable productive work as the essential skills and knowledge typically represented in conventional education and work-related hard skills training.

Experiential learning can be thought of as growing a person from the inside, whereas conventional teaching and training is the transfer of capability into a person from the outside. In work and society most problems stem from people feeling unhappy or being unfulfilled. Conventional training/teaching does little to counter these effects. Individual growth – via experiential learning – offers ways to address personal feelings of confidence, fulfilment, sense of purpose, etc. Experiential learning engages the learner at a more personal level by addressing the needs and wants of the individual. Experiential learning allows one to learn new skills, new attitudes or even entirely new ways of thinking.

Let’s face it; we at Adaptas™ could choose easier ways to deliver training! Conventional approaches to training would require less energy and time in preparation and delivery for us, and likewise, would be less challenging for our trainers and trainees. However, we believe so much in experiential learning at Adaptas™, that we have sought out and brought the most effective approaches to experiential learning and a variety of other psychologically deep reaching techniques together, to create effective interactive training services, which create new habits and patterns in communication. Hopefully you will get to experience the difference with us one day soon.

‘What’ Vs. ‘How’ In Staff Training And Development

(Figure: Kolb and Fry's Learning Process)

Updated: July 5th 2023

Frequently, there exists a disconnect between the content and delivery of staff training and development programs. The focus is often on the theoretical “what” aspects, rather than the practical “how” elements that should be emphasized. This raises a crucial question: How can trainees truly grasp new knowledge if they are not provided with the necessary tools and guidance to effectively apply the concepts covered in the training room?

The ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius stated, “tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.”

For staff training and development to be effective, one must identify the most critical skills to teach, and then allow learners to use the skills under realistic usage conditions. Staff training must be so compelling as to absorb participants in its realism in a way that engages more than the intellect. It must be practical so that participants may actively use it. It must be relevant to the complexities of the work life of participants, and most importantly, it must provide a memorable, lasting experience.

Many approaches to staff training and development do not address what is difficult about applying the knowledge or skills in the right ways. They make it difficult to remember or use the information appropriately once the training is over. Most of what we really know how to do we learn by ‘doing’, so any training must involve ‘doing’!

For example, when it comes to learning how to effectively communicate, a person could read every book ever published telling them how to be a good communicator. However communication is only necessary when another person is involved. Therefore, all the books in the world or classroom learning where someone imparts theories and models on how to communicate is never going to be effective in teaching somebody to sell or influence customers, or how to work effectively in a team. Furthermore, we all operate from a place of habits and patterns, most of which are learnt early in life, and which no longer serve us. Most of us are unaware of these patterns and how many of the patterns are effecting how we interact with everyone; family, friends, colleagues, and customers etc. Sitting in a room, talking about how it should all be done will not bring our awareness to these patterns of behaviour.

Staff training and development should be enjoyable but it should also have a significant impact on the learners and give them simulated experiences they can rely on when they need to deploy them in real life.

This is why Adaptas™ have brought the most experiential learning and deep reaching techniques together to create effective Interactive Training Services, which create new habits and patterns in communication. Experiential learning engages the learner at a more personal level by addressing the needs and wants of the individual, even when learning as one of a group. By developing people as individuals, rather than simply transferring arbitrary capabilities, we develop people’s confidence, self-esteem, personal strengths, and crucially a rounded sense of purpose and fulfillment, which fundamentally improve attitude, life-balance and emotional well-being. These immensely important outcomes are just as important for sustainable productive work as the essential skills and knowledge typically represented in conventional education and work-related training.

In our view, the purpose of staff training and development, is to make staff significantly happier and more productive, to increase profits as customers return over and over, and to improve staff retention so, less budget is spent on recruitment and training of new recruits. Did you know that to hire one new person costs approximately the equivalent of one year of their annual salary? Something to consider!

At Adaptas™, we aim to save each organisation we work with money and time by making everyone more effective at what they do. Our objective is to ensure the value we bring to your organisation is, by a significant margin, larger than costs associated. For this reason we insist on agreeing at an early stage, the desired results and how to measure them. Adaptas™ in association with RPCM (www.consultrpcm.com) will bring experience and ideas to ensure the measurement agreed is appropriate for all.

How Empathy Impacts Business

Updated July 3rd 2023

After being invited to provide a psychologist’s perspective on empathy at a business event last year, I began to reflect on something that I had previously taken for granted. I realised that the concept of empathy is becoming increasingly relevant in the business world, yet there are still many individuals who either overlook its importance or lack the knowledge of how to cultivate empathy with their colleagues and clients. Exploring this topic in depth would require multiple blog posts, but for now, I encourage you to contemplate both your own and your colleagues’ capacity for empathy. Do you truly grasp the essence of empathy?

Empathy can be formally defined as the aptitude to recognise and comprehend the circumstances, emotions, and motivations of others. It entails our ability to acknowledge and understand the worries and concerns that others may have. Empathy can be described as “putting yourself in the other person’s shoes” or “viewing situations from someone else’s perspective.”

There are now numerous studies that link empathy to business results, making it no longer a touchy feely topic to discuss in business. At its core, empathy is the oil that keeps relationships running smoothly. Studies correlate empathy with increased sales, with the performance of the best managers of product development teams and with enhanced performance in an increasingly diverse workforce. When it comes to staff training and client retention or customer service training courses, an understanding and development of empathy is imperative. If you are interested in reading into this topic further all the studies mentioned can be viewed here (http://www.eiconsortium.org/).

Empathy allows us to create bonds of trust, it gives us insights into what others may be feeling or thinking; it helps us understand how or why others are reacting to situations, it sharpens our “people acumen” and informs our decisions.

Bestselling author, Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age) predicts that power will reside with those who have strong right-brain (interpersonal) qualities such as inventiveness, empathy, and meaning. He cites three forces that are causing this change: Abundance, Asia and Automation. “Abundance” refers to our increasing demand for products or services that are aesthetically pleasing; “Asia” refers to the growing trend of outsourcing; “Automation” is self-explanatory. In order to compete in the new economy market, Pink suggests six areas that are vital to our success. One of which is Empathy; the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position, to imagine what they are feeling, to understand what makes people tick, to create relationships and to be caring of others: All of which is very difficult to outsource or automate, and yet is increasingly important to business.

Dr. Daniel Goleman isolates three reasons why empathy is so important in business today: the increasing use of teams, (which he refers to as “cauldrons of bubbling emotions”), the rapid pace of globalization (with cross cultural communication easily leading to misunderstandings) and the growing need to retain talent. “Leaders with empathy,” states Goleman, “do more than sympathize with people around them: they use their knowledge to improve their companies in subtle, but important ways.” This doesn’t mean that they agree with everyone’s view or try to please everybody. Rather, they “thoughtfully consider employees’ feelings – along with other factors – in the process of making intelligent decisions.”

We recently developed some trademarked processes which we use in our staff training and in particular our customer service training courses take “putting yourself in the other person’s shoes” to a whole new level. Let’s have a chat to see how you and your team can work out who’s shoe it is anyway!!.

Is Communication Skills Training “Fluffy”?

Updated July 3rd 2023

Recently a colleague of mine referred to staff training and development and communication skills training as being ‘fluffy’. This got me thinking, isn’t it funny the approach that is taken to learning about improving communication and behaviour in society? At school we learn all sorts of subjects. In history class we learn about all the war and destruction the world has seen but not about how ineffective communication has lead to much of this destruction. We study language, our own mother tongue, and if we are lucky, the languages of other countries. We are not, however taught how to communicate effectively, in our own or other languages, with our friends, family, and people in general. Some of us learn about business organisation at school, but how much of the syllabus talks about how important an understanding of each other’s needs is in making organisations work effectively? And even my colleague, who is an extremely successful management consultant, working with leaders and managers on a daily basis, calls staff training and development and communication skills training ‘fluffy’.

Fluffy is a term used to describe cotton wool, teddy bears, bunny rabbits and woolly sweaters and in an online dictionary I just looked up as ‘sentimental or over-romantic; not very intelligent’. To taking a positive swirl on this, when people refer to staff training and development and communication skills training as fluffy they perhaps see effective communication as an impossible dream. We are perhaps looking to do something that is idealized, because in a results-based society the impact of training is often difficult to measure. Many decision makers can’t align results with training, yet all success depends on the growth and communication of individuals.

I cannot tell you how many times recently, coming up to Christmas I walked into stores to buy gifts for family and friends, just as quickly to turn around and walk out to go to one of their competitors. Why did I turn around and walk out? Well a whole range of things. Absolutely nothing to do with what was on the shelves or how glitzy and eye-grabbing the branding was. My exit was solely related to the people on the floor, the lack of interest, enthusiasm or willingness to help. On one day there may be five particular stores that I would have spent money in. But my money was spent in other stores where I received the interest, enthusiasm or willingness that I expected or at least a glimpse of what I expected to be honest!

I am only one person; How many other people out there did the same as me coming up to Christmas? How many of those businesses I walked out of might in the coming year go into liquidation or similar because their staff on the cold face with customers do not know how to make the best of their personalities, to make the shopping experience an enjoyable one. How many of those customer will leave knowing that next time they need to buy a similar product they will be returning to this store to see the same smiling face or a similar smiling face to greet them an assist them with their purchase?

If we are not taught how to communicate effectively or how to recognize the impact of our behaviours in school, or by our parents, or by our peers or through the media, and we can’t lick it off the ground, then where are we supposed to learn it?

Communication and behavior change is simple really, yes maybe it is ‘fluffy’, but it is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to get right if a business wants to be successful in the long-term. Any business I have interacted with and that I have been impressed by continually spend on effective staff training and development and communication skills training, and it is generally clearly obvious to me, based on the interactions I have with those organisations, those who do and those who don’t. But then maybe I expect to much?!

If you haven’t already, check out some testimonials given by our clients… You can hear from others just how fluffy adaptas™ can be.

8 Essential Skills for Successful Business Communication Training

Updated on July 3rd 2023

What makes someone excellent when delivering staff training and development or facilitating learning in others?

Explore our insights below:

1. Effective Listening

One crucial skill for facilitators is the ability to truly listen to participants. This includes their opinions, thoughts, and needs. It is important to recognise the opportune moments to interject, whether this is by asking thought-provoking questions that foster self-awareness or by guiding individuals to question perspectives they may not have considered previously.

2. Embracing Silence

Recognising the value of silence is a key component of effective staff training. It is important to understand that not every moment needs to be filled with constant talking or noise. Allowing space for reflection is necessary, as different individuals require varying amounts of time to fully grasp concepts and ideas.

3. Strategic Speaking

When facilitating, it’s important to determine when it’s necessary to share your own knowledge or experience on the topic or scenario, while remaining humble and avoiding ego-driven monologues. As a facilitator, although you may lead many of the conversations, it is important to avoid dominating them by not allowing room for others to speak. Encourage others to contribute from their own experiences, even if they haven’t spoken before, as their insights can provide valuable perspectives on the situation.

4. Embracing Constructive Challenges

Having the ability to recognise the appropriate moments to challenge individuals or groups in a respectful and controlled manner is vital. Being comfortable with respectfully questioning and pushing boundaries when necessary creates an environment conducive to growth and learning.

5. Embracing Authenticity

Being true to yourself is incredibly important, especially when standing in front of a group. However, at Adaptas, our facilitators sometimes assume the roles of different personalities or characters to highlight specific issues, remaining in those roles as long as necessary for effective learning. With this unique approach, participants are able to interact authentically with people and situations they may encounter in the workplace, and therefore understand and analyse their real reactions and thought processes. Additionally, this approach enables participants to safely confront the types of personalities they encounter daily in their workplaces. In real-life situations, people often react without much thought due to the fast-paced nature of interactions. However, our patterns and habits, learned since childhood, may no longer serve us. At Adaptas, our facilitators provide participants with a valuable opportunity to pause, reflect, and explore alternative ways to respond to situations and others’ remarks. Additionally, we offer input and coaching to enhance participants’ communication effectiveness by identifying what does and doesn’t work for them.

6. Embracing Risk-Taking

Our approach involves facilitators constantly taking risks. Not only do they need to be authentic to themselves, but they also assume the roles of other individuals, relying on their ability to be convincing. I have consistently witnessed our facilitators and role players portray their characters believably. Nevertheless, they face a wide range of challenging questions, occasionally without knowing the exact right answer. In such situations, they must improvise and respond convincingly. Sometimes, the characters they portray must exhibit tough love. In such instances, their utmost priority is to remain aware of the impact they have on the trainees, ensuring the process does not overwhelm any individual. Managing this during and after the session is crucial. This includes providing support, creating a sense of safety, and encouraging personal growth and improved interactions with others.

7. Remaining Open to All Outcomes

With our unique approach, we emphasise the importance of not becoming overly attached to a specific outcome or always being in the right. While clients may have certain guidelines we must follow, human communication is dynamic and unpredictable. The beauty lies in the diverse experiences and personalities present in each training session. We often find ourselves leaving a session with newfound insights about ourselves, group dynamics, and organisational workings. Witnessing the remarkable strength, resilience, and intelligence in our participants is truly inspiring. This process also serves as a powerful reminder that trusting ourselves and our collaborative efforts can lead to extraordinary transformations for individuals.

8. Knowing that you are not always the expert

None of us can claim to be right at all times. It is important to frame every training session with this in mind, for the sake of yourself as a facilitator, as well as for the participants. The desire to always be right or to be the only expert on a specific topic can hinder personal and collective growth. The path to learning entails diving in and experiencing the outcomes without ego or fear but rather with self-acceptance and a spirit of collaboration. When a trainer embodies this mindset, it becomes easier for participants to embrace the same approach.

In my life, one of the biggest realisations I have ever made is that fear and trepidation is there to show us how incredible life can be on the other side.

If it is time to challenge your staff in an innovative, creative, and effective way, contact us to arrange a meeting and let’s see what changes we can help you make!

Unleashing Personal Growth: The Power of Experiential Learning