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.

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.

Unleashing Personal Growth: The Power of Experiential Learning