Why use Experiential Learning?

It’s fair to say that life is a series of experiences, sometimes good and sometimes bad but the consistency of these experiences is that we use them to gather knowledge. Our everyday knowledge is a result of what we have learnt from previous experiences, this is the simplest form of learning.

Experiential Learning is based on doing, reviewing and doing again. Team building activities provide an excellent medium for learning on a level playing field, irrespective of individuals’ career level, age or ability. Specially designed activities provide the opportunity for a group of people to tackle a task/challenge together in just one hour – a relatively short period of time, although long enough for the group to be immersed in the task at hand and for individuals to behave naturally.

Teambuilding activities are also an ideal means of creating a non threatening experience outside the usual working environment, as people become absorbed in the task really quickly, which provides facilitators with the opportunity to draw out significant learning points right away.

Taking part in an activity together creates the opportunity, post-activity, for the group to reflect on their performance during the task and therefore consider how they might improve in order to tackle the next activity more efficiently. This technique of complete, learn, improve and repeat will show individuals how they can improve to complete the task more efficiently next time, and the skills that they are learning in this process transfer straight back to the office environment, including communication, team work, trust and identify strengths. With these skills in mind the task will be completed more efficiently.

Carrying out a second activity, putting into practice what the team have learnt during their first task, demonstrates how the individuals have all learnt how they contribute to a more efficient team. In true experiential learning style, the second activity consolidates the observations from the previous one, providing an opportunity to practice the learning.

Experiential learning, brings about profound experiences that lead to personal learning by developing self awareness. Through experiential learning, individuals learn how to become effective members of a team, so that a team can operate efficiently, to create a resourceful business (of any nature).