Doing Is Believing
Leadership cannot be taught but it can be learnt.
Climbing rugged mountains, rafting through tough rapids, trekking through unknown terrain and gliding through turbulent wind are no longer just oft-used metaphors to describe life in the corporate world. These physically challenging activities are today integral to several organisational training programmes that use experiential learning (EL) methods.
While all these activities are stimulating, adventurous and fun, they are essentially used to draw attention to inter-personal dynamics as well as personal attitudes and behaviours that have a direct bearing on workplace relationships.
But EL is not just about sports and outdoor activities. There is a whole range of exercises that use EL. Creating a task force comprising a group of people brought together to solve a given problem is one, while creating simulated situations (putting people in pairs to resolve a conflict) to understand issues such as conflict management is another.
“Experiential learning is a widely used training methodology”, once a person reaches adulthood, experiential learning becomes the most powerful way of learning.
How so? Studies have shown that participants retain only 5 per cent information learnt through lecture, 10 per cent through reading and 30 per cent through demonstration. But they can retain up to 75 per cent information learnt through doing. And that’s what EL does. Here, the traditional instructive training method is replaced by one based on situations or experiences. “If you want people to effectively retain the knowledge gained, experiential learning is perhaps the best method”.
This learning-by-doing gets even more pronounced as a person grows older and becomes a ‘voluntary learner’. Therefore, the practice of experiential learning has tended to veer towards the use of more learner-centred and outdoor techniques.
One of the most sought after classes at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government is the one on leadership taught by Dean Williams, a lecturer in public policy. Outrageous statements are used to provoke students — of different ages, race, gender, sexuality and class — into reacting from their gut rather than their conditioned intellect. Academic debates give way to more ‘basic’ reactions such as breaking down and loss of temper, which reveal the subtle prejudices and biases that govern group dynamics. These exaggerated situations help students become aware of their deep-rooted and hidden biases, which they then have to learn to address.
Most HR managers acknowledge the effectiveness of these intense, challenging and highly interactive training sessions that take place outside neon-lit and often sterile conference rooms.
“A little while ago, we had an almost entirely new team in our Engine and Industrial Business unit and we wanted that team to drive effective change in the organisation,” says Aniruddha Khekale, deputy general manager of human resources at Pune-based Cummins India Limited. About few months ago, the unit’s entire leadership team underwent a three-day training programme that was part workshops, part outbound activities and part deep reflective sessions. “The training had a very high impact on the participants,” says Khekale. “I have seen the results filter back into the workplace.” The reason for this, he feels, is that the training focused on self exploration and self realisation and had an impact on people’s very core.
These results are not surprising, such training programmes have been so successful that several IT and ITeS companies in Bangalore have made it mandatory for their employees to undergo at least one three-day EL training module.
Adapting To The Times
“Experiential learning has been an accepted methodology in India since the early 1970s,” although it was applied only in small measure and in select organisations.” The reason why it has gained so much popularity in India recently is two-fold. Firstly, a mushrooming of management institutes and online training programmes has meant that employees are entering organisations already equipped with technical skills, the imparting of which used to be the forte of traditional training programmes. Secondly, today increased employment options have led to a dramatic shift in work cultures, with employers recognising that they have to be people-oriented and influence behaviours if they want to be successful. As a result they are putting in place training programmes that help individual employees not only achieve self-realisation but also enable them to effectively work in teams.
What is EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING?
Experiential learning-based training is more learner centred and uses outdoor techniques.
Physically challenging activities, such as rock climbing, rafting and gliding, are used to help participants learn about team dynamics and interpersonal relationships.
Participants are provoked and deliberately placed in simulated situations that generate extreme reactions, leading to realisations about their subtle prejudices and biases.
It is a powerful technique to help senior managers learn about conflict management, decision making and leadership.
“The degree to which EL is built into a programme is also a variable of the nature of training”. “While EL is crucial for behavioural training, the application is limited if the training dimension is skill-based or technical in nature.” EL-based training is generally used to create team synergy, build trust, impart conflict-management techniques, and develop team working and team development skills. But, it is most useful when it comes to leadership training.
Studies find that when it comes to improving the way leaders manage themselves and those under them, nothing else works except experiential learning. “By the time people reach that level they in a way already know it all, and what EL allows is for them to be able to draw on that very knowledge to improve themselves.” But this kind of learning can be very painful. “EL makes you see that you are not as good as you thought you were — a realization that can at times be traumatic.”
While EL provides the base, it is role playing that is a highly effective tool for senior managers. “In fact, leadership training is incomplete without it”. “Leadership is not something that can be taught, it can be learnt”.
“No one knows us better than ourselves”. “Therefore the best programmes are those that create situations which allow people to learn from their own experiences and realizations.” Trainer-centred traditional training methods work only to a limited extent”. It is only experiential learning-based training that can help today’s manager overcome the challenges of personal as well as organisational growth and development.
By:
Priyank S Soni - PGDM 1
(Globsyn Business School - Ahmedabad)
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