Adults Learn Best Through Experiential Techniques

One of Malcolm Knowles basic premises is that adults learn best through experiential techniques.  In other words, hands-on, active engagement in the learning process produces better results.

Sometimes this is not an easy thing to achieve. Since so much of today's work is knowledge-based, how does one teach that in an experiential way? Here are some ideas from designs we have created for our clients:

Teaching a Multi-Faceted Process

This manufacturing client wanted its assembly-line workers to understand how the product was "created" long before it arrived on the factory floor to be assembled. From the inception of an idea in the R+D department, through creating a design + prototype via CAD/CAM, on to requisitioning, provisioning, ordering, acceptance of components, kitting and, finally, arrival at the assembly area. Since many of these steps were esoteric, the design of this content piece was quite challenging. In the end and entire process was re-created in a role play manner, using Legos as the component parts and teams at each stage in the process. We even added in a QC check for good measure.

Teaching Product Knowledge and Service Skills

A retail organization was introducing a new product line which required salespeople to be experts in knowing the particulars of the product. At the same time, the client wanted to beef up customer service and selling skills. The client did not want these taught as separate concepts (e.g. first product knowledge, then customer service skills). The resultant training was in the form of a game-board-grid, with product knowledge along the vertical axis and customer service / selling skills along the horizontal axis. Participants would chose a grid on the board and the trainer would explain how the two intersected or complemented one another and then the learners were challenged to demonstrate how the two might "sound" on-the-job.

Teaching Financial Analysis

A global insurance brokerage firm needed an elite group of salespeople to be able to understand financial documents in order to sell to the C-Suite. Rather than simply explaining the different types of financial reports (profit and loss, cash flow, 10K, etc.) and hoping the salespeople could translate that knowledge to their accounts, the participants were tasked with bringing the annual report for two of their clients. Then, as the instructor taught about each type of report and what to look for as "red flags," the participants looked to their own reports to interpret information that was pertinent to their clients / their work.

When tasked with designing training, always ask yourself, "How can I make this more experiential and participative? How can the learners really engage with this content?"  This is not an easy task but is always worthwhile (nay, essential) for better adult learning outcomes.