Experiential Learning in Outbound Environment
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Brig. Sushil Bhasin | Dec 05, 2009
Using outdoors as a classroom is interesting, fascinating and more importantly effective.
The term outbound has been adopted from the Navy, where a ship is said to be outward bound when it leaves its shores to sail into the unknown, rough sea. Similarly when we go out in a camp, we leave our shore, i.e., the comfort zone of our home and work place and travel to a new, open place in a natural environment with minimum comforts.
Experiential learning is a process of transformation when, as a result of experience, one is inspired to apply in life, what emerges as a revelation or self-discovery. We generally follow the Kolb Cycle, which states that in life we have an experience, we think about it (reflection), then we talk about it or write it (recording) and finally we analyse (processing), leading to another experience where we may apply the learning. Therefore it becomes a spiral of learning. This can also be described as the whole learning wheel, from goal setting, to experimenting and observing, to reviewing, and finally action planning.
You remember how you learnt cycling? Someone helped you support the cycle. You fumbled, fell down several times till you ‘got’ it. That was how you learnt the balance. I call it the ‘aah’ effect. You discover it and then it stays with you for life. Whether it was a burn which you experienced as a child, or tasting of honey, or learning swimming or cycling, they stay with you for life. You do not need to relearn it. That’s not true for academics or subjects you learnt in the classroom.
Leadership and team building are two such subjects that are best learnt on the ‘experiential learning’ platform. You may read books on leadership and team building, but to be a good team player or an effective leader you have to experience it, just as a cook needs to cook in the kitchen. Reading recipes and learning by heart may help, but does not substitute the act of cooking.
In our camp we provide the experience in the form of a team activity. It is an interesting outdoor game. Participants enjoy a new experience, generally one they have never experienced before. After the activity is over participants reflect on the activity by writing down their emotions, their feelings, their sad, mad and glad moments. This is followed by a small group discussion in which teams go through the entire sequence and record what happened, what did not happen, and why. Then we facilitate the process of drawing out lessons from their experiences. What they learn from such experiences gets filtered into the subconscious mind and settles down as a way of life. To reinforce this we conduct a follow-up session after two to three months of the programme.
Experiential learning is extremely effective. We create an environment which lends itself to a new and interesting experience where all participants are at par in their knowledge about the tasks and projects that they face. There is nothing at stake. Your reputation, job security, promotion, a salary increase, nothing is affected. A unique set of projects and situations requires people to draw upon genuine team process skills as opposed to just functional ones.
Interacting in close proximity whilst working on new and unfamiliar challenges, makes the entire process very interesting. The interaction, communication and collaboration and efforts that are required to meet these challenges develop wonderful, everlasting relationships in a very short time. It engages people at a more personal level. People may get to know each other better in a single day within this environment than over an entire year of normal working conditions.
In these activities, one’s true colours emerge. One cannot pretend or put up a false front for long. The group projects their communication skills, problem-solving capability, organizing ability, and leadership style into the experience. The experience provides a unique opportunity to catch participants doing what they typically do, in spite of knowing otherwise. The learning arising from this is profound and revealing.
Teams are able to experience chaos, disorder, crisis and changing requirements for success in a safe environment where the consequences for failure are limited. The team can develop strategies and best practices for managing these issues both in this environment and back at work.
The experience allows participants to take new risks, try on new roles and make mistakes with no danger or cost. Each person taking a risk pushes others to take on something outside of their comfort zone. There are always individuals who shine in this environment – whose leadership ability hasn’t been noticed at work.
The team challenges and activities are designed to include a variety of elements that will challenge a range of team role skills. In other words input from all team members will be required to produce outcomes from projects specifically designed not to suit just one team role style or behaviour. One person cannot possibly succeed alone and so the interdependence of the team is highlighted along with the importance of diversity within the team.
The entire learning happens while having fun. We create a highly interesting and enjoyable learning environment in which participants learn about and develop team and management process skills with ease and in comfort.
Experiential learning is effective both indoors as well as outdoors. Yet, the outdoor environment with the terrain, weather and environmental challenges make it more challenging and therefore can result in more effective learning. Teachers in schools and colleges can reinforce their classroom teachings with experiential education. Learning is more effective and lasts much longer.
As stated by the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.”
Brig. Sushil Bhasin is Chairman and Managing Director of Empower Activity Camps.
Filed Under: Miscellaneous
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The article is enlightening. We took entire managerial group at Sushil Bhasin’s camp last year and enjoyerd games.
Thank You Mayur sir, for your kind and encouraging words.
Dear Brigadier,
The charm of ‘experiential learning’ is still mostly unheard in our context and strata of conflicting work-life balancing act. I had little bit of it earlier and was fortunate to experience it with your team Brigadier. So many things I knew were redefined and so many unknown things opened up. It’s a whole lot of new learning away from (as you said rightly) comfort zones and also confrontation zones – professional-life wars. But, basically what I thought again and again is – human being is basically a group species, live and like to live in groups. But of late with so-called pressures of “growth & development” getting into academic and KRA-oriented “intellectual individuals”. Outbound training is possibly the cheapest way ( I repeat cheapest, other avenues cost even up to a lifetime) of getting us back into original groove with a richer understanding through why-why analysis (within mind). So many times I was ashamed of missing a silly thing while doing an activity, but instantly recovered to note that am not ashamed to admit my shortcomings – that I felt the best part.
The removal of false pretensions and absence of “official smartness” itself gave your “aah” feeling several times during the short but engrossing period with Empower team. The affordability to make mistakes without incurring cost is great opportunity which enriches our focus on finer fronts of life and job and justifies more than enough the “cost” (investment) of these times.
Still the catch is the next task of getting the learnings embedded into individual systems depending upon various levels of grasping abilities. But even out of 5-6 activities, if two remain in the metabolism of development, the job is done more than several years of conventional training. As Mr Narayana Murthy put, “…it is very important for all of us in the corporate world to create incentives for long-term performance rather than short-term performance”.
Yes Brigadier we enjoyed it, learned from it, got enriched in not only outbound trainings but also organizing skills and experienced that everything we “learned” have already been learnt by your team, which is not the case always. Carry on doing the good job and your this article only refreshed the memories and reasons of being in Kolad, nothing more nothing less.
Sir,
your article on outbound learning is indeed educating…..the term coming from the Navy is itself very significant……adventure, keeping your wits about and coping with the unexpected all form part of a seamans life…..and thats what happens also in experential workshops. My experience at Empower camp was very unique…..the environment you have created there alongwith the activities coupled with efficient manpower combine to make the workshop fun filled and informative. I discovered more facets of my personality on an outbound as compared to an indoor training.
I completely subscribe to the process outlined by Sushil Bhasin (SB). I have gone through the process several times in the past and this has always left me with a positive feeling. I have also observed SB in action and found his style very interesting, invigorating and exciting.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article.
A very interesting article indeed.
I have personally had the opportunity to spend time at Brig. Bhasin’s camp on more than one occasion, and must say that the team and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, not to mention the tremendous learning that we were able to imbibe – learning that, as he very rightly states, is there to stay!
Again, as the article mentions, reading about experiential learning is just ‘one part of the story’ – going through it is quite another.
I would wholeheartedly vouch for a closer look and feel – on the ground, so to say.
Cheers!
Dear Sushil,
Your article is so true and I strongly support such practices to give birth at the school level. Learning should be more of an experience as without it you remain EMPTY.
Keep doing good to this World.
Francis Joseph
This article was generating so many comments, i had to read it! I did that and now i really want to attend this training
Shalu, Ur comment was made in Nov 08. We are nearing one year fo waiting for you. When do we see u there. It was good to see and follow Mona in the JUNGLE. Very happy to see the enormous growth made by TICKLEDBYLIFE. Great! look fwd to seeing it go to greater heights.
Sushil
Hi Sushil,
Insightful article. Well written and conveys the “why” of EL so well. I guess this kind of writing also needs the “doing” before the sharing, and it shows.
Cheers on having created a wonderful reference for Experiential Learning, that invites and conveys the value without being intimidatingly jargon filled.
Vidyut
Dear Sushil,
You bring out a few key advantages that are clearly echoed and amplified by participants who have commented on your article. It looks like it’s certainly value for money and that people value the freedom to experiment in a relatively safe situation – away from the workplace. There’s obviously something special about your own personal style too! Having studied similar programmes in the UK I would want to make things a little more complicated and add that there are many different ways in which learning can happen once you have the buzz of a supportive learning climate in which people are trying out new ways of working. For example see these four ways summarised at: http://reviewing.co.uk/research/ple_sum.htm#groups
keep up the good work!
Roger
Brig Bhasin,
A truly enlightening piece! Just the stuff for the uninitiated … and suitably garnished by the many meaningful readers’ comments.
Dear Sushil,
Amazing going thru’the article.U r doing a gr8 job.Keep it up!!!!!!!!!
Excellent piece. Keep up the good work.
Dear Sushil, you’ve written a good article, that gives a gist of the benefits of experiential training. You have focused more on the individual. If you spread your sights a bit you find that these individuals, if permitted to function, in their work environment, with the freedom they had while undergoing training with you, can produce wonders.
I remember being once faced with a problem, whom should you trust with more responsibility, the guy who commits 10 errors in every 100 jobs he does or the guy who does 10 jobs perfect to the ‘T’.
Unfortunately bosses refuse to accept mistakes by their subordinates, thats why in an organisation you invariably have a large number of automatons with an autocrat at the top, this leads to stifling initiative and growth, both of the individual and the organisation.
One could write a lot, but I’m sure you are in a better position to appreciate this and in a better position to try and get companies to break out of this mold they have invariable got themselves into.
Warm Regards
Raju
Great attempt to explain EXPERENTIAL LEARNING which is unfortunately getting lost in todays’ world…
Acticities at EMPOWER really stir the latent skills in an individual to bring out the best ..
Best wishes and warm regards
Ameeta Thacker