Regardless of content or format, experiential leadership learning is most effective when the answer to these five questions is ‘Yes’. Is it rooted in reality? Is reflection placed front and centre? Does it make you uncomfortable (in a good way)? Does it help you grow? Does the outcome really matter?

1. 5 QUESTIONS
TO ASK OF ANY
EXPERIENTIAL
LEARNING
PROGRAMME

2. In business education today, experiential is
used to describe anything outside
conventional classroom learning.

3. Many “experiential” programmes are still
held in hotels or on b-school campuses.
They use simulations, case studies and games
to make learning active rather than passive.

4. Common forms of experiential executive
education include:

5. Outward Bound and other
adventure learning

6. Internal company
projects

7. Rotations and
secondments

8. Market visits to
foreign countries

9. Service learning and community
engagement

10. Regardless of content or format,
experiential leadership learning is most
effective when the answer to these five
questions is ‘Yes!’.

11. 1. Is it rooted in reality?
2. Is reflection placed front and centre?
3. Does it make you uncomfortable (in a good way)?
4. Does it help you grow?
5. Does the outcome really matter?

12. Anyone who has passed a driving test or
raised young children knows that nothing
beats learning by doing.

13. Most business leaders will agree that
professional success and maturity come
with experience, not age.

14. Daunting overseas assignments
and unexpected crises, not
MBAs or ‘ten steps to greatness’
seminars shape resilient leaders.

15. So, why are those five questions so
important when it comes to assessing the
value of experiential learning?

16. 1.Reality bites, so it can’t
be avoided!

17. Classroom learning is far removed from
realities on the ground.
By the time management theory has been
integrated into curriculums, the world
outside has changed dramatically.

18. A compounding factor is that most corporate
education is developed in the West.
Yet business challenges in Jakarta, Nairobi
and Sao Paolo are vastly different from
those in London, Zurich and Boston.

19. Only by getting boots on the ground can
you understand the trends shaping
customer behavior as well as the role of
your business in society.

20. 2.Leadership learning is
a roller-coaster…
Time for reflection is
essential

21. Whether the immediate experience is
success or failure, participants need time to
reflect and internalise their learning.
Ideally this happens in the moment or very
shortly thereafter, in “real time.”

22. Experiential programmes that allocate time and space
for reflection offer greater value than those which
overlook this critical exercise in introspection.

23. Experience may help foster leadership, but
it is reflection that allows us to make better
decisions the next time around.

24. 3. The right amount of discomfort
can be a good thing

25. On-the-job learning has long been deployed
in order to develop the next generation.
While challenging at times, internal
programmes are, by definition, sequestered
within a particular corporate culture.

26. Only by stretching beyond
the narrow confines of our
companies can we broaden
our knowledge - which is a
prerequisite for effective,
purposeful leadership.

27. Exposure to different cultures, views and
contexts may make us uncomfortable. But it
breaks down narrow stereotypes and lays
the groundwork for bold new thinking.

28. 4. The greater the challenge,
the more we grow

29. “Any experience is miseducative that has the
effect of arresting or distorting the growth of
further experience...”
John Dewey (1859–1952), prominent 20th
century philosopher and devoted pioneer of the
relationship between experience and learning.

30. Experiential learning should promote qualities
that lead to continued growth, such as:
• Intellectual boldness
• Self-awareness
• Sense of purpose
• Critical thinking
• Broad knowledge
• Insatiable curiosity

31. A participant-led methodology is exciting,
engaging and impactful.
Facilitators should create a safe environment
where participants can share openly, broach
taboos, question conventional wisdom and
challenge orthodoxy.

32. 5. Meaning is motivating: we learn
the most when outcomes matter.

33. By making experiential programmes output
driven, and ensuring those outputs have
real-world impacts, the level of participant
engagement goes through the roof.

34. Simulations and “live” case studies may
generate entertaining discussion but at the
end of the day nobody really has skin in
the game.

35. Our experience over ten years of
facilitating programmes has shown
partnering with real companies and
challenging participants to find solutions to
real problems raises the stakes and elicits
core leadership qualities.

36. Still remember those five all-important questions?
1. Is it rooted in reality?
2. Is reflection placed front and centre?
3. Does it make you uncomfortable (in a good way)?
4. Does it help you grow?
5. Does the outcome really matter?

37. If the answer to all five is “Yes!”, experiential learning
is more likely to foster the mindsets and behaviours
needed to meet the challenges of a messy and
unpredictable world.
Isn’t that the real purpose of business leadership
education after all?

38. To learn about our executive education offerings visit
www.global-inst.com