Experiential Learning and Power of Play

Increasingly used by organizations and training professionals across the world, experiential learning is
fast becoming one of the most trusted methods of delivering impactful sessions for teams. Its
applications are wide, but some of the more popular ones include team building, and learning &
development space. The concept is based on the famous Experiential learning Cycle developed by Kolb
and Fry and draws on some of the earlier work in the area by Dewey, Levin and Piaget. Yet increasingly,
successful teams have been able to merge the powerful concept of “Play” with experiential learning
theory to bring out the best learning outcomes in team development.

David A. Kolb (with Roger Fry) created his famous model out of four elements: concrete experience,
observation and reflection, the formation of abstract concepts and testing in new situations. He
represented these in the famous experiential learning circle. (See below)

Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle

Concrete Experience (1) – Nothing beats feeling the “real thing”. There is a saying that goes; “you got to
climb the mountain to know the mountain”. Although humans have the ability to simulate experiences
in our mind that we have yet to receive, the real stimulus from the mountain is still missing. As it is not
possible for any cyclist to forget how to ride a bicycle, it imperative for the team to “hands-on” the
experiences in order to optimize what can be learn from them.
Observation and Reflection (2) – Having tasted the experiences, the team would be able to talk about
the taste and feel of the experience. Reflection is part of the thinking process; by reflection the team can
discover new perspectives and ideas that lead to learning.
Forming Abstract Concepts (3) – Armed with the learning through reflection, the team can form generic
concepts and principles to improve their own individual styles and team environment.
Testing in New Situations (4) – Forming the concepts and principles without applying them is useless.
Any brilliant idea kept in the head is a dead one. Application of the concepts and principles to new
situations is imperative to the development of the team.

http://magicofteams.wordpress.com
What is play and what place does it have in the above theory? In Simple terms, play can be defined as
any activity which can be enjoyed by the individual without stress or barriers. In its simplest form, play
takes the form of children playing with each other, uninhibited expressions of joy and other emotions.
However, somewhere down the journey of changing into adults, we leave behind our sense of play and
enjoyment (at least most of us do!) So learning becomes mundane, inundated with boring classroom
style sessions, starting from school and carrying on to corporate work like with minor differences in the
medium of delivery. Is there logic for bringing play back to adults for learning? Instances from various
organizations seem to suggest it does. Consider this scenario, in one organization, which uses a fun way
to conduct team meetings; Team members enter the meeting; wear a disposable coat which can be
written on with markers. All ideas discussed and actionables for the individuals are written down on
each others’ back (on the coats) at the end of the meeting. After the meeting, take off your coat, and
there are your minutes of the meeting and action items for each individual! Sounds much more fun than
normal corporate meetings with tons of presentations and more often than not, no actionable
outcomes.

However, a word of caution here; If the team loses track of the ultimate objective of the exercise, it
could degenerate into a mindless activity with no positive outcome. Similarly, the concept could be
taken one step further and applied to team building workshops to make the experiential learning more
fun and enjoyable for the participants. Using play makes the team members drop their work facades and
become more of their normal selves. The positive energy generated by the release of tension itself can
lead to a great learning session.

What can a skillful facilitator do to couple these two powerful concepts of experiential learning and
Power of Play? Here are a few thoughts on the same

1. Put yourself in their shoes: While designing a learning program or team development
workshop, ask yourself the all important question: “ If I was a participant in this workshop,
would I have fun?” it is important to set aside our egos and seek an honest answer to this one,
however good a facilitator you might consider yourself to be.
2. Engaging Participants: Is your session engaging the participant in more than one dimension? If
it involves only one way flow of information to participants, the outcomes might not be too
different from the slide filled monotonous sessions.
3. Speak as little as possible: Sounds counter intuitive? Try it out! The best communicators are
people who can get other people to talk while reining in their own urge to impart wisdom during
the session. If the learning has to be imbibed into the work place, the participants need to own
the learning, in that; they need to feel that the ideas originated with them.
4. Encourage positive behavior: Pointing out positive behavior of individuals in such sessions can
ensure that lone voices in a session do not go unheard. These could be a few words of praise, a
round of applause from everyone, or even small giveaways to the individuals.
5. Reflection: While it is extremely important for the participants to have fun during the session,
the facilitator should be always mindful of guiding the sessions toward the learning objectives of

http://magicofteams.wordpress.com
 the session. Setting aside time for team discussion after activities is a good way to do this.
“Debrief” as it is popularly called should not turn out to be a monologue from the facilitator. If
we can keep in the mind the age old saying” The wisdom lies within the team”, and use our
facilitation skills to probe and bring this out, you would have done an excellent job at the end of
the session.

Try it out with your team while designing a workshop the next time.

http://magicofteams.wordpress.com