The Value of Experiential Learning

Training and development, as a topic, is pretty prominent in the workplace. There are numerous types of training that take place with the hopes of creating a better organizational state.

Yet, post-training, the question on most leaders’ or employees' minds is, "How effective was that training?"

Did the information actually stick?

How will the information taught be implemented?

Will we really see any change?

Educators and previous research suggest that delivering lectures is not the most effective way of teaching; it's the person doing the talking who is doing the most learning.

Lecture-based learning in classroom settings benefits few students. In fact, retention rates are lower and passive listening is higher in these scenarios.

The same applies to development trainings.

If you're sitting in a training session being lectured to for three hours straight, it's likely that you won't be able to recall the first point that was even made!

There's a difference between being talked at and talked with. This is what differentiates lecture-based learning and experiential learning.

Experiential learning focuses on hands-on experience with real-world applications. It requires participants to participate and immerse themselves in the content fully and actively.

In short, there is a ton of value in experiential learning! Now, let's look at the science behind it...

What Is Experiential Leadership?

Experiential leadership is a development approach where leaders learn by doing rather than being told. Instead of sitting through lectures or presentations, leaders engage directly with realistic scenarios, simulations, and hands-on challenges that mirror the situations they face at work every day.

The underlying principle, established by educational theorist David Kolb, is straightforward: people retain and apply what they experience and reflect on far more effectively than what they simply hear. For leadership development, this means programs built around active participation, peer feedback, and immediate application, not passive content absorption.

The Science Behind Experiential Leadership

David Kolb, an educational theorist, developed a four-stage learning model that works on two levels.

The first level is the four cyclical stages at which we learn something new. The second level is made of four distinct learning styles.

When we put these two levels together (learning stages and learning styles) we get Kolb's model, which focuses on the learner's internal cognitive processes.

Let's apply Kolb's first level of learning stages to understanding a new strategy on how to give and receive feedback.

We start out with Concrete Experience where we encounter a new situation in which we give and receive feedback from our peers, say, at an experiential leadership training.

In this process, we encounter a new strategy in giving and receiving feedback. We experience and execute this strategy and relate it to previous experiences of feedback in our work environment.

Next, we experience Reflective Observation where we observe and reflect on this new experience of feedback before we make any judgements.

Then we go into the Abstract Conceptualization process of analyzing the experience to create a deeper sense of understanding it. We begin to look at feedback with a new perception. We begin to see feedback as a gift.

Finally, we enter into Active Experimentation where we apply what we learned to the world around us. We return to our work environment with a new strategy for giving and receiving feedback and implement it successfully.

Simply put, we Experience something new, Reflect on the new experience, Conceptualize what we learned in the experience, and then Experiment by applying this concept to our environment.

Now, let's look at the second level of Kolb's model: learning styles.

Kolb developed the four learning styles based off of the four learning stages.

The first style, Diverging, is the act of forming various perspectives based on reflecting and observing. For example, I experienced a new strategy of feedback and watched what happened in that experience.

The second style, Assimilating, is the act of logical thinking and analyzing through observations. I watched what happened when I experienced a new strategy of feedback and am thinking about that experience.

The third style, Converging, is the act of problem-solving by logical thinking based on what was learned. I think about what I learned and test it out.

The fourth style, Accommodating, is the act of a "hands-on" experiential approach based on intuition. I experienced a new strategy of feedback and now I am practicing that strategy in various areas of my life.

Various factors influence a person's preferred learning style, but at the end of the day, the impetus for grasping new concepts is provided by new experiences.

According to Kolb, "learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience."

Now, let's look at ways in which we can create a more experiential learning environment.

How to Apply Experiential Leadership in Practice

There are a variety of ways to bring experiential learning into any environment. Here are just a few ideas on how to increase learning retention through experience.

Student Teach Backs

Interestingly, the person who learns the most between an educator and a student is the educator. This is because they are the ones who have to be knowledgeable of the information being taught.

In the case of student teach backs, if the student teaches the material (or even summarizes what is being learned), then they will engage and focus on understanding the material being taught.

Interactive Simulations

As discussed in Kolb's model, Concrete Experience focuses on how we experience and feel in a new situation.

Interactive simulations engage us in "real-life" situations so we can experience what we feel through the experience in real-time.

Some examples of this would be gamification, case studies, mini-game exercises, role-playing, etc.

Discussions

No, not discussions disguised as lectures, but actual discussions on a topic.

This partners well with interactive simulations. It's important for us to reflect and talk about our thoughts and experiences to help us gain better insight.

This also helps the educator better understand their students and discover what concepts were understood or completely missed.

Problem-Solving

Problem-solving can help us actively use our brains to apply concepts learned as we come up with solutions to various problems presented to us.

This helps us retain information learned after we're done with the experience because of the connections we've made in our brains.

This method is also quite useful in interactive simulations.

Experiential Leadership at DX Learning

Every DX Learning program is built on the principles of experiential leadership. Rather than delivering information and hoping it sticks, DX programs incorporate interactive simulations, teach-backs, group discussions, and problem-solving exercises that create the cognitive connections Kolb's model describes.

Leaders and employees walk out of every DX program certain that it was effective and excited to implement what they learned. It is our passion and determination that drive us to create learning experiences that lead to new and compelling acts of leadership and drive visible, immediate change within an organization.

Ready to bring experiential leadership into your organization? Explore DX Learning's leadership programs or get in touch to see how our approach builds leaders who apply what they learn from day one.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is experiential leadership?

Experiential leadership is a development approach where leaders learn through direct, hands-on experience rather than passive instruction. Based on David Kolb's four-stage learning model, it moves participants through concrete experience, reflection, conceptualization, and active experimentation — creating deeper retention and faster real-world application than lecture-based training.

Why does experiential leadership work better than traditional training?

Because people retain what they do, not what they hear. When leaders engage with realistic simulations, teach each other, solve real problems, and reflect on the experience together, the learning becomes embedded rather than forgotten. Lecture-based training benefits few participants; experiential leadership development benefits everyone in the room.

What are the four stages of Kolb's experiential learning model?

Kolb's model moves through four stages: Concrete Experience, where participants engage in a new situation; Reflective Observation, where they observe and reflect before judging; Abstract Conceptualization, where they analyze the experience to deepen understanding; and Active Experimentation, where they apply what they learned back in their real environment. Together, these four stages create learning that sticks.