There is a growing recognition of the value of employees learning from experience. In this post, I outline what needs to be in place to make learning from experience work. I also highlight some examples of learning from experience that are currently improving productivity and increasing collaboration within organizations.
What Needs to Be in Place to Learn From Experience
Learning from experience requires setting aside time to learn, but equally important, it requires being in conversation with peers with whom learners can reflect on their own experience and contrast that with the experience of others. It is not the advice of others that is so helpful; instead it is 1) assimilating
the experiences of peers that inspires thinking about one’s own experience from a new perspective and 2) it is the questions that peers ask. Here I am not talking about questions that come immediately to mind such as questions for clarification or even questions to better understand the parameters of a situation. Rather I am thinking of generative questions that take a while to form, and that having been asked cause the learner to reflect more deeply. Generative questions are the gold standard of learning from experience becasue they surprise us, engage both heart and spirit, build relationships, and reframe reality (Bushe 2007).
Learning from experience with peers benefits from being-spaced over time, rather than occurring in a single conversation. Whether it is overnight at a workshop or a week later at a regularly scheduled meeting, spaced conversations provide time for generative questions to develop and for learners to ponder the experiences of others. Think of it as gestation time. Any new idea, particularly those ideas that apply to self-development, for example, competence, image, attitude, or mindset, require time to assimilate.
Spaced conversations also allow time for trust to build among peers. Using Argyris’ language, “single loop learning” is an effort to identify solutions to a specific problem. However, there is often a deeper layer of understanding that is missed when the focus is solely on solutions. Argyris calls it “double loop learning.” It brings to light underlying norms, habits or attitudes as the source of a problem; insights that are apparent to peers, but which we are often blind to ourselves. However that awareness only develops when the group of peers has had enough time together to know each other and to build a sense of psychological safety that is necessary to offer new perspectives or indeed to take them in. Psychological safety grows over time and with repeated contact.
Finally learning from experience benefits from having a designed structure. Structured conversation guides participants by allocating time to listen to others, to speak, to reflect, and to ask questions, as well as, limiting certain kinds of exchanges, for example, cross talk, judging others, or speaking with undue conviction, rather than speaking from one’s own experience.
Five Methods for Learning From Experience
The most productive conversations I’ve been involved with is Coaching Ourselves®, which brings together small groups of 4-6 employees in ninety-minute sessions that occur over several weeks, either online or in-person. Modules developed by leading management thinkers guide these meetings. The modules provide carefully crafted discussion questions that spur participants to reflect together on their own work issues. The structure is relatively consistent across all modules with times specified for each activity so that the modules can be self-facilitated by the group:
- Sessions start with each participant sharing a story about something that happened at work over the last couple of weeks or following-up on items left over from the previous meeting.
- Then each participant reflects on a situation related to that week’s module topic, which might be accountability, decision making, conflict, or any one of several dozen modules.
- There is a 10-15 min lesson offered by the management expert on the topic.
- Followed by a lengthy period where the members of the group apply the expert’s concepts to their own work. The application might entail a series of questions for each participant to respond to, a survey to complete and discuss, or a role play.
- The 90 min sessions end with a final reflection by each participant.
By the time a group has met for six sessions, participants have come to know and trust each other. They have helped each other solve problems, laughed with each other, commiserated together, watched each other improve, and most importantly, discover that they had learned an enormous amount by collaborating. When multiple groups across an organization engage in Coaching Ourselves®, it significantly increases the level of collaboration within the organization.
2. Action Learning
Action learning is both a process and a powerful program that involves small groups of peers coming together to solve their own real work problems while at the same time benefiting each group member and the organization as a whole. Revan’s, the father of Action Learning, says that learning and action require each other. “There is no learning without action and no thoughtful action without learning”. Action Learning brings together small groups of 4-6 peers for an all-day meeting. Peers meet regularly, over several months, with a facilitator. Sometimes action learning groups are made up of peers from different parts of the organization to broaden participant’s understanding of the whole organization. During the meeting each person has their own “airspace” of 45-60 minutes to describe an issue they are facing, reflect with others about how to address it and at the next meeting report back to the group on what happened. The help that others provide is primarily by asking questions rather than giving advice. These are genuine questions of curiosity that help the members think through the “why” behind their actions and consider their own assumptions. Because the meetings are spaced, usually every two weeks, participants have time to try out what they learned and see the results. Over time participants began to care about the other members of the group and for that reason are increasingly open to helping others and to receiving the help of others. Members of an action learning team often form relationships that last for years after the meetings have ended and thus remain a source of learning and support.
3. KM Clinics
Knowledge Management Clinics are hour-long, free, online meetings where a KM professional can get help from peers about a KM issue they are facing in their organization. Each session has one client, the person with the issue, and up to 11 peers who have some knowledge or interest in that same issue. The issue could be, for example, how to transfer knowledge from someone retiring, how to get more participation in an online community, or how to convince higher management that KM is important. The clinic starts with the client explaining their issue, the context in which they are working in, and what they have tried already to solve the issue. There is then is a period of silence while their peers individually construct and post questions that have the potential to broaden the thinking of the client about the issue. The client selects one or two of the questions to focus on – questions they believe would help the problem owner to think differently about the issue. Then there is a lengthy period of general discussion about the topic among all the peers. The hour ends with the client identifying one or two new actions they will try. Before leaving the call, the client commits to letting their peers know the outcome of their actions. KM Clinics are a way for peers to think in more depth about issues than can be achieved by posting their questions on a community forum.
I would be remiss if I ended this post without referencing learning from experience when there are highly divisive or sensitive issues at stake. These are conversations designed so that the structure does not permit peers to say “you’re wrong” or “that’s not correct.” Also where peers are asked to talk only out of their own experience. In such meetings, although it is possible to disagree with another’s facts, it is not possible to disagree with another’s experience. Following are two examples where the structure of the conversation makes peer learning possible even in difficult situations.
4. Alcoholics Anonymous
The most well-known example of learning from experience with peers is Alcoholics Anonymous. The guidelines for AA are few but powerful:
- Keep confidentiality: “What you hear stays here.”
- Make “I” statements: Avoid using “you” or “we.” For example: “I am Stephan. I am an alcoholic.”
- Stay in the “Here and Now”: Share what you are dealing with today or this week.
- Share feelings about your experiences, strengths, and hopes.
- No fixing or advice giving to or by other members.
- No crosstalk or asking of questions. Just listen.
With such a simple structure, the accompanying “12 steps,” and the availability of a sponsor, AA has helped millions of alcoholics maintain their sobriety. Although studies vary about the success rate of AA, one eight-year follow-up showed that 49% of individuals who attended AA were abstinent.
5. Better Angels
Finally, I have been moderating meetings of Better Angels workshops for about a year and a half. Better Angels is a non-profit organization devoted to de-polarizing America. The workshops are attended by an equal number of Red (conservative) and Blue (liberal) participants. In each workshop, participants on both sides of the political divide have opportunities to talk about their views and why those ideas are important to them. The guidelines are simple:
- We’re here to understand others and to explain our views, not to convince anyone to change their mind.
- Let’s each speak for ourselves and not try to speak for or represent any outside group.
During the several exercises of the workshops, e.g. fishbowl, stereotype, Q&A, each side initially talks separately with like-minded colleagues to decide what they want to say about their ideas to the other side. When the two groups come back together, each side just listens to understand the other’s views. As the moderator, the question I ask the whole group, after each exercise is, “What did you learn about how the other side thinks about these issues and what did you hear in common.” It is through this reflective question that learning and respect grows. There is no cross talk and no attempt to persuade the other side to their view. I have been amazed at what happens when people put down the intent to persuade and just agree to listen and try to understand. Participants walk away seeing the “others” not as a stereotype but as fellow human beings who share some of their values, if not the way to achieve them. After the workshops many of the participants, choose to join a Better Angel’s Local Alliance where they work together toward common goals for their community.
In these five very different examples of learning from experience (and there are many more), it is possible to see the reasons why learning from experience in conversation with peers works. It works because:
- it is peers in conversation with peers
- they are in conversation, not listening to presentations
- the conversation occurs in small groups, which is the size most conducive to learning
- there is time to reflect on each person’s own experience and the experience of their peers
- the structure of the conversation provides a sense of safety and over time builds trust
- they employ spaced learning, that is, learning happening over time
- no one tries to persuade/convince others, whether that is a peer, leader, consultant, or a trainer.
#KM, #KMers #knowledgemanagement