The Office Fire Drill
“We don’t have time to do this exercise right now, so I’m just going to skip it so I can finish my lecture before we break for lunch.”
These types of statements send shivers down the spines of instructional designers. I've audited one too many courses where the instructor - usually a subject matter expert who was tapped to teach the content because they're the best at what they do - skips the experience component of training so that they can share their hard-earned wisdom with the group via lecture.
The simple fact is that adults learn best through experience and discussion. Telling someone how to do something is never going to get them to be proficient in what they do. You have to let them actually experience it.
“People learn in lots of different ways, but experience is the best teacher.”
The Fire Drill
The TV show "The Office" showcased this concept perfectly in the cold open of Season 5, episode 14, Stress Relief. One of the characters, Dwight Schrute, is frustrated because the previous week he gave a fire safety talk to the employees and nobody paid any attention ("It's my own fault for using PowerPoint" he said. "PowerPoint is boring."). He decides that the only way for them to learn is by experiencing an actual fire drill. He surreptitiously preps by warming door handles with a blow torch and then lights a fire in the garbage can.
Once the employees notice the fire, craziness ensues. It's immediately evident that no one in the office paid attention to Dwight's training. While the staff is panicking and trying to escape, Dwight is facilitating the learning. "What's the procedure?" he yells. No one notices the two fire extinguishers positioned prominently next to the doors they're trying to break down. They run past the emergency fire alarm, but no one stops to pull it.
"Remember your exit points!" screams Dwight. Michael, the boss, throws a projector at a window in an attempt to break it and create an escape route. Two other characters use a photocopier as a battery ram to break down a door. Suddenly, Dwight blows an airhorn and announces that the fire is not real, he only was doing a simulation as a training exercise.
You can see in this example how experiential learning during Dwight's original training would have made the office staff more prepared to react properly during an actual fire. (And for the record, while I find this scene to be comedic gold, I do not condone such extreme experiential learning in real life!).
Experiential Learning
A well-designed training is a combination of presentation of information and opportunities for implementing or demonstrating the learning. In an ideal world, the ratio should tip disproportionately towards experiential learning/discussions. Remember: people learn by doing, not by listening.
At Mt. Vernon Consulting, we are experts at taking traditionally dry (read: boring), lecture-based training and converting it to dynamic, experiential learning. Heck, if we can turn the topic of federal procurement regulations into interactive, scenario-based training, we can definitely transform your training into an amazing learning experience.