Experiential Learning on French Bike Paths

I just returned from a fantastic bike trip in France with my daughter, Rebecca, and my first cousin Craig, her godfather. We biked along the coast of Normandy and saw where our courageous soldiers stormed the treacherous beachheads to begin the D-Day invasion. I'm still absorbing the experience, the awesomeness of their accomplishment, and the depths of sacrifice which I witnessed as I looked out across the famous U.S. D-Day Cemetery. More about that on a later post.

As for experiential learning, bicycling, and the workplace, here's what happened. I've had a major fall on a bike and learned to always pay attention when I ride and to always – and I mean always – wear a helmet.

Becca, at 20, is fit and athletic. I told her to pay attention, don't get over confident, keep focused on the road. She gave me that look that children give their parents who really don't know what they are talking about and took off in front of me with the faster bikers.

On the second day, I caught up to her after a morning ride; she was off her bike, and her leg and arm were bandaged. She was done for the day and shaken but, fortunately, only bruised. She had started taking pictures as she rode, and when a biker in front of her slowed unexpectedly, she lost control and took a hard fall. I wished she had absorbed and followed my advice, and so did she.

Back on the job, we can give managers and leaders information about their conduct – what's lawful and professional and what is not. Sadly, telling many of them is not enough. Rather, many need to have some type of experience to understand how and why to behave. The problems that unethical or improper acts cause and the risks they present need to be understood almost at an emotional level, not just absorbed as data.

That's why we believe learning must be experiential to change behavior. Explaining standards for those who need it most is not enough.

As for Becca, after her fall she biked the rest of the trip holding on to the handlebars with two hands and paying attention to the road ahead of her and the traffic around her. And fortunately, there were no more spills. The trick in the workplace is to deliver lessons to leaders before they suffer what can be a painful and irretrievable fall.