Experiential Learning

Leadership through Experience (International) is dedicated to the provision of leadership and team development interventions for organisations willing to invest time and resources into developing their people. Our major focus lies in the design and delivery of customised and specifically tailored interventions in either a single programme or in a more modular approach over a timescale agreed with our clients. As an organisation, LtEI is internationally experienced and culturally aware and our courses can be delivered on location anywhere in the world. A comprehensive range of 'Open Programmes' is also available to meet the needs of participants at all stages of their careers.

"Knowing is one thing … doing is another."

Developing one's leadership capabilities and having a positive influence on the dynamics of group behaviour work best when established theories synthesise with practice and critical self-reflection in an enjoyable experience that engages participants with one another. To become more effective as a leader and as a team requires that we practise what leaders and teams actually do. LtEI believes that an effective leadership or team development programme needs to mirror reality by making the learning experience practical and therefore applicable in the workplace.

Experiential learning is quite simply 'learning through experience' and provides the missing link between theory and practice; moving the learning and the learner out of the training room and into workplace scenarios that mirror reality. This is particularly relevant in leadership development; at the heart of which lies our social interactions, a definition of purpose, the accomplishment of tasks and the evaluation of their outcomes. These elements are as prominent in our courses as they are in the workplace.

Two interrelated principles epitomise learning through experience. The first is 'continuity', with each learning experience building on the previous one. The second is 'interaction', involving people with who and what are around them. Our central tenet is that participants are not satisfied or fulfilled by listening and observing alone; their need is to 'do, feel and understand' in order to create a true sense of purpose.

Our range of Open and Customised Programmes translate these principles into a developmental and sequential framework that consciously removes participants from the demands of their work environment thus allowing them time, freedom and the space to reflect on their own leadership behaviours in a challenging but less precarious setting than where career or reputation may be at stake. The learning experience is never imposed; being invitational and taking place in a safe environment essential for people to open up to personal learning opportunities. The intention is to provide participants with a series of practical leadership and team challenges, thereby engaging people in a self-reflective process that will ultimately form new concepts that undermine previous actions. This 'reflection-in-action' moves people towards new 'theories-in-action' and to a 'reframing' of new principles that determine their 'future actions and behaviours'.