David A. Kolb, an American educational theorist and social psychologist, popularized the idea of experiential learning in the 1970s. Kolb was not the first to realize this principle as Aristotle once said “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” So what is experiential learning?

Experiential learning simply put states that “Doing = Learning”.  As a father of young children I see this in practice every day.  Children don’t have to read a manual to learn how to walk or talk, they just Do and Learn.  As it turns out, learning by doing works for adults just as it does for children.

Last Friday, the BTI360 team Learned by Doing at George Mason University’s EDGE leadership program.  The Edge leaders crafted custom learning experiences for our team. These experiences challenged our team’s focus, trust, and communication skills.  The Edge leadership program allowed us to Do and Learn in an environment where it was safe to fail without business consequences.

The Edge leadership training was a great experience.  The real value however, is taking what we’ve learned and applying it to benefit our customers.  Thank you Edge leadership team for a great day of Doing and Learning.

Check out the rest of BTI360’s EDGE photos, including the Alpine Tower Challenge!