Experiential Learning: Impact on Employee Development and Company Culture

It encourages a creative mindset

According to experts at Forbes, corporate innovation heavily relies on encouraging out-of-the-box thinking as a strategy within the business. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to help employees develop this mindset when they are shackled by the organization’s approach to business. Experiential learning underlines the company’s desire to try new concepts, which instantly creates greater opportunities for employees to tap into their creativity.

Moreover, experiential learning lets employees gain a better understanding of their own development and understanding of a subject. In turn, they can identify where their input can make a difference while simultaneously knowing when they should tap into the collective knowledge of their colleagues. As seen by over 1,000 organizations, like Siemens Energy, tools like KICKBOX facilitate smooth company-wide collaborations involving contributions from all angles. 

It boosts employee job satisfaction and engagement

Happy employees are statistically shown to be 13% more productive while they are also far more likely to innovate when they are engaged with the work and have adopted a positive mindset. Experiential learning goes beyond being effective; it can also be enjoyable and foster a competitive spirit through gamification. This approach can create a team of intrapreneurs that spans across all levels and departments within your organization, promoting a culture of innovation and collaboration.

Furthermore, the reflective nature of experiential learning enables employees to consider their influence within the context of the business while additionally allowing them to track the development of new skills and competencies. KICKBOX establishes a truly open innovation ecosystem that promotes intrapreneurial growth. This is supported by the fact that all contributions are tracked, meaning top management can praise all contributors and  remove the threat of employees feeling undervalued.

It supports an adaptive culture

The main driving forces of innovation are customer experiences, revenue growth, and product development. For this to work properly, though, you must be able to adapt to internal and external pressures in an efficient manner. Experiential learning supports this objective as employees are continually in a growth mindset.

While innovation should be built on a foundation of creativity and a willingness to adapt, it’s still important to have standardized protocols in place. Companies like LGT have seen the benefits of getting a structured evaluated idea out through KICKBOX. Moreover, data is constantly gained from both internal and external sources. In a world where an interactive approach is often needed to unlock successful innovations, the benefits of experiential learning and a willingness to tweak ideas will serve the business well.

It encourages psychological safety

Unfortunately, many employees resist innovation because they fear failure. However, even  gaming company Rovio, released 51 failed games before Angry Birds. Therefore, it’s imperative that you make employees comfortable with failure. Experiential learning encourages them to continually learn about themselves, allowing them to take responsibility for their shortcomings and work on becoming better intrapreneurs.

As already stated, KICKBOX additionally encourages all employees to follow a defined path that develops raw ideas into full implementations. When combined with experiential learning’s ability to help employees understand the contextuality of the organization, it becomes easier to establish customer-focused innovations like  automotive giant ZF has achieved. In short, experiential learning allows employees to see innovation from multiple perspectives while also unlocking their own full potential.