In On the Fly: Learning by doing (The Aspen Times, 30 Jan 2021), Scott Spooner writes

“If you want to become a better angler, which is a worthy endeavor considering where we live, you have to immerse yourself. If you wanted to become a concert pianist or a professional snowboarder or photographer, you’d have to put in your time. The same goes for trying to figure out how to catch fish consistently. As the saying goes, even a broken clock is right twice a day. This applies to those frustrating times when we can’t keep the fish off our line one day and we’re getting blanked the next.”

Although this article is about learning how to fly fish, it’s focus is very much on the importance of learning by doing and learning from experience. The article concludes:

“The moral of the story is you have to go fish. A lot. Failures today can turn around a tough day in the future when you face similar “problems.” Anyone can get lucky on a particular day like that broken clock, but the experienced angler has a Plan A, B and C for consistently catching fish the whole year through.”

But this is relevant to mastering any practical task.  It’s all about doing that activity – not just reading about it, studying the subject and understanding the theory – only that way do you acquire the tacit knowledge.

QUESTION:
How are you encouraging your people to learn by doing rather than learn by studying?
How are you providing them with the time and space to learn and grow from that experience?

FIND OUT MORE:
In MWL 2021, we look at a number of aspects of learning by doing and learning by experience, e.g. section 10: Foster modern workers and section 11: Encourage reflective practices