Experiential Learning Approaches with Janis Cooper

Have you heard of leadership development programs that include horses? If not, you are about to! Join Ashish and Janis Cooper in an engaging discussion about building learner experiences that stick. We primarily tackle:

• Why is corporate learning often perceived as boring, and what makes a learning program ineffective? The discussion begins by addressing the common perception that corporate learning is dull, often involving lectures, videos, and quizzes that fail to engage participants. Janis notes that traditional learning often assumes everyone learns the same way, crams too much content in, and lacks engagement. In contrast, a good learning experience is strategic, addresses pain points, is relevant to the user, and is engaging.
• How does experiential learning, particularly equine facilitated learning (EFL), offer a unique approach to leadership development? Ashish and Janis explore the concept of experiential learning and introduces EFL as a highly engaging and effective method. Equine facilitated learning involves working with horses in ground-based activities designed to reflect workplace dynamics. The program is used to develop skills such as communication, empathy, and trust, and can be tailored to specific needs. It’s a learner experience that’s both memorable and fun, and can be highly effective in achieving a high return on investment for the organization.

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How can you design learning experiences to foster genuine engagement?

To create engaging learning experiences, it’s important to move away from traditional, boring methods like lectures and instead focus on strategies that actively involve the learner. As we saw in the discussion with Janis and Ashish, you should:

• Start with a clear strategy: A good learning experience starts with understanding the goals and objectives of the training, the audience, and any barriers they might be facing. This means that you have to address the pain points and make the learning relevant to the user by using relatable examples.
• Make it relevant and relatable: Learning should be relevant to the learner’s experiences and use examples they can relate to. You can use stories to make learning more relevant.
• Incorporate engagement: Learning experiences should engage the audience frequently. Using technology can make learning engaging with elements like personalization.
• Check for understanding: It’s important to check for understanding and provide opportunities to apply what’s been learned immediately, to improve retention. Research indicates that a significant amount of content taught in training classes is lost within a week if not applied.

• Focus on experiential learning: Experiential learning engages all of a person’s senses and can be more profound and memorable. It can support change quickly and provide a good return on investment. One specific example is equine facilitated learning, which uses horses to help people learn about leadership and teamwork. In EFL, people work with horses to accomplish tasks, and how they approach these tasks often reflects how they do things in the workplace. The horses’ sensitivity to people’s body language and emotions provide immediate feedback, which can bring underlying issues to the surface.
• Consider the environment and culture: The culture of an organization can impact the effectiveness of training. A growth mindset and a culture that values employee development are conducive to successful learning programs. In addition, the right setting, technology, resources, programs and processes to support learning are also important.
• Be willing to take risks: Be willing to try something different, starting small, and grow it if it’s successful.

By focusing on these aspects, you will be able to create learning and development strategies with programs that are engaging, relevant, and have a lasting impact on learners

How does Janis Cooper’s experiential learning approach utilize horses?

Janice Cooper’s experiential learning program, also called equine facilitated learning, utilizes horses to provide a direct, engaging experience that promotes learning and change. A few principles that she keeps in mind are:

• Groundwork, not riding: Participants do not ride the horses; all activities are done on the ground. The focus is on interacting with the horses, not on equestrian skills.
• Partnership in activities: Participants work in partnership with a horse to accomplish specifically designed activities. The activities are tailored to the learning objectives or the challenges a team or individual is facing.
• Horses as mirrors: How participants approach and complete the tasks with the horse is often a reflection of how they approach situations in the workplace. Horses are very sensitive to people’s body language and emotions, and they react immediately and honestly. This helps participants see their behaviors and their impact in a way they may not have noticed before.
• Immediate feedback: Horses provide immediate, unbiased feedback because they react to what people are giving off, not just to the words they use. If there’s a lack of alignment between a person’s thoughts and their physiological state, the horses will notice and react to it. This is particularly impactful for leaders who may not realize the effect they have on others.
• Developing leadership skills: The program is used to develop leadership skills such as communication, trust, empathy, and boundary setting.
• Unveiling underlying issues: Sometimes, the program brings to the surface underlying issues that haven’t been discussed. For example, a lack of trust or other relational challenges within a team may surface in how the team interacts with a horse.

• Ego reduction: Horses don’t care about titles, status or other external markers of success. They respond to the person’s true self and the energy they are giving off. This helps leaders see themselves and their behaviors more authentically, which creates a level playing field for all participants.
• Relatability: The experiences with the horses are memorable and relatable. Janis has seene that the participants will often refer back to the lessons they learned through working with a specific horse when they see similar behaviors at work.
• Addressing fear: Some participants may be apprehensive about working with horses at the start of the program. However, these fears can be a learning opportunity for both the individuals and for the team.
• Promoting change: The program is designed to create profound, memorable experiences that support change. It helps participants become more aware of their behaviors and how those behaviors impact others, ultimately leading to more effective interactions.

In summary, the experiential learning program that Janis runs with her team uses horses as a way to provide a direct experience that is focused on reflection, and it is designed to help people develop skills, gain insights, and understand themselves better in a way that can translate to the workplace. Further reading: Horse Leadership Training: A New Approach to Leadership Development

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