If you’re at all like me, a trip to the big city equals an opportunity to take in a play. The experience is a familiar one: the plush seats, the intermission, the applause and collective bow, the polite crush on the way out.
Except for one performance of Macbeth, which completely upended my idea of theater as usual.
From the get-go, nothing was normal. After buying a seat online, no ticket showed up in my inbox. At showtime, I simply walked up to the booth formerly known as Admissions and gave my name, as if for an A-list party.
That was all. No ticket, no assigned seat … and no phone. After I surrendered my phone at the coat check, I was given a featureless white mask that covered my entire face.
Fully anonymous, my guest and I entered what appeared to be a speakeasy, then descended via freight elevator into the depths of a New York City hotel. We spent the next several hours roaming the hotel at will, rifling through drawers and cabinets and watching scenes play out (often silently) in dreamlike sequences.
Fellow theater buffs might now recognize this performance as Sleep No More, the immersive, film noir-influenced interpretation of Macbeth that ran for nearly 14 years at the McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea. It was unlike any play I have ever seen or experienced, and an experience of Macbeth I’ll never forget.
After the strangest three hours of my life, I mused, “What if learning was more like that?”
I didn’t (necessarily) mean masked, noir-influenced or accessible only by freight elevator. What I did mean was live, experiential and thoroughly engrossing. Here’s how that could look in the L&D world.
Live experiential learning: ILT as usual?
Is live experiential learning, or LEL, just a surface rebranding of traditional instructor-led training?
Absolutely not. In fact, LEL is as distant from traditional ILT as Sleep No More is from traditional theater.
Instead of sitting politely, nodding along — or nodding off — as an instructor carefully reads aloud from their slide deck, learners roam about, get their hands dirty and focus on the things that matter to them (yes, even if that means they don’t get to every topic or encounter them in the way we would have liked).
In short, LEL has the ability to shake up your learners, in a good way. And when they realize that this isn’t learning as usual, they land in a mental space that makes them more curious and receptive.
So what does this look like, really? And how does it work?
A tale of two strategies
There are two key strategies you can employ to create LEL:
Make it high-fidelity.
High-fidelity means that what your learners experience during training will be very similar to what they will do back at their desk. In fact, it should absolutely be the work they’re doing back at their desk.
This relevance means more than just emphasizing performance or skills over knowledge. It involves a hyper-focus on your learners’ real lived experiences, blurring the line between learning and work.
Incorporate learner choice and learner control.
It’s a well-known truth that nobody knows the needs of individual learners better than the learners themselves. Our role as L&D leaders is to make it possible for them to see and understand what they need … and then make it easy for them to get what they need, when they need it.
The program might begin by having learners evaluate their own knowledge and skills and — this is important — their confidence in their knowledge and skills.
The program might then proceed with an invitation to learners to sign up for small interest groups, for which they host and self-organize their own live learning activities.
Three case studies
The following case studies illustrate how these strategies unfolded for decentralized LEL at three very different organizations.
Case study 1: High-fidelity, high transfer: Business skills for born healers
A medical supplier wanted to support the businesses of medical professionals because these professionals went into their line of work because they were, at their core, healers — and not business people.
Asking them to sit through a course on how to calculate their net profit in the abstract, using canned examples and story problems that didn’t apply to their work as medical professionals, simply wasn’t going to work. These learners needed learning activities they could immediately apply to their own situations.
Enter business school, LEL-style: Instead of abstract instructor-led training on profits, losses and liabilities, we leveraged learners’ sales information, expense data and client feedback. Using their own data, in the same formats they used at the office, learners calculated their profit margins and other key business measures, then used the information to make business decisions. Leveraging their own materials, in familiar formats, ensured that learners’ new skills transferred directly to their work, with nothing lost in translation, and empowered them to run more successful businesses.
Case study 2: Cohorts in control: Learner-managed management training
A global leader in consulting wanted to scale a training program to all mid-level managers who needed or had an interest in deepening their management skills. The L&D team had piloted this popular, well-liked, instructor-led program with a team of facilitators.
The challenge was scaling a synchronous, facilitated experience to a distributed global audience (a learner population larger than my entire hometown as a child!). Time zones, work schedules and the sheer number of facilitators needed to meet the needs of this immense learner audience made it prohibitive to offer facilitated sessions to everyone.
To overcome the scheduling and logistics obstacles, we harnessed learners’ existing skills: As managers, they were practiced in setting up, planning and facilitating meetings. Using this skill set, we set up an online “matching” system where learners joined small cohorts of peers with similar goals and interests — much like a book club.
Once matched, cohorts worked together to select meeting times and dates; prepare for meetings with bite-sized, high-value content; and take turns facilitating group sessions. (When it was their turn to lead, each learner accessed a facilitator’s guide complete with suggested agenda, activities and talking points.)
This high-autonomy, learner-led arrangement was a smashing success. Not only did learners manage their own schedules and take ownership of their learning, they broadened their professional network and formed lasting friendships.
Case study 3: A mentorship model for medical professionals
A small organization for medical professionals wanted to create an upskilling program for its members on a subject that required nuance and sensitivity. The challenge was how to support skill acquisition for their geographically distributed member audience members.
A mentorship experience seemed like the right path. But a great mentorship experience requires the right balance of personalities, professional interests and availability, and the L&D team lacked the bandwidth and resources to make these matches.
Once again, learner choice and learner control helped the team overcome this challenge: Every learner, wherever they worked, had a colleague they knew and respected. They just needed some support to help them approach their prospective mentor, make the ask and build the relationship.
A “Build Your Own Mentorship” guide, complete with talking points that helped learners deepen their understanding of concepts from the asynchronous training, helped them do just that. Learners had complete control over their mentorship experience, beginning with their decision to participate and including whom they chose as a mentor and what they talked about.
Learners concluded the program with ongoing, long-term professional relationships they could rely on for support, advice and encouragement — and appreciated the mentorship experience as a valued employee benefit. Meanwhile, the organization was able to capture the institutional knowledge and experience of its internal experts and turnkey their wisdom to a new generation of employees without having to invest additional resources or oversight in the matching process.
Same place, same time: Strategies for in-person LEL
So far, I’ve shared some decentralized ways to amp up the experiential elements of LEL: The learners (and mentors) come together how and when it works for them. But there are three excellent strategies you can use to heighten the impact of the LEL when everyone is sharing the same space at the same time:
- Share an experience with others. One high-value strategy I recommend is hosting an opening ritual, where learners are asked to commit themselves to the work of mastering the learning ahead. Through a moment of reflection, a shared declaration or even a symbolic act, remind them of the greater purpose that the learning will bind them to and make them capable of taking on. The goal is to create a sense of unity and shared purpose, setting the stage for a truly immersive experience.
- Integrate microexperiences. Brief, intense bursts of learning break up longer sessions and keep engagement high. Microexperiences can range from quick simulations and role-playing exercises to interactive problem-solving challenges and collaborative design sprints. The key is to ensure that microexperiences are directly relevant to core learning objectives and provide immediate, actionable feedback. For instance, a microexperience in a leadership development program might involve a rapid-fire decision-making simulation, followed by a debrief in which participants analyze their choices and explore alternative approaches.
- Incorporate elements of “narrative immersion.” Storytelling is a powerful tool for engaging learners and creating emotional resonance. Instead of simply presenting information, weave it into a compelling narrative that allows participants to connect with the content on a deeper level. This could involve using case studies, personal anecdotes or even fictional scenarios to illustrate key concepts and principles. For instance, when teaching change management, present a story of a company undergoing a major transformation, thus allowing learners to step into the shoes of different stakeholders and experience the challenges and opportunities through these relatable characters.
These strategies aren’t limited to learning: I recently experienced all three woven seamlessly into a live restaurant experience at Counter in Charlotte, N.C. From the first moment, the entire experience is crafted to engage all five senses. The chefs are not hidden in a kitchen; they’re beside guests, explaining each microcourse, interacting and creating a shared experience. The pacing is deliberate, allowing for reflection and conversation. It’s not just a meal; it’s a culinary and social journey.
At the end of the journey, the Chef de Cuisine explained that there would be no tips accepted. Instead, he asked us to join them in supporting several food assistance programs in the neighborhood. Concluding the shared experience with a lasting gift to the community made for an authentic and emotional closing ritual.
These elements are the essence of LEL: engagement, interaction and a shared experience that transcends the ordinary.
High-tech, high-touch: Immersion, assessment and psychological safety
The role of technology
Although LEL emphasizes human interaction, technology can play a crucial role in enhancing the experience. Consider using virtual reality, augmented reality or mixed reality to create immersive microexperiences that provide authentic, lifelike experiences.
For example, medical professionals might practice complex interactions with patients experiencing a mental health crisis in a 3D virtual environment. Sales teams can hone their negotiation skills in a simulated customer interaction. People managers can practice giving growth-inducing feedback to their team members. Or imagine an MR session in which the learner interacts with a client in a microexperience, then debriefs the encounter with their mentor. This kind of authentic, embodied practice followed by immediate feedback supercharges learning.
Mobile apps and online platforms can also be used to facilitate collaboration, provide on-demand resources and track learner progress in both facilitated and unfacilitated group settings. However, it’s critical to remember that tech should enhance the experience and never replace the human-to-human interaction that makes LEL so impactful.
Assessment
How do we measure the impact of LEL? Traditional assessments like multiple-choice tests and written exams often fail to capture its nuances and skill gains.
Instead, focus on performance-based assessments that evaluate learners’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world contexts and the learners’ confidence in their ability to perform. Simple pre-post evaluation of confidence around key skills can be extremely telling. And consider that some of the best evaluators of a learner’s growth are their managers and clients. Learners’ skill growth will be reflected in increased work quality, overall productivity, relationships with clients and colleagues, and, ultimately, in KPIs such as client satisfaction, error reduction, cost savings or increased profitability.
Psychological safety
Here’s a crucial point: Creating a safe and supportive learning environment is paramount. LEL often involves taking risks, stepping outside comfort zones and embracing vulnerability. L&D leaders must cultivate a culture of psychological safety in which learners feel comfortable sharing their ideas, asking questions and making mistakes without fear of judgment or repercussions. We can achieve psychological safety through open communication, active listening and a focus on constructive feedback.
Finally, remember that LEL is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Tailor your approach to the specific needs and preferences of your learners, and be prepared to adapt and iterate as needed. Continuously gather feedback, analyze data and refine your LEL programs to ensure they are delivering the desired outcomes.
LEL: An L&D leader’s call to action
Don’t just envision a more engaging learning experience — take the first steps away from the familiar confines of traditional training.
Here are three actions you can take in the near term to embrace the dynamic potential of LEL:
- Begin by asking yourself: “Where can we inject more real-world relevance, more learner autonomy and more immersive storytelling into our programs?”
- Challenge your team to experiment with microexperiences, build in opening rituals that forge a shared purpose and explore the potential of technology to enhance — not replace — human connection.
- Prioritize confidence measurement and performance-based assessments that reflect actual workplace challenges and cultivate a culture where psychological safety allows for genuine learning and growth.
The time for passive learning is over: Your learners are ready for experiences that resonate, challenge and transform, and they’re looking to you to provide them. Seize this opportunity to empower your people to thrive in an ever-evolving world of work.
