Why Experiential Learning Beats Most Decision-Making Tools.
By: Gunnar Quante
Tags: Beyourself, Decision Making, Careers, Fulfilling Work, Personal Development

Decision-making tools like the Eisenhower matrix or fancy acronyms such as FORDEC or DECIDE are widely recognized these days. Being a commercial pilot, I have practised FORDEC many times. I find it particularly useful when facing significant and urgent decisions. But how many of these choices do we make at work on a regular day? Ten or maybe twenty?

Studies suggest that we take around 35,000 decisions each day. Let’s assume that implementing a new decision-making strategy improves two out of three of these choices. This strategy would result in between six and fifteen better selections with FORDEC or DECIDE. For the small, everyday decisions, it would be around 23,000. Even if their impact is less significant, it adds up by a factor of more than 1000. That’s why I would like to propose a more unusual approach to decision making.

This approach stems from a widely accepted learning theory. I will share my way of using this theory to improve the daily decision making for my business. I am convinced that this will help you to make better decisions — in your current job, for your next position and at any given point in your life.

“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 38)

David A. Kolb developed the theory of experiential learning in the 1980s. Influential were previous works from Lewin, Dewey and Piaget. He distinguishes between the way new experiences are processed and perceived. The first one covers how we approach the experiences and distinguishes between doing and watching. According to Kolb, some people tend to act while others prefer to observe. Also, Perception can be differentiated by a continuum — this time between feeling and thinking.

These two continua create a table with four different areas:

Image kindly provided by Leo Buchner

I suppose this theory is quite abstract at this point. Let me illustrate it with a simple example: I have a slight preference for a converging learning style (thinking and doing). Thinking and developing assumptions about my world are my preferences. In my business, I enjoy building a model of how things work (certainly impacted by studying industrial engineering). Additionally, I enjoy testing my mental models. For example, I created a flow chart for my marketing process. Now I am using it for real-world application.

According to Kolb, most people have a preference for any of these four areas. Here is a short self-assessment to find out more.

But in contrast to models of personality types — the learning styles are no fixed boxes. They are rather preferences for particular learning activities. But effective learning takes place once moving through all of the different areas.

Image kindly provided by Leo Buchner

This movement leads to the learning cycle. Kolb states that learning becomes effective once we move through a four-staged loop: After having an experience comes a phase of reflective observation. This event allows for building abstract concepts, like mental models. My example for such a mental model is my marketing flowchart. The fourth step is active experimentation, which means testing out the models developed in the previous stage. This testing yields another experience, and the learning cycle starts again.

As most of us prefer particular stages of the circle, shifting through this cycle more consciously will lead to faster learning and thus better decisions. I know that I like to develop models and theories. Therefore I chose to emphasize active experimentation in my business. I blocked an hour in my calendar to spend time designing an experiment for the next seven days.

How did I build my learning cycle for better decision making?

I started with developing a better understanding of my learning preferences. One way of doing so could be to build self-awareness, e.g. by talking to friends or observing yourself non-judgmentally.

In this way, I learned that I tend to miss the active experimentation part the most. That’s why I started choosing one experiment for every new week.

As most learning preferences differ, the actions to build a learning cycle vary significantly. Here is a list with some ideas to find an individual solution:

Reflective Observation: Stepping back from the experience and process thoughts and feelings. Methods could be journaling, taking calm time during a walk to think, discuss events with friends

My example is to reflect on any feedback I receive from my clients, training participants and readers of my writing.

Abstract Conceptualization: Finding out if your observation matches any models or theories. Either self-developed ones (mental models) or ones that are publicly available (like Kolb’s learning theory)

I am writing down the assumptions I hold about my business. One of them is that many students and young graduates are looking for support for their professional development.

Active Experimentation: Testing out the models developed during Abstract Conceptualization.

My long-term experiment is building ways of helping young employees for their professional development. One of them are articles like this one. Others are courses I offer and my coaching practice.

Concrete Experience is to pursue tasks based on your experiments. It can be helpful to have someone for accountability to ensure to follow through.

Presently I am offering coaching, training and articles. All of them are supposed to help young employees in finding fulfilling work. The feedback I receive is the first thing I reflect on. And with this, the cycle starts again.

The bottom line

The noteworthy difference between FORDEC and Kolb’s learning theory is to which kind of decision they apply. While FORDEC can help to improve a single important decision, Kolb’s theory can enhance the 35,000 smaller choices we make each day. Consciously facilitating the complete learning cycle helped me to make better decisions every day. Using this model for a while now, I can see the results in my own business. Maybe it’s not only about the impact of a single decision, but also about impacting the majority of choices…