As you know, 2024 is a Leap Year. To mark this occasion, I decided to embark on a personal challenge: 12 mini Leaps that met the following criteria:

• It must be an ongoing pursuit (not just a quick task).
• It must stretch me out of my comfort zone.
• It must be something I've never done before.

The Beginner's Mindset

The purpose of this Leaps challenge was twofold: to place myself in the learner's seat and repeatedly practice a beginner’s mindset, and to have some fun along the way. I’m almost halfway through this project, and I’ve explored some compelling Leaps:

• Tap dance lessons
• Obtaining a motorcycle license
• Starting to learn French

Although these activities are vastly different, each journey has shown me the remarkable amount of learning I can achieve simply by doing. For each activity, I dedicated a month's time, noting my starting point and the progress made by the end of the month. While I’m not ready to write a book in French, I do feel confident asking where the nearest patisserie is. Priorities, right?

Experience as the Teacher

Today, all of Ei’s programs are grounded in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory​, which posits that knowledge is created through the transformation that comes from experience. Engaging learners in direct experiences and focused reflection fosters more profound understanding and skill acquisition. Our programs provide participants the opportunity to:

• Experiment with a new concept, framework, or mindset.
• Apply the new knowledge gained.
• Reflect & identify opportunities to utilize lessons in the future.

Your Next Experience

As summer approaches and (hopefully!) offers you some time off, consider this a chance to pause, reflect, and evaluate where you want to grow. Maybe it’s learning a new skill like sailing, cooking a complicated dish, basic German, or SQL. Perhaps it’s exploring a new mindset or habit.

How will you learn it?

Chances are there will be a combination of things at play, but certainly, a key ingredient will simply be doing the thing.

And in the midst of that learning, how will you make space for intentional reflection? Moving beyond doing to reflecting on the experience is crucial. Reflection helps consolidate the lessons learned, identify areas for improvement, and solidify new skills.

In a few weeks, we’ll unveil our refreshed approach to transformational workplace learning—the culmination of over a decade of our own experience working with learners and leaders.