Experience

The Shocking Value of Experience

What would cause a horse to walk into an electric fence and get shocked right after seeing another horse do it? Julius Caesar said, “Experience is the teacher of all things. ”This past week I saw a dramatic example of this with my horses. It is very dry in Utah right now and I needed to find some feed for my horses. I found some grass near the reservoir that borders my land, but it was outside my fences, so I installed an electric fence. They were enjoying the new feed, but unfortunately, they kept getting out. The horses did not respect the thin electric wire and would run right through it so quickly they wouldn’t have time to feel the electricity. Even though I hated to do it, I decided the only way to keep them in was to have them experience the shock themselves. I was confident the electricity was not powerful enough to hurt them, but I knew it would really scare them. My sons and I took some grain and placed it under the fence, so the only way they could reach it was to stretch their necks across the wire and get shocked. I watched with amazement as one horse after another came forward to get their shocking lesson. It did not matter how dramatically the horse before them reacted. They all had to experience it for themselves. Since that lesson, they have all stayed safely within the fence.

There are various ways to learn, but experience is the most powerful teacher. Several years ago, the Center for Creative Leadership developed a learning model called 70-20-10. Their research found that to achieve changed behavior, 70% of learning should come from hands-on experience, 20% should come from others like mentors or coaches, and only 10% should come from formal training or reading a book. This is precisely the opposite of what we usually do–we start by sending them to a class. If we really want to change, we need to jump in and experience the negative results from the wrong behavior and the positive results from the right behavior. Too often, we step in to rescue others before they have a chance to experience learning for themselves. As leaders, we should always be looking for ways to facilitate direct experience learning situations. The results we see may shock us.