Feature
Take the challenge
By Andy McLaughlin
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Physical activities, such as those organized by Chris Niles and other Key Leader facilitators, teach leadership lessons |
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Just what does a highropes course or juggling have to do with leadership learning? Plenty, says longtime challenge-educator Chris Niles, a Key Leader facilitator and consultant who specializes in training facilitation and programming.
Kiwanis magazine asked Niles to explain the concept of experiential training and why physical activities provide valuable leadership training for students, as well as adults.
Kiwanis magazine (KM): Define “experiential learning.”
Chris Niles (CN): Experiential learning is kind of a catchall phrase. More accurately, the type of programming we use, especially with Circle K and Key Club, is called “challenge education.” There’s a whole range of experiential education, but challenge education goes a bit beyond recreation.
KM: What makes challenge education effective?
CN: It’s the “debrief.” People who aren’t familiar with ropes courses or experiential learning see people running around and doing silly activities and think it’s all just fun and games, but there’s a real purposefulness to the design. In challenge education, you use an activity to create a certain dynamic in the group, and then you sit down and talk about that dynamic. That debrief is where the learning comes in.
KM: What’s a typical activity that would create the “dynamic” you need for a debrief discussion?
CN: A starting activity might be a group juggle. It gives you a chance to look at simple things, such as awareness of one another. You can look at group communication, because people are bound to drop at times; so, how do they deal with that? Do they blame each other? Or do they try to find a better solution?
KM: What do you hope to accomplish in the debrief discussion?
CN: If it’s an intact group—say a district board, an International board, or a class of governors—we’re going to look at effectiveness of communication and creativity in problem solving. We talk about the importance of effective teamwork, shared responsibility, and accountability. With the Key Leader program, however, we’ll use a group activity, but we’re not trying to get those students to work better together, because they’re not an intact group; they’re a set of individuals. We look more at personal decisionmaking and ethics, how they deal with stress, and leadership behaviors. But the debrief will be more tailored to who you are as a leader and how you can improve.
KM: Why is challenge education popular?
CN: There’s a certain, well, “sex appeal” to it. It’s novel. It’s interesting. And that draws people in without intimidating them.
KM: Is challenge education better than traditional classroom training?
CN: It’s not necessarily better. Experiential is just one piece of what I think is necessary to make training truly effective. Ultimately, I think any training that has no experiential element has certain limitations. Any training that’s experiential only has some limitations. The most effective training truly is the most diverse training you can create, where you’re offering different teaching styles and different learning experiences.
KM: Are there any caveats to consider in challenge education?
CN: Absolutely—something we call “challenge by choice.” It’s critical. The philosophy is that the participant owns what’s going on. For example, “Yes, I am challenging you to fully participate, but if at any point you feel like you can’t, that’s perfectly fine. I just need you to let me know that.” That doesn’t mean you participate. Maybe I have to tweak the training so you still play a critical role in a safe way. And that’s also how we work with people who have disabilities. If I’m doing an activity with somebody who has a prosthetic leg, or they just had shoulder surgery, I need them to take responsibility for their choices. I don’t know what their level of ability may be. If they tell me, I can change the nature of the activity to accommodate their needs. So everybody plays a critical role, but everybody does so in a way they’re comfortable. |
