Kolb and Ranger School

When I see Kolb's Experiential Model what pops to my mind was a behavior-based safety system that my organization adopted after a fatality we suffered. We already had a strong safety system, but when we adopted this new behavior-based safety system, it was like a safety system on steroids. It had self-reinforcing process and procedures, the ability to analyze and reflect as a part of internal processes, investigations, reports, going back and auditing changes to ensure the responses are correct and effective. It was like going from 10 MPH to 120 MPH in just a few seconds. Many of our senior executives were lost and that made it hard to convince our 3000 field technicians to buy in and use it. 

The turning point, and where I see that Kolb's Experiential Model came into play, was when I was asked to go to the "train the trainer" course. This was a week-long course that was very "drill" centered, which taught trainers how to train this new behavior-based safety course. While taking the course I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at the authoritative style of teaching, the lack of trust in the trainers, and the seemingly rudimentary tools and techniques. But after just two days I started to see the benefits of the system. By learning to train the system to others, I became a natural promoter for the course. I also moved from "active experimentation" through "concrete experience" and into "reflective observation." 

Following that moment I was unable to see the safety system as I had before and was an advocate for its adoption to everyone I ran into. To this day I continue to be an advocate for not just behavior-based safety systems but for this particular one.

(As an aside, I met the founder of the company and the designer of the system several years later, turns out he was a captain of an infantry company in Vietnam and took many of the techniques in the system from his experiences in Ranger Schoool. The entire system was based on Ranger School. Maybe that's why I found it so appealing.)

Regardless, like you, I find it's fun to look back at moments in my life, like the behavior-based safety training and see how Kolb's Experiential Model was playing a part in my active understanding of the concepts.