This week I had the opportunity to sit in
on one of the workshops with the SSE students. It was a great way to gain some
insight into how SSE’s model works in action. As children we are generally
encouraged to answer our own questions by experiencing something for ourselves.
The SSE workshops encourage students to answer their own questions by
experiencing something for themselves. By taking the time to question and
reflect we can intentionally change our behavior and recreate our reality.

 

Similar to the approach taken at the Center
for Experiential Learning at St. Olaf, action learning is not just about
learning by doing: you must reflect on that experience in order to identify
exactly what it is you have learned, internalize the lessons and devise action
plans so you can take effective action in the future in a new situation,
however similar or different. Through practice, SSE students learn the ability
to ask the right questions at the right time and take action when necessary.

 

One of the interesting consequences of
action learning is that learning starts with not knowing. We only become open
to learning when we admit what we don’t know. There are no experts in these
situations, and therefore there may also not be any right answers. What is
important to note is that in situations where there are no right answers, it is
important to act in order to learn. This ability to act (or be prone to action)
is a fundamental quality of an entrepreneur. In an action-learning setting,
learning takes place by posing useful and discriminating questions in
conditions of uncertainty. Learning is about trying out unfamiliar ideas, and
involves risk and taking actions which might not work out.