“What we have to learn, we learn by doing.” — Aristotle

Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline (recognized by HBR as one of the top management books of the last 75 years), writes: “Human beings learn best through firsthand experience…but ‘learning by doing’ only works so long as the feedback from our actions is rapid and unambiguous.”

This is where much ‘on the job training’ falls short – the lack of effective feedback can significantly impair one’s ability to climb a new learning curve. Feedback brings involvement that is critical to the learning process. That may be why Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

The Bottom Line: Leaders train their people through hands-on experience, actively involving them and providing clear and immediate feedback to their work.