15 Learning through experience
15.1 Introduction
It is often said that entrepreneurship is something you learn by doing. This simultaneously indicates that it is not only about doing, but also about learning from that 'doing'. You can learn from trying! Doing involves many choices, and you gradually make better decisions by learning from the effects of previous choices. Learning from experience is not only a competence in itself, but it also plays a role in the development of all competences in the EntreComp framework. Therefore learning from experience can be seen as a meta-competence. Learning happens individually, with others, and from others (see box Further Reading [1]). This threefold division forms the structure of the insights and the exercises in this chapter.
15.2 Insights
EntreComp defines entrepreneurship as putting into practice opportunities and ideas to create value for other people. An entrepreneurial person therefore makes something real, which did not exist before. Opportunity ideas typically have unknown or uncertain aspects, unless it concerns something that has been done many times before and where the chances of success are known (for example McDonalds opening a new branch). Often, it only becomes clear in practice how best to approach something and what knowledge and skills are required. There exists uncertainty, for example, about whether your idea will catch on, what would be the best way to implement it, what the competition is doing, and whether you have the necessary capabilities. Because uncertainty is inherent in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial people must be able to deal with uncertainty [see: Coping with ambiguity, uncertainty and risk]. At the same time, they will try to reduce that uncertainty. For the latter, it is essential to be able to learn from experience.
Learning from experience begins in the start-up phase [see: Spotting opportunities and Valuing ideas]. Often the initial idea is only a very first step towards the final idea. This is the starting point of the lean start-up methodology that has taken the start-up world and the world of entrepreneurship education by storm in recent years [2] [see also Planning and management]. The motto of this movement is: Get out of the building. Learning is central to this approach. You have an initial idea, you take action to investigate whether this idea is correct, and you learn from the feedback. You investigate by gathering information and by talking to friends and family, potential customers, suppliers, employees, investors, experts and whoever else can help you. Then you try to make progress in developing your idea by targeted experimentation.
How do you learn from experience?
A widely used learning theory, which is closely related to the lean start-up method, is that of Kolb [3]. Kolb developed the model of the learning cycle, which includes four phases. The first phase, that of concrete experience, is followed by reflection on that experience. Lessons are drawn from this reflection (abstraction). These lessons are then tested by means of new approaches (experimentation). This in turn leads to a new concrete experience, and so on. As Kolb's model shows, it is not just about doing, the experience itself, but above all about learning from that experience, and then discovering whether those new insights actually work. The latter means that you not only reflect on your experience but also in your experiences: you consciously create experiences in order to learn from them. You learn from doing but also in doing. David Schön calls someone who learns in this way a reflective practitioner [4].
Reflection also helps against the tendency of some entrepreneurs to have a rather exaggerated belief in their own knowledge and abilities (overconfidence bias). On the one hand, such a belief is not unfavourable for getting started - without belief in one's own abilities and one's own idea, many entrepreneurial initiatives would never get off the ground. Visionary entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk and Steve Jobs are known for the enormous belief in their own ideas. But for most entrepreneurial people, overconfidence bias can have nasty consequences. It can lead to errors in judgment, and even more problematically, if these errors are not subsequently learned from [see: Self-awareness and self-efficacy and Coping with ambiguity, uncertainty, and risk].
Learning from failure
Learning from experience is not only of central importance in the start-up phase, it plays a role during all phases of entrepreneurship. This is even, or perhaps especially, the case when a project as a whole turns out unsuccessful and fails. In the entrepreneurship literature, a lot of research can be found on learning from failure [5]. It is important to be able to convert the negative experience into constructive plans for the future. Incidentally, this not only concerns learning about how the business can function better, but also how the entrepreneur him- or herself can function better. The English researchers Cope and Watts conducted research into moments when entrepreneurs learn from so-called critical incidents, and concluded that failed entrepreneurial projects are emotionally draining, but often also lead to a deepening of self-insight [6] [see: Self-awareness and self-efficacy].
Social learning
Although Kolb's model describes well what happens in a learning process, shortcomings have also been pointed out, especially by educational scholars. The model assumes individual learning from one's own experiences. However, learning does not have to be based on your own experiences, nor does it have to be individual. Regarding the former, another well-known learning theory, Social Learning theory, was developed by Albert Bandura [7]. This theory focuses on learning from the experiences of others. According to this theory, it makes sense to study other entrepreneurs; people who have already tried to do what you want to do. These may be people in your immediate surroundings, in your branch of industry, or internationally famous entrepreneurs whose (auto) biographies have been published.
Learning together
In addition, there is the importance of the entrepreneurial team (team learning) for learning from experience. Learning in entrepreneurship is rarely an individual matter. How do you ensure that you as a team learn as much as possible from your experiences [see: Working with ohers]? In start-up projects, the organisation may consist of just the team. Then the question is: How do you learn as an organisation? Decuyper, Dochy, and Van den Bossche reviewed the entire literature on team learning and summarise that learning at the team level involves three specific activities: sharing, co-construction, and constructive controversy [8]. Sharing includes sharing information, opinions, creative thoughts, and available skills that the other team members were not yet aware of. Co-construction involves team members working with this input to come up with common and shared ideas and insights. The third element, creative controversy (in educational literature also the term 'constructive conflict' is used) is important for co-construction. Instead of accepting the first idea that is brought up, team members engage in a dialogue, in which differences of opinion and insight are expressed. By dealing with this constructively (instead of arguing), a better joint idea is achieved. Learning teams are constantly moving between 'agree' and 'disagree'. Both extremes (always agreeing, or always disagreeing) should be avoided. Decuyper and his co-researchers conclude that the ability to reflect determines whether teams learn. This includes reflecting on the results of experiments to try out the newly acquired joint insights. And so we are back to Kolb's model, but now at the team level.
Learning with others can also take the form of a network of fellow entrepreneurs which meets and exchanges experiences. Especially for solo entrepreneurs, it can be attractive to form a network with fellow entrepreneurs, in which they can freely share their experiences.
Mentors or coaches can play a role in all three forms of learning (individual, from others, with others): they can help you reflect on experiences, they can help teams learn better from each other, and it may be the experience of the mentor or coach that entrepreneurs may like to learn from. A coach or mentor can be of particular interest to solo entrepreneurs. An entrepreneurial person starts his or her organization with him or herself at the top, and it can be difficult to speak confidentially and openly with the workers in one's own organization. A mentor or coach can offer a solution for this.
Learning from experience begins in the start-up phase [see: Spotting opportunities and Valuing ideas]. Often the initial idea is only a very first step towards the final idea. This is the starting point of the lean start-up methodology that has taken the start-up world and the world of entrepreneurship education by storm in recent years [2] [see also Planning and management]. The motto of this movement is: Get out of the building. Learning is central to this approach. You have an initial idea, you take action to investigate whether this idea is correct, and you learn from the feedback. You investigate by gathering information and by talking to friends and family, potential customers, suppliers, employees, investors, experts and whoever else can help you. Then you try to make progress in developing your idea by targeted experimentation.
How do you learn from experience?
A widely used learning theory, which is closely related to the lean start-up method, is that of Kolb [3]. Kolb developed the model of the learning cycle, which includes four phases. The first phase, that of concrete experience, is followed by reflection on that experience. Lessons are drawn from this reflection (abstraction). These lessons are then tested by means of new approaches (experimentation). This in turn leads to a new concrete experience, and so on. As Kolb's model shows, it is not just about doing, the experience itself, but above all about learning from that experience, and then discovering whether those new insights actually work. The latter means that you not only reflect on your experience but also in your experiences: you consciously create experiences in order to learn from them. You learn from doing but also in doing. David Schön calls someone who learns in this way a reflective practitioner [4].
Reflection also helps against the tendency of some entrepreneurs to have a rather exaggerated belief in their own knowledge and abilities (overconfidence bias). On the one hand, such a belief is not unfavourable for getting started - without belief in one's own abilities and one's own idea, many entrepreneurial initiatives would never get off the ground. Visionary entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk and Steve Jobs are known for the enormous belief in their own ideas. But for most entrepreneurial people, overconfidence bias can have nasty consequences. It can lead to errors in judgment, and even more problematically, if these errors are not subsequently learned from [see: Self-awareness and self-efficacy and Coping with ambiguity, uncertainty, and risk].
Learning from failure
Learning from experience is not only of central importance in the start-up phase, it plays a role during all phases of entrepreneurship. This is even, or perhaps especially, the case when a project as a whole turns out unsuccessful and fails. In the entrepreneurship literature, a lot of research can be found on learning from failure [5]. It is important to be able to convert the negative experience into constructive plans for the future. Incidentally, this not only concerns learning about how the business can function better, but also how the entrepreneur him- or herself can function better. The English researchers Cope and Watts conducted research into moments when entrepreneurs learn from so-called critical incidents, and concluded that failed entrepreneurial projects are emotionally draining, but often also lead to a deepening of self-insight [6] [see: Self-awareness and self-efficacy].
Social learning
Although Kolb's model describes well what happens in a learning process, shortcomings have also been pointed out, especially by educational scholars. The model assumes individual learning from one's own experiences. However, learning does not have to be based on your own experiences, nor does it have to be individual. Regarding the former, another well-known learning theory, Social Learning theory, was developed by Albert Bandura [7]. This theory focuses on learning from the experiences of others. According to this theory, it makes sense to study other entrepreneurs; people who have already tried to do what you want to do. These may be people in your immediate surroundings, in your branch of industry, or internationally famous entrepreneurs whose (auto) biographies have been published.
Learning together
In addition, there is the importance of the entrepreneurial team (team learning) for learning from experience. Learning in entrepreneurship is rarely an individual matter. How do you ensure that you as a team learn as much as possible from your experiences [see: Working with ohers]? In start-up projects, the organisation may consist of just the team. Then the question is: How do you learn as an organisation? Decuyper, Dochy, and Van den Bossche reviewed the entire literature on team learning and summarise that learning at the team level involves three specific activities: sharing, co-construction, and constructive controversy [8]. Sharing includes sharing information, opinions, creative thoughts, and available skills that the other team members were not yet aware of. Co-construction involves team members working with this input to come up with common and shared ideas and insights. The third element, creative controversy (in educational literature also the term 'constructive conflict' is used) is important for co-construction. Instead of accepting the first idea that is brought up, team members engage in a dialogue, in which differences of opinion and insight are expressed. By dealing with this constructively (instead of arguing), a better joint idea is achieved. Learning teams are constantly moving between 'agree' and 'disagree'. Both extremes (always agreeing, or always disagreeing) should be avoided. Decuyper and his co-researchers conclude that the ability to reflect determines whether teams learn. This includes reflecting on the results of experiments to try out the newly acquired joint insights. And so we are back to Kolb's model, but now at the team level.
Learning with others can also take the form of a network of fellow entrepreneurs which meets and exchanges experiences. Especially for solo entrepreneurs, it can be attractive to form a network with fellow entrepreneurs, in which they can freely share their experiences.
Mentors or coaches can play a role in all three forms of learning (individual, from others, with others): they can help you reflect on experiences, they can help teams learn better from each other, and it may be the experience of the mentor or coach that entrepreneurs may like to learn from. A coach or mentor can be of particular interest to solo entrepreneurs. An entrepreneurial person starts his or her organization with him or herself at the top, and it can be difficult to speak confidentially and openly with the workers in one's own organization. A mentor or coach can offer a solution for this.
15.3 Further reading
[1] A recent review on workplace learning. Jeong, S., Han, S.J., Lee, J., Sunalai, S., & Yoon, S.W. (2018). Integrative literature review on informal learning: antecedents, conceptualizations, and future directions. Human Resource Development Review, 17(2), 128-152.
[2] Accessible article explaining the lean start-up method. Eisenmann, T.R., Ries, E., & Dillard, S. (2012). Hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship: The lean startup. Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial Management Case (812-095).
[3] A classic book on learning from experience. Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
[4] An equally classic book on the reflective professional. Schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San-Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass.
[5] Article giving suggestions on how to get students to learn from 'failure' in education. Shepherd, D.A. (2004). Educating entrepreneurship students about emotion and learning from failure. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(3), 274-287.
[6] Research on how entrepreneurs deal with difficult episodes, and how and what they learned from them. Cope, J., & Watts, G. (2000). Learning by doing - an exploration of experience, critical incidents and reflection in entrepreneurial learning. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 6(3), 104-124.
[7] Classic book on learning from others. Bandura, A., & McClelland, D.C. (1977). Social learning theory (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
[8] Well-considered article on how to learn together as team members within an organization. Decuyper, S., Dochy, F., & Van den Bossche, P. (2010). Grasping the dynamic complexity of team learning: An integrative model for effective team learning in organisations. Educational Research Review, 5(2), 111-133.
[2] Accessible article explaining the lean start-up method. Eisenmann, T.R., Ries, E., & Dillard, S. (2012). Hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship: The lean startup. Harvard Business School Entrepreneurial Management Case (812-095).
[3] A classic book on learning from experience. Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
[4] An equally classic book on the reflective professional. Schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San-Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass.
[5] Article giving suggestions on how to get students to learn from 'failure' in education. Shepherd, D.A. (2004). Educating entrepreneurship students about emotion and learning from failure. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(3), 274-287.
[6] Research on how entrepreneurs deal with difficult episodes, and how and what they learned from them. Cope, J., & Watts, G. (2000). Learning by doing - an exploration of experience, critical incidents and reflection in entrepreneurial learning. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 6(3), 104-124.
[7] Classic book on learning from others. Bandura, A., & McClelland, D.C. (1977). Social learning theory (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
[8] Well-considered article on how to learn together as team members within an organization. Decuyper, S., Dochy, F., & Van den Bossche, P. (2010). Grasping the dynamic complexity of team learning: An integrative model for effective team learning in organisations. Educational Research Review, 5(2), 111-133.
15.4 Exercises for students
1) Individual learning: Learning-by-doing and learning-in-doing
In learning-by-doing, action is not a goal in itself, the point is to learn from the action. Subsequently you can try out the lessons learned in practice: learning-by-doing.
Have students review the first exercise in Chapter 11, Taking the Initiative, in which they take three follow-up actions on ideas generated by the exercises in Chapter 1, Spotting Opportunities. For each follow-up action they do the following: (1) they describe the action they took; (2) they reflect on their experience; (3) they derive lessons from that experience; and (4) they design a new follow-up step, and take action for it. If necessary, they can then go through the cycle again.
Explanation: Having experiences is no guarantee for learning from them. The latter requires that you take time to reflect on your experiences, derive lessons from them, and think of new next steps, and then take these steps.
2) Learning from others
In addition to learning from your own experiences, students can also learn from the experiences of others.Give your students the following assignment:
Visit an entrepreneur in your area or in your network, preferably in an industry that appeals to you. You can ask about his or her experiences with regard to the competences in this book: thinking about and evaluating opportunities, taking initiative, making ethical decisions, etc. You reflect on the experiences of this entrepreneur and think about what lessons you can learn for each competency.
Explanation: Through this exercise, students consciously look for the experiences of others, in order to learn from them.
3) Learning with others
Students can consciously set aside time by learning with and from each other at the team level (student team, entrepreneurial team).Give students the following assignment:
Sit down with your entrepreneurial team (or if you don't have one, a team for a school assignment). One team member talks about something he or she is currently trying to learn, as part of the entrepreneurial (or study) project. The others then provide feedback and suggestions. All team members get their turn in this way. Provide 'creative controversy' - give different opinions and perspectives, but then try to come to a common opinion. End the session by formulating what you want to achieve with the entrepreneurial (or study) project. Have a joint discussion about how you can best do this and how you can help each other.
Explanation: Within this exercise, students make a conscious effort to learn as a group.
In learning-by-doing, action is not a goal in itself, the point is to learn from the action. Subsequently you can try out the lessons learned in practice: learning-by-doing.
Have students review the first exercise in Chapter 11, Taking the Initiative, in which they take three follow-up actions on ideas generated by the exercises in Chapter 1, Spotting Opportunities. For each follow-up action they do the following: (1) they describe the action they took; (2) they reflect on their experience; (3) they derive lessons from that experience; and (4) they design a new follow-up step, and take action for it. If necessary, they can then go through the cycle again.
Explanation: Having experiences is no guarantee for learning from them. The latter requires that you take time to reflect on your experiences, derive lessons from them, and think of new next steps, and then take these steps.
2) Learning from others
In addition to learning from your own experiences, students can also learn from the experiences of others.Give your students the following assignment:
Visit an entrepreneur in your area or in your network, preferably in an industry that appeals to you. You can ask about his or her experiences with regard to the competences in this book: thinking about and evaluating opportunities, taking initiative, making ethical decisions, etc. You reflect on the experiences of this entrepreneur and think about what lessons you can learn for each competency.
Explanation: Through this exercise, students consciously look for the experiences of others, in order to learn from them.
3) Learning with others
Students can consciously set aside time by learning with and from each other at the team level (student team, entrepreneurial team).Give students the following assignment:
Sit down with your entrepreneurial team (or if you don't have one, a team for a school assignment). One team member talks about something he or she is currently trying to learn, as part of the entrepreneurial (or study) project. The others then provide feedback and suggestions. All team members get their turn in this way. Provide 'creative controversy' - give different opinions and perspectives, but then try to come to a common opinion. End the session by formulating what you want to achieve with the entrepreneurial (or study) project. Have a joint discussion about how you can best do this and how you can help each other.
Explanation: Within this exercise, students make a conscious effort to learn as a group.