Introduction About the Writer
Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa is the Deputy Director General of the Projects Sector at the International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait. A Kuwaiti national with an extensive experience in charitable, relief, and administrative work and has led several impactful campaigns and projects across the Arab and Islamic world. He is known for his humane leadership style, which blends administrative vision with an educational spirit, enabling him to influence and motivate teams towards improvement and development. He was introduced to FIRST-ADLX Framework through his participation in one of FIRST Academy learning journeys, where he found FIRST to be an effective framework for transforming administrative meetings into deep and inspiring learning spaces that enhance performance and elevate engagement within the organization.
The Challenge
In one of the weekly meetings of the Projects Sector team he leads, Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa noticed a lack of interaction among team members, which called for more practical methods to convey lessons and insights. He emphasized the importance of communicating these lessons not just through theoretical discussions but via applied methods such as gamification and practical exercises, which help participants grasp potential errors and avoid repeating them. He invited the team to engage in this interactive experience to explore the concept themselves and benefit from its impact in raising awareness about cumulative work and improving future performance.
Participant Context
The Learner eXperience was facilitated during a formal internal meeting at the headquarters of the International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait, attended by a team of administrative staff working in relief, planning, and coordination. The team consisted of a group of men with diverse professional backgrounds who regularly meet to plan and execute projects. Although the team had good access to technical and organizational resources, the traditional nature of the meetings limited the effectiveness of group learning and continuous development. Thus, this experience aimed to transform the meeting from a routine administrative exchange into an Active Deep Learner eXperience.
Learning Design Overview
Why FIRST-ADLX Framework?
Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa chose to apply FIRST-ADLX Framework specifically in this administrative meeting because he believes that learning is not exclusive to classrooms or learning sessions—it can emerge in any space where real human interaction occurs, even if it lasts only a few minutes. He found in this framework a way to integrate stimulation, reflection, and transformation into tangible performance. As an administrative leader, he saw the use of a deep educational framework within a traditional work environment as a key to renewing thought and building a performance culture rooted in collective awareness and accumulated lessons.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this eXperience, Mr. Abdulrahman aimed for participants to:
- Attitude Outcomes:
- Appreciate the value of cumulative work and building on others’ efforts.
- Embrace a spirit of collective responsibility and pride in past contributions.
- Skills Outcomes:
- Express ideas through visual symbols and meaningful analogies.
- Translate learned lessons into actionable plans within their teams.
- Knowledge Outcomes:
- List the benefits of utilizing previous efforts.
- Identify errors to avoid repeating them.
- Share the importance of documenting campaigns and transforming them into practical references.
Learning Journey Summary
The entire Learner eXperience lasted about one hour and fifteen minutes and consisted of a single main activity with three stages: the “Activity Facilitation” stage took six minutes, while the “Reviewing Actively” stage lasted nearly an hour. The session was conducted synchronously and in person during a formal morning meeting in a familiar setting, which gave the activity an element of surprise and provoked deep thought and reflection. The eXperience wasn’t based on a series of activities but rather on one evolving activity that moved from symbol to reflection, from spontaneous interaction to decision-making, while maintaining smooth transitions between the stages.
Readiness Increase Stage
At the beginning of the meeting, as the team was accustomed to starting its sessions with a short reflection or simple interaction, Mr. Abdulrahman decided to invest in this habit by creating an indirect mental and emotional readiness. He drew a random line on the board and issued an open invitation for each colleague to add a new drawing to this line. The participants built upon each other’s drawings to complete the picture. The surprising element was that each participant could choose another colleague to continue the drawing, creating a sense of curiosity and excitement with no preliminary explanation or assumptions. This visual and engaging readiness opened an internal space for reflection and engagement without barriers.
Activity Facilitation Stage
The participants began to interact spontaneously as each added a line or new element to the board, building on what others had started. The task was not explicitly explained, but its meaning gradually took shape. Mr. Abdulrahman observed attentively, intervening only with open-ended questions when someone veered away from the essence of the activity, such as: “What do you mean by that?” or “Can you explain your idea further?” He refrained from offering any interpretive explanation, leaving the participants space to derive the meaning themselves. Bit by bit, the board transformed into a symbolic scene rich in meaning, without them realizing they were in the midst of a critical review of their professional practices.
Reviewing Actively Stage
Mr. Abdulrahman asked the participants about the nature of what they had created. Each participant described what they saw or felt during the drawing, unknowingly admitting to patterns in their typical workflow. Mr. Abdulrahman then drew out the realization that they had been rediscovering the importance of building on the work of others and that any line or idea—even a simple one—could become the foundation for collective creativity. This insight deeply resonated with the team’s challenge of neglecting documentation and failing to use available past models. He concluded the exercise by summarizing the extracted meanings and guiding the participants to choose three actionable steps to implement with their teams in the following week, based on the lessons they had written on the board. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for Thursday of the same week to share the impact and any changes, ensuring this “Reviewing Actively” stage turned into real performance.
Applying the FIRST Domains
Focusing on the Learner
The principle of Individualization was evident in Mr. Abdulrahman’s gradual and flexible engagement of each person, giving everyone the opportunity to add their personal touch to the drawing and choose the next participant. There were no direct instructions, only open channels for self-expression within a collective journey. Probing and Assessing was present in his exploratory questions posed when a participant strayed from the core meaning, which helped redirect without stifling initiative. Trusting the Learner was clear in his avoidance to explain or push the correct answers, allowing participants a genuine space to construct meaning themselves and uncover the exercise’s significance without being told.
Interacting within Positive Group Dynamics
From the beginning, the social event was activated within a familiar yet renewed context, as the facilitator gave a new spirit to the habit of starting meetings. The positive spirit appeared in the mutual reactions and everyone’s participation without mockery or judgment—just a sense of light-hearted solidarity, even as deeper messages emerged. Motivation and attention were sustained through the element of surprise and letting participants choose the sequence, keeping focus and engagement high until the end.
Reviewing Activities within RAR Model
The RAR model was applied seamlessly throughout the single activity, with no formal transitions or announcements. Readiness was increased through visual curiosity and a natural social context. Activity Facilitation happened through quiet follow-up and timely guiding questions. Reviewing Actively peaked during the spontaneous moment of collective realization when the team discovered the drawing reflected their story and motivated them to reevaluate their daily administrative habits.
Sequencing within the Learner eXperience
Mr. Abdulrahman showed deep understanding of structuring and sequencing by moving the eXperience from a simple symbol (a drawn line) to deep collective realization without abrupt transitions. Repetition without boredom was achieved by revisiting the idea of “building on what came before” during discussions.
Transforming Learning into Real Performance
Reflection on reality was activated when the symbolic experience was linked to the team’s real performance in past campaigns, highlighting the importance of documenting lessons and avoiding repeated failures. Practicing and experiencing was implemented by asking each participant to write three real steps to apply the lessons with their teams and plan a flexible practical experiment. Continuity and Follow-up was achieved by setting a date for a future meeting to evaluate the implementation—rooting learning as an ongoing path, not a fleeting moment.
Conclusion
Impact on Participants
The impact of this experience was noticeable from its earliest moments, as participants expressed unusual engagement, surprise, and attraction. While they were simply adding artistic elements, they were in fact layering meaning from their own selves and professional experiences. Although the activity was not presented as a review or training session, participants engaged deeply and unconsciously voiced their challenges and revisited past moments. By the end of the session, they responded actively to the call for actionable steps and collectively agreed on a follow-up meeting. This response reflected a shift in awareness and commitment, and the birth of a new desire to build on what came before.
Impact on the Facilitator
For Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa, this experience was a pivotal moment that redefined the meaning of leadership in the workplace. Instead of using direct instruction or administrative reprimand, he chose the path of symbolic inspiration and collective reflection—discovering that the team was more open to change than he had imagined. He also realized that a short activity, when designed with a pedagogical spirit and crowned with sincere reflection, could leave a greater impact than hours of traditional meetings. Through this experience, he confirmed that FIRST-ADLX Framework is not limited to learning sessions—it is a philosophy that can permeate the fabric of daily institutional life. He plans to repeat this type of facilitation and gradually expand the activation of the framework’s domains and principles.
