About the Writer
Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa serves as the Deputy Director General of the Projects Sector at the International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait. A Kuwaiti national with extensive experience in charitable, relief, and administrative work, he has led numerous impactful campaigns and projects across the Arab and Islamic world, and he is recognized for his humane leadership style, which combines administrative vision with an educational spirit—enabling him to inspire and guide teams toward improvement and innovation.
Mr. Al-Mutawa eXperienced FIRST-ADLX Framework during one of FIRST Academy’s learning journeys, where he discovered it to be an effective framework for transforming administrative meetings into Active Deep Learner eXperiences that boost performance and foster engagement across the organization.
The Challenge
During one of the weekly meetings of the Projects Sector team he leads, Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa observed a noticeable lack of interaction among members. This prompted him to seek more practical and engaging methods to convey lessons and insights. He stressed the need to move beyond theoretical discussions toward applied approaches—such as gamification and hands-on exercises—that allow participants to experience potential mistakes firsthand and learn how to avoid them.
Mr. Al-Mutawa then invited the team to take part in an interactive activity that would enable them to explore the concept personally and recognize its impact on strengthening awareness of cumulative work and enhancing 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. It was attended by a team of administrative staff involved in relief, planning, and coordination. The group consisted of men from diverse professional backgrounds who regularly met to plan and implement projects.
Although the team had access to strong technical and organizational resources, the traditional structure of their meetings limited opportunities for collaborative learning and ongoing development. Therefore, Mr. Abdulrahman sought to transform the session from a routine administrative exchange into an Active Deep Learner eXperience.
eXperience Design Overview
Why the FIRST-ADLX Framework?
Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa chose to apply the FIRST-ADLX Framework in this administrative meeting because he believes that learning is not confined to classrooms or formal training sessions—it can emerge in any setting where genuine human interaction occurs, even in a matter of minutes. He recognized in this framework a method for integrating stimulation, reflection, and transformation into tangible performance outcomes.
As an administrative leader, he viewed the application of an educational framework within a traditional work environment as a catalyst for renewing collective thinking and fostering a performance culture grounded in shared awareness and accumulated experience.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this eXperience, Mr. Abdulrahman aimed for participants to achieve the following outcomes:
Attitude Outcomes
1- Appreciate the value of cumulative work and the importance of building on others’ contributions.
2- Embrace a sense of collective responsibility and take pride in past contributions.
Skills Outcomes
1- Communicate ideas effectively through visual symbols and meaningful analogies.
2- Translate lessons learned into actionable plans within their respective teams.
Knowledge Outcomes
1- Identify the benefits of leveraging previous efforts.
2- Recognize common errors to prevent their repetition.
3- Explain the importance of documenting campaigns and turning them into practical references for future use.
Learner eXperience Summary
The entire Learner eXperience lasted approximately one hour and fifteen minutes and was built around a single main activity with three stages; the “Readiness Increase” Stage, The “Activity Facilitation” stage which took about six minutes, and the “Reviewing Actively” stage which lasted nearly an hour.
The session was held synchronously and in person during a formal morning meeting in a familiar environment, which added an element of surprise and stimulated deep reflection. Rather than relying on multiple separate activities, the eXperience centered on one main activity that transitioned smoothly from symbol to reflection and from spontaneous interaction to decision-making.
Readiness Increase Stage
At the beginning of the meeting, as the team was accustomed to starting its sessions with a brief reflection or light interaction, Mr. Abdulrahman decided to build on this habit by fostering mental and emotional readiness in an indirect way.
He drew a random line on the board and invited each colleague to add a new element to it. The participants gradually built upon one another’s drawings to complete the image. The unexpected twist was that each participant could nominate another colleague to continue the drawing, creating an atmosphere of curiosity and excitement without any prior explanation or assumptions.
Activity Facilitation Stage
The participants began interacting spontaneously, each adding a line or new element to the board and building on what others had contributed. The purpose of the task was not immediately explained, but its meaning gradually emerged through participation.
Mr. Abdulrahman observed attentively, stepping in only with open-ended questions when someone diverged from the essence of the activity, such as, “What do you mean by that?” or “Can you elaborate on your idea?” He deliberately avoided offering interpretations or explanations, giving participants the freedom to construct meaning for themselves.
Gradually, the board evolved into a symbolic scene full of insight—without the participants realizing they were engaged in a subtle, critical reflection on their professional practices.
Reviewing Actively Stage
Mr. Abdulrahman asked the participants to reflect on what they had created. Each participant described what they saw or felt during the drawing, unknowingly revealing patterns that mirrored their typical work practices.
Mr. Abdulrahman then guided them to recognize that they had rediscovered the value of building upon others’ work—and that even a single line or simple idea could serve as the foundation for collective creativity. This realization strongly resonated with the team’s ongoing challenge of neglecting documentation and underutilizing past models.
He concluded the exercise by summarizing the key insights and inviting participants to identify three actionable steps to implement within their teams during the following week, based on the lessons captured on the board. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for Thursday of the same week to discuss the impact and changes, ensuring that the “Reviewing Actively” stage was transformed into real performance.
Applying the Domains of FIRST-ADLX Framework
Focusing on the Learner
The principle of Individualization was demonstrated through Mr. Abdulrahman’s gradual and flexible engagement with each participant, allowing everyone to add a personal touch to the drawing and nominate the next contributor. There were no direct instructions—only open opportunities for self-expression within a shared learning journey.
Probing and Assessing appeared in his use of exploratory questions whenever a participant strayed from the intended essence of the activity, gently redirecting them without suppressing creativity. Trusting the Learner was evident in his decision not to provide explanations or reveal the “correct” meaning, granting participants genuine space to construct understanding independently and uncover the significance of the exercise on their own.
Interacting within Positive Group Dynamics
From the outset, the group dynamic was activated within a familiar yet refreshed context, as the facilitator infused new energy into the team’s usual meeting routine. A positive spirit was evident in the participants’ mutual reactions and inclusive participation, free from mockery or judgment—just light-hearted collaboration and genuine connection, even as deeper insights surfaced.
Motivation was sustained through the element of surprise and by allowing participants to determine the sequence of involvement, maintaining high engagement throughout the session.
Reviewing Activities within RAR Model
The RAR Model was seamlessly integrated throughout the single activity, without formal transitions or explicit announcements. Readiness was enhanced through visual curiosity and a naturally engaging social context. Activity Facilitation occurred through subtle guidance and timely, open-ended questions.
Reviewing Actively reached its peak in a spontaneous moment of shared realization, when the team recognized that the drawing symbolized their own story—prompting them to reflect critically on their daily administrative practices.
Sequencing within the Learner eXperience
Mr. Abdulrahman demonstrated a strong understanding of structure and sequencing, guiding the eXperience from a simple visual symbol—a single drawn line—to a deep collective realization, all without abrupt shifts. He achieved repetition without monotony by revisiting the central theme of “building on what came before” throughout the group’s discussions.
Transforming Learning into Real Performance
Reflection on Reality was activated when the symbolic experience was connected to the team’s actual performance in past campaigns, emphasizing the importance of documenting lessons and preventing repeated mistakes.
Practicing and eXperiencing was applied by asking each participant to identify three concrete steps for applying the lessons within their teams and to design a flexible, practical experiment.
Continuity and Follow-up were ensured by scheduling a future meeting to review implementation outcomes—embedding learning as a continuous process rather than a one-time event.
Conclusion
Impact on Participants
The impact of this eXperience was evident from its earliest moments, as participants displayed an uncommon level of engagement, curiosity, and enthusiasm. While they appeared to be merely adding artistic elements, they were, in reality, expressing layers of personal and professional meaning.
Although the activity was not framed as a formal review or training session, participants engaged deeply, unconsciously voicing their challenges and revisiting key moments from their work. By the session’s end, they eagerly embraced the call for actionable steps and unanimously agreed on a follow-up meeting. This response reflected a genuine shift in awareness and commitment—signaling the emergence of a renewed desire to build on previous achievements.
Impact on the Facilitator
For Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa, this eXperience marked a pivotal moment that reshaped his understanding of leadership within the workplace. Rather than relying on direct instruction or administrative correction, he chose the path of symbolic inspiration and collective reflection—discovering that his team was far more receptive to change than he had anticipated.
He also realized that a brief, well-designed activity grounded in a pedagogical spirit and sincere reflection could generate greater impact than hours of conventional meetings. Through this realization, he affirmed that FIRST-ADLX Framework FIRST-ADLX Framework reflects a philosophy capable of transforming daily organizational life.
Mr. Al-Mutawa now intends to continue this facilitation approach and gradually expand the implementation of the framework’s domains and principles across his team.
