What Is a Learning History?
A Learning History is a participatory process that surfaces the experiential knowledge of people involved in an organization’s work, capturing how strategies, values, and practices have evolved over time. Rather than serving as a comprehensive archive or evaluation, it emphasizes reflection, meaning-making, and contextual understanding—helping organizations make sense of the past to inform future direction. Sometimes, but not always, an organization works with Alpinista Consulting to facilitate a Learning History process during strategic planning. The process is also meaningful on its own, often during times of transition.
Sensibilities and Principles
Our approach to Learning Histories is grounded in the belief that experiential knowledge—what people come to know through direct involvement—is essential for understanding how strategies evolve and how change really happens in organizations and communities.
A Learning History offers both a participatory process and a tangible product. It helps groups—and sometimes individuals—reflect on where they’ve been, make meaning of how the work has unfolded, and carry forward insights that matter for what’s ahead. Especially during big transitions, Learning Histories can create space to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what has shaped the journey so far.
Rather than evaluating success against a fixed plan, Learning Histories explore how aspirations have met the realities of practice. They surface the wisdom found in relationships, decisions, adaptations, and moments of tension or breakthrough. They also attend to context—highlighting how broader trends, such as shifts in philanthropy or global events like COVID-19, have shaped the work and its direction.
How Do They Work?
Each Learning History includes a series of engagements—such as interviews, facilitated conversations, surveys, or document review—to gather insight from a range of perspectives. These aren’t just data collection activities; they are opportunities for reflection, connection, and shared sensemaking.
As themes and storylines emerge, they are synthesized into learning artifacts—such as narrative summaries, visual maps, or shared timelines—that reflect the diversity of experience and the patterns that connect it. These are developed collaboratively, and may be tailored for internal use or external sharing.
Why Invest in a Learning History?
A Learning History can support leadership transitions, strategy development, internal alignment, onboarding, or broader storytelling. It offers a way to surface the deeper learning embedded in the lived experience of your work—making it visible, discussable, and actionable.
Whether you're navigating change, welcoming new team members, or simply seeking to understand what’s been learned along the way, a Learning History can help make sense of the past to inform what comes next.
Want to Learn More? Reach out!