Designing an experiential introduction week in the FT MBA program

TILT Program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Principal Investigator: Lieke ten Brummelhuis, associate professor, Beedie School of Business

Project team: Brett Trainor, research assistant, Beedie School of Business

Timeframe: October 2020 - February 2023

TILT Support: $5,000

Program addressed: Full-Time Masters of Business Administration Program

Final report: View Lieke ten Brummelhuis' final report (PDF)

Description: This project examined leadership identity development within the full-time MBA (FT MBA) program and explored the feasibility of introducing an experiential outdoor leadership retreat as a capstone learning opportunity. The study addressed two key challenges: limited evidence of growth in students’ leadership identity across the program, and the need for innovative, experiential approaches to leadership development.

Using a mixed-methods design, data were collected through pre- and post-program leadership identity surveys, a leadership retreat preference survey, and alumni focus groups. Measures included leadership identity, sense of purpose, self-concept clarity, and self-efficacy. Descriptive and paired analyses were conducted alongside thematic analysis of qualitative data. Findings showed modest improvements across all leadership measures, though only sense of purpose increased significantly. Results suggest that while the current curriculum supports personal reflection and purpose development, it has limited impact on strengthening leadership identity, confidence, or clarity. These findings highlight a gap in targeted leadership identity formation within the program.

Interest in an experiential leadership retreat was strong, with 87% of students indicating willingness to participate. Focus group participants emphasized the value of outdoor experiential learning as a novel and meaningful complement to classroom-based instruction, highlighting opportunities for real-time feedback, team-based challenges, confidence building, and cohort bonding. Student preferences suggest an optimal retreat design of 2–3 days with moderate physical and emotional challenge, opportunities for reflection and coaching. Flexibility in activity intensity and accommodation was also important. An unexpected finding was the perceived value of such experiences in fostering inclusion and teamwork. Overall, the project supports integrating a structured leadership retreat to enhance experiential learning and strengthen leadership identity development in the FT MBA program.

Questions addressed:

• What level of leadership identity improvement is currently achieved in the FT MBA curriculum?
• Is there a need or interest among students to work on unique leadership development in an additional course?
• What are students’ attitudes regarding an outdoor leadership expedition?
  • What level of physical and emotional challenges are students comfortable with?
  • What duration (3, 4, 5 days) are students comfortable with?
  • What payment plans (higher overall tuition, cutting international trip, extra course contribution) are acceptable for students?

Knowledge sharing: Findings were shared with the leadership of all MBA programs, as well as with all instructors teaching leadership development–related topics in the full-time MBA program. Future plans include broader faculty discussions to align leadership development across the curriculum and support implementation of the proposed retreat.

Keywords: Leadership development, leadership identity, experiential learning, Retreat, Outdoors, Personal Strengths, MBA education, outdoor leadership, team-based learning, curriculum design