Experiential learning in extreme situations: the case of the École nationale supérieure des officiers de sapeurs-pompiers in managing the reception and accommodation of returnees from Wuhan[L'apprentissage expérientiel en situation extrême : le cas de l'École nationale supérieure des officiers de sapeurs-pompiers pour la gestion de l'accueil et de l'hébergement des rapatriés de Wuhan]

This article concerns the management and reception of returnees from Wuhan to Ensosp (France) at the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic in China. It contributes to shed light on the improvisation processes in times of uncertainty in order to draw lessons that may be useful to managers. We have thus been able to identify that in extreme situations, the response to the unexpected can give rise to experiential learning cycles (Kolb, 2014). We propose to consider them as rapid cycles of microlearning taking place in a constrained environment (resource constraints, short reaction time). These microlearnings take place in interactions between individuals within organizations.