Action learning solves any problem...and quickly.
Action learning is a process used to solve complex problems, develop leaders, build teams and expand corporate capability. It has become the method of choice for organisations such as Samsung, Nokia, GE and Boeing in order to enhance quality, cut costs, create new products and services, and instigate organisational cultural change. In an action learning programme, there are six core components and two ground rules. To get the most benefit out of action learning, all of these components and ground rules should be engaged.
Component 1: a problem
For learning to take place, there first needs to be a problem, something to work out. This can be in the form of a project, challenge, opportunity or task, but it needs to be urgent, significant and the team’s responsibility to resolve.
If we look at Dr Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the items or tasks that should be prioritised first are the items that are both important and urgent.
Component 2: an action learning team
Ideally, there should be four to eight people in an action learning team in order for the process to be effective. Beyond eight people means the number of potential interactions expand greatly thereby increasing the complexity and therefore compromises urgency, i.e. the ability of the group solve the problem in the time frame allowed.
Component 3: reflective questioning & listening
Asking questions is the order of the day in an action learning session. Questions are asked to clarify what exactly the problem is so that concrete platforms exist for group members to reflect on and pose possible solutions before taking any action.
Component 4: action strategies
For the fruits of labour to be at all meaningful and for practical learning to take place, there needs to be action taken and reflected on. Unless the group is able to go beyond proposing recommendations and take action on the problem identified, then it may lose its energy, creativity and commitment to the problem.
Component 5: learning commitment
While solving immediate company problems are obviously beneficial to the company in the short-term, the greater long-term benefits lie in the wisdom that is gained by each member in the group and the group as a whole. Furthermore, if such wisdom can be applied organisation wide—so much the better.
Component 6: action learning coach
The role of the action learning coach is to encourage reflection on what the group is learning and how they are solving problems.
The Action Leaning coach helps the team achieve their challenges, processes and strategies as well as the implications of these processes.
Ground rule 1: response only
For effective action learning to take place, as we have noted, questions are asked to clarify the problem. Thus, nobody in an action learning group is allowed to make a direct statement; any statement must be in response to a question. The action learning coach also ensures that this rule is obeyed.
Ground rule 2: coach intervention
The action learning coach is allowed to intervene whenever they identify that a learning experience has taken pace in order for the whole group to be able to reflect on that leaning experience. The action learning coach may also ‘intervene’ at the end of an action learning session. Action learning is a win-win process. It benefits the whole organisation as well as individuals and teams.
HR managers will find this a useful tool in all aspects of talent management from succession planning and leadership development to enhancing inter-staff relations and developing competencies. It is a universal tool that can be applied to any problem in any context: organisational or familial.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
