Action Learning
The action philosophy represents a commitment to business and personal performance improvement through real-world projects. It can be used to achieve any number of specific business goals, giving organizations the power to recreate themselves by first recreating their leaders.
Some key factors in designing a successful action learning program include:
- Participants: They range from new leaders to senior executives selected because of their current or potential high value to the company. Action learning is frequently used for developing a company’s future leaders and high potentials.
- Learning content: A typical program combines new ideas and information important to a company’s strategy or future and important team projects that consist of long-term problems or opportunities where the business outcome – or action to be taken – is unknown. Participants often work in a part or at a level of their company that is new to them. There is a balance between action and learning, including reflection. For example, participants do not operate in a task force that will simply make recommendations. Instead, they are part of a small team, each of which has an assigned project that is considered important to senior leadership in the company.
- Projects: They are designed to solve real problems in an organization, take advantage of immediate opportunities, and deliver ideas needed to move the business forward. The output is action rather than recommendations. Projects can focus on “hard” issues such as opening new markets, extending products or services, technology or system strategy, and/or “soft” issues such as brand, people, and values.
- Method: Typically, our client companies arrange for participants to devote time to a project in addition to their job requirements – often several additional days a month. This requires re-ordering of priorities, which is an important part of leadership learning. In some cases, participants are removed from their jobs for two or three weeks for an intensive action-learning assignment. Team members are dedicated and trained to support, critique, and act as resources to one another. Several teams may be operating at the same time.
- Roles: A senior level executive group sets criteria for projects and participants, and usually nominates and selects them. In serving as a “steering group,” this team also benefits from feedback and input from participants, and frequently builds more open relationships with executive participants. A project sponsor, usually an executive, is available to meet with the team as needed to support their process, act as a liaison to the steering committee, and help remove internal obstacles. There may be more than one sponsor working with different teams. The sponsors are often members of the senior level executive group. Our coaches/faculty teach the program, design all events, and work with the steering committee and sponsor(s) to provide resources – such as specific skill training or consultation – to the team as needed.
- Outcomes: These include direct action to solve a problem or take advantage of a business opportunity, recommendations to be implemented with others (senior executives, hand-off to another team), and the personal and professional learning and development that result from taking on a project that is an appropriate “stretch” for each individual.
Experience
Learn more about our experience helping clients in this area
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