WIAL USA hosted its quarterly virtual Community of Practice (COP) in August. The COP sessions are designed to build community and enhance skills among WIAL Action Learning (AL) coaches and those working towards certification. Feedback from coaches confirms they value coming together to network, share experiences, practice action learning, and learn from speakers and each other. For the August COP, it was our pleasure to have Dr. Bea Carson as our guest speaker. Bea is President and Chair of the WIAL-USA Board, a Master Action Learning Coach, and President and owner of Carson Consultants. Read More

Every organization is made up of people, who follow work processes, use resources and generate results. Selecting people becomes more and more strategic for organizations since it is the first contact between company and candidate. During the recruitment process both parties can know more about each other and decide to be part or not of the organization’s team. The selection process works in two ways: the company chooses the best candidate and the candidate chooses the company in which he or she plans to further develop a career. Read More

Why are we here? And why do we do what we do? These are big philosophical questions that have been preoccupying mankind for many years. They are also questions many corporations are now asking themselves in order to provide competitive and relevant workplaces in an age where generations of employees want more meaning from their work. Read More

One of the major breakthroughs of the past couple of years has been how issues of diversity, inclusion, and belonging have entered the mainstream public consciousness and become a key issue inside corporate corridors. In a recent Deloitte CEO survey, building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce was a top 3 challenge for 43% of CEOs. At Emerging World, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DIBs) work has long been a feature of the immersive learning experiences we provide but its role is now changing. In the past we might have addressed it by including a session on Unconscious Bias in a programme. Read More

Not so long ago, in a small hotel in the Polish mountains, I was teaching the CALC course and this question came up: Why do we actually say “we” and not “you” while addressing the teams we coach? For example, our script says “What are we doing well?” and not “What are you doing well?” In individual coaching the coach always uses “you” to show and emphasize the responsibility of the client. In WIAL Action Learning we prefer a different style. Having some difficulty in thoroughly explaining this to my group, I decided to ask other SALCs and MALCs. This article is the summary from this discussion. Read More

Biological organisms inherently have defensive reaction to threats in their environment. Given time they learn how to defend against newly emerging challenges. Through evolution, they learn to adapt. However, if the changes in the environment go unnoticed or happen faster than their ability to learn and act, they go extinct. A very common observation from the natural world. If man-made organizations have the vitality and the resilience like a biological organism, Action Learning would serve as part of their evolutionary defense system. However in reality a mature organisation, as well as an adult individual, may fail to recognise the benefits of Action Learning, hesitate to learn how it works and unintentionally apply some ‘business as usual’ behaviours to poison and eventually kill the effort, only to continue searching for other means to ensure their prosperity. Read More

I’ve been conducting an unscientific experiment when I present in different cities. The nature of the experiment is that I ask folks in the audience – Can you tell me what I should see while I’m in your city? I get answers along the lines of ‘the zoo’, the museum, the mall, a particular restaurant or monument.Eventually, someone catches on and realizes that I did not ask ‘What should I seewhile I am in your city?’ I simply asked ‘Can you tell me what I should see while I am in your city?’ At this point I will typically get the response that I am seeking – YES! Read More

I became curious about Action Learning after co-facilitating a three-day leadership training to a group of middle managers in a hierarchical and relationship oriented culture. The material for the leadership training had been developed internally by my client’s European headquarters. During the leadership training the participants were engaged with topics of strategy, individual strengths, diversity, decision-making, and coaching skills. The training consisted of theory combined with experiential learning activities. Throughout the program it became apparent that attendees had good comprehension of the presented content and applying it. Read More

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few” – Shunryu SuZuki Last month I conducted a leadership development program for one of the largest manufacturing companies in Thailand. This program was designed for key leaders and supervisors from six plants all over the country. Action learning was one of important components of the learning and development process. All sessions demonstrated the power of action learning but there was one, in particular, that was really interesting. Read More

When Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi summarized his many years of research into what makes for an optimum experience and brings enjoyment, he focused mainly on individuals. His work Flow; the psychology of optimal experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) is full of examples of surgeons, mountain climbers or even assembly workers who focus fully on their core activity and get real enjoyment out of practicing and honing their skills constantly. They are in flow. A flow experience is rooted in the internal conscious focus that is put on the activity, as opposed to reacting to external stimuli or conditions. Read More