In August 1979, at the age of 16, I became the coach of a handball team of children aged 7 and 8. That is exactly 40 years ago: 40 years in which team coaching in sports, education, and business has always been my favorite and most successful activity. Almost always I started in practice and afterward only took theoretical training: Action Learning pur sang. I would like to share my reflection on these 40 years with you in this article. During my MBA education, I discovered new models that try to predict success. They provide managers with certainty and are based on linear thinking. . But in the current time this is no longer sufficient. The current challenge for organizations is to have teams deliver results and learn from this. Read More

When the WIAL newsletter editor asked me if I would write about the connection between Action Learning and the Ambidextrous Organization (AO) I became excited. The reason was because the principles of Action Learning are ubiquitous in the AO, they’re everywhere! I might even go as far as to speculate that if one were to model an organization and its objectives after the Action Learning model and principles they might end up with a specific kind of Ambidexterity, contextual ambidexterity. Let’s take a look at some specific ways in which Action Learning supports the Ambidextrous Organization. Read More

Individual coaching has undoubtedly made a profound and major contribution to personal and leadership development around the world for many decades. However, the world has become too complex, competitive, and fast changing for single leaders to deliver corporate success. Organisations will in future need dynamic, agile and collaborative teams with the ability to adapt to uncertainty. This will require a continuous learning culture, new thinking, and a solid team coaching regimen. Read More

As action learning coaches, we learn to intervene when we see learning opportunities or to improve the performance of the group. This is easier said than done. Knowing when and how to intervene in a group that is functioning well is hard enough. You have to pick the appropriate moment, ask the right questions, and consider the impact you wish to have through the intervention. When group dynamics are tricky, however, this becomes even harder. And while it requires great courage, I would argue that the trickiest, most courageous interventions can have the greatest effect. During action learning sessions, sometimes challenging dynamics arise – so-called “elephants in the room.” Read More

Action Learning involves attention for both the upperstream and the undercurrent. It also requires a balance in the roles of leader, coach and manager. The power of Action Learning is that it contributes to the continuous process of achieving consensus on challenges and problems. It begins at an early stage! Let’s take primary school as an example. The great Action Learning question in this case is: “How do I prepare children for their unpredictable future? ”. This is absolutely different from the past, since we have always prepared people for a more predictable future. Read More

We are always looking for effective new ways to market what we do. About 18 months back we came up with idea of the “INDABA” workshop. We believe the meaning of word Indaba captures the heart of Action Learning. An indaba is an important conference held by the izinDuna (principal men) of the Zulu or Xhosa peoples of South Africa to deal with important tribal matters. The term comes from a Zulu language word, meaning ‘business’ or ‘matter.’ Read More

Until six years ago, for many years, the late, great Harry Levinson donated 90 minutes a month for six months every year to coach and advise six Division 13 psychologists who were in the early phases of their development as consulting psychologists. Harry worked virtually, using conventional conference calling technology. He felt an obligation to provide new generations of consulting psychologists with a sort of internship that was not generally available at that time for psychologists that were converting from clinical, counseling, or I/O to consulting psychology. Read More

WIAL Malaysia completed our first CALC Certification for 2020 on 22 February. On 18 March 2020, less than a month after our event, Malaysia was placed under a Coronavirus lockdown directive. All public gatherings were ordered stopped and almost all the country’s economic activities came to a standstill. This situation was unprecedented and it was a great shock to many. In February 2020 I recalled clearly that we had proposed a three months coaching consultancy work, with an option of extension for another two months for the sales team of a small and medium size (SME) financial services entity. We had little experience on virtual training deliveries as almost all our clients expected us to be physically present during trainings. Read More

Carl Rogers was an American psychologist who lived between 1902 and 1987. The Person-Centered Approach was developed by him, also considered a pioneer in scientific research in psychotherapy. Reginald “Reg” William Revans was a British academic professor, administrator and management consultant who pioneered the use of Action learning. He is considered the “father “of Action Learning. He lived between 1907 and 2003. Although they lived at the same time being contemporary, they may never have met, or at least I have found no evidence of this meeting. However, their approaches are absolutely complementary and consistent with each other. Read More

As experienced practitioners, we all know the power of Action Learning and the positive working conditions created in an Action Learning session. However, what if I told you that this was tied to the wiring of our brains? If I were 20 years younger today and picking a degree, I would choose neuroscience. What we’re learning now about the brain and its implications for life are amazing. Given my belief in the importance of these findings, I have studied applied neuroscience and worked hard in recent years to make connections between this new understanding about the brain and the way I think about talent and leadership. Read More