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

The concentration of team members during an Action Learning session is typically very high. The dynamic of asking questions, answering questions, active listening and the focus on the multiple aspects of the session (the problem, leadership competencies, team dynamics, coach learning interventions) completely fills up the mental capacity of the team members. That is also why the recommended number of members in an Action Learning team is maximum of eight. It is simply too much for our conscious mind to monitor and actively deal with if there are too many interactions. Read More

In part 1 and 2 of this series of articles, we looked at the eight components that bring enjoyment to work according to the Flow research (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p. 49), and have clearly demonstrated that WIAL Action Learning fulfills all the requirements and creates the environment for the development of more complex individuals through differentiation and integration. But Action Learning does not guarantee a team will experience flow. Some sessions run very smoothly and are a great and valuable experience for all, including the coach. Some sessions can feel tense and ineffective. Read More

If I did not know how to swim and I wanted to become a swimmer is there a book you could recommend – that if I read the book I could then call myself a swimmer? Or maybe you could recommend a video that if I just watched I could then call myself a swimmer? Might your answer be “Sorry – there is no such book or video!” What would I have to do if I wanted to become a swimmer? Read More

Over the summer I took a month off for vacation. I managed to distance myself from my work quite well. But ignoring sports successes is impossible for me. In 2021, it was TeamNL at the Olympic Games, but in 2022 it was the performance of the Jumbo Visma team during the Tour de France that caught my eye. Jumbo Visma is a Dutch cycling team with cyclists from several countries. After several years of being close to success, where things often went wrong at the last minute, they were very successful that summer of 2022. I went to watch, listen and read. What an Action Learning Team that is! A nice touch is that the environment has already determined that the team consists of eight riders, the ideal number for a team, at least that is step 1. Read More

Learning from what goes well is the fourth element of seven, which I describe, following the success of Jumbo Visma’s cycling team. My previous blog was about the importance of learning from what went wrong. So now the opposite. The question that immediately comes to mind is: How (or when) does a team learn more from loss or more from gain and why? Read More

No form of communication is as powerful as a question. Great questions have changed our lives, and indeed, have changed the world! In Action Learning, group members are required to use questions because questions have the unique power and ability to accomplish all 4 of the WIAL solution spheres. Questions are necessary for individuals and groups to be creative and to find breakthrough solutions. All the great inventions in the history of the world were the result of a question asked by the inventor. Read More

Leaders and managers are faced with competing objectives trying to satisfy all stakeholders. They need to innovate and prepare for the future and at the same time ensure this week’s performance is better than last week’s. They need to recruit talent and make sure it grows and thrives, but also retain existing talent and motivate teams. They need to handle unprecedented crises effectively and at the same time deliver on the top and bottom line, and pretty much everything in between. Read More