WOW! For years I’ve talked about that how well Action Learning works regardless of culture or industry. For this session we were fortunate to be a truly global group. We had representation from five countries representing four continents – Indonesia, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Australia, and the USA were represented – truly a global team. As we would expect the process worked particularly because of the diverse nature of the team. Over the course of the two days, we had three practice sessions after the demonstration. The problems were equally diverse one culture in nature, another facilities related, another personal challenge. Read More

The head of an SME of about 50 people in the printing sector located in the Bordeaux region of France that I met through a short presentation about action learning in a Rotary club wanted to experiment this method to work on their strategic plan for the next five years. After a preliminary meeting in the company where I explained the principles, components, and rules of AL to him, he very smartly set up a team of six persons with an adequate diversity of gender, age, experience, and function. He included in this group one person from outside the company who did not really know the company very well. Read More

As coaches, many of us use action learning to solve problems and challenges faced by our clients. Most of these challenges are internal business opportunities that when worked on by employees using action learning can help move an organization forward. But what if the challenge were instead presented by a third-party organization, while the group that was solving the problem came predominantly from a different company? And what if the third-party organization was focused on a social challenge? Could action learning bring the two organizations together? Read More

During my 15 years with the large pharma / chemical concern Bayer, I have had various roles in various disciplines in several countries. Employees in Bayer benefit from lots of training and I have experienced many management and team development processes and programs. During my assignment as Head of Marketing Bayer Netherlands, I came across a situation where the company was doing very well financially, but in my conversations with the employees, I discovered that they were less and less proud to tell at social events that they work for Bayer. Read More

Recognizing the need to improve how we solve problems, we started introducing Action Learning to the organization. What started as Action Learning clinics in several departments to help identify urgent key issues grew into Action Learning in Action workshops focusing on the process experience. Problems presented ran the gamut from challenges faced at work to issues at home. Recurrent themes in these one-day sessions include employee engagement, clarity of goals, interpersonal communications, finding work-life balance, improving business unit performance and managing relationships at home. Read More

Action Learning is the core foundation of our business school, and for our coaches and students, so it goes without saying that BSN is always on the lookout for the best way to practise and integrate Action Learning in all our operations. September marked the start of a four-day WIAL Certified Action Learning Coach training session – the renowned CALC training. Business School Netherlands considers this training the best way to further develop Action Learning skills and insights, and to establish oneself as an Action Learning Coach. Read More

The Government is often considered to be shrouded in tradition and what some may consider dated processes. This often extends even to the methods used for the performance development of its employees. Forced to deal with the impact of global economic downturns and the increasing difficulty in sustaining growth and development in their respective countries, Caribbean nations have embarked on a master plan to create a more prosperous future. This overall strategy relies on the rapid transformation of the public sector so that government services can ably support, promote and facilitate initiatives in other sectors. Read More

Action learning, founded by Reg Revans in the 1940s, has become a popular method for supporting leaders to tackle complex issues in organizations and develop themselves simultaneously. The method encourages leaders and teams to ask questions to stimulate critical reflection and make better decisions. The World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL) approach, founded by Dr Michael Marquart, mostly emphasizes problem-solving. As an experienced practitioner of both Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and action learning, I formulated an action learning process aligned with the essential strength-based principles. Read More

FirstBank of Nigeria is Nigeria’s largest financial services institution (Global Finance, 2012) with over 750 branches and over 5 million customers in the Nigerian market. The bank has over 15 subsidiaries including BIC, Congo DRC, FBN Bank (UK), FBN Bank, Guinea, FBN Bank Ghana, FBN Bank Gambia, FBN Bank Sierra Leone, and representative offices in South Africa, UAE, and China. Firstbank has always been at the forefront of innovation in the financial services sector in Nigeria, being the first to launch a world-class corporate academy. Read More

Being both professor of human management and leadership at La Rochelle Business School and a certified action learning coach, I had the opportunity to experiment with action learning with students in my courses as a new pedagogical approach to develop their leadership competencies. I have tried to use action learning in all my management courses in several educational programs (Bachelor, MBA and Master) for 3 years. Although it is still a short experience, I would like to briefly share with the WIAL community some features of this ongoing pedagogical experience. Read More