Author Archive

Executive Summary Incorporating competency development into university education, especially through project-based learning (PBL), remains a challenge due to the lack of practical frameworks for skill development and reflection. Tokyo Keizai University aimed to bridge this gap in its PBL seminar, which involved 52 students participating in diverse projects. The lack of structured methods to evaluate and improve individual competencies hindered effective learning outcomes. Read More
Executive Summary Philips, a global leader in healthcare technology, faced critical challenges in embedding a new operating model designed to decentralize decision-making and accountability across its diverse business units. As the Patient Safety and Quality (PSQ) team integrated these changes, they encountered complex adaptive challenges related to collaboration, leadership alignment, and role clarity, compounded by the high stakes of ensuring patient safety and regulatory compliance. Read More
Executive Summary Melbourne Business School (MBS) faced the challenge of translating theoretical insights from its Executive Development Program into practical skills for a cohort of managers and high-potential leaders from a prominent Malaysian conglomerate. This gap between learning and application often left participants with limited ways to apply new knowledge to real-world situations, impacting the program’s overall effectiveness in developing agile and competent leaders. Read More
Executive Summary Business owners and leaders often grapple with the isolation that comes with their roles, struggling to find time and space for reflection while addressing complex challenges. This isolation, compounded by a lack of diverse perspectives, limits innovation and the ability to resolve long-standing issues effectively. Read More
Executive Summary WIAL Thailand identified a need to expand its pool of experienced Action Learning (AL) coaches to sustain the quality of AL delivery and enhance its capacity to serve more clients. The challenge was compounded by the demand for real-world applications to strengthen coaching skills and provide mentors with opportunities to develop leadership capabilities. Read More
The learning and development profession faces many challenges. Learning transfer from traditional training hovers at a dismal 12% (Collins 2023), and despite the billions spent on leadership development, the results don’t always bear out (Haslamet al 2024). Add to that the pace of technological change and the rapid advancement of AI and it’s clear that workplace learning needs a revolution.
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“When you bring people together and truly listen, magic happens,” says Senior Action Learning Coach and founder of MyCoaching Marcia Yokota, reflecting on her transformative work with the Red Cross in Peru. Facing internal conflict and the risk of losing global standing, the Red Cross chapter in Peru was at a critical juncture. The organization turned to action learning to mend fractured relationships and rebuild trust.
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The first group reframed the problem to “how to quantify the behavior of employees in embracing the corporate culture”. They have reached the realization stage of the project and have some preliminary results.The second group went through problem reframing. The topic became “How to make Mela’s stocking more resilient in the VUCA era.”
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Melbourne Business School (MBS) approached me to integrate Action Learning coaching into their Executive Development program for one of their clients. The program covers a spectrum of competencies, starting with strategy, financial acumen, business economics, and digital marketing. It is designed to upskill managers across a single organization; these managers stem from diverse business units or companies within the conglomerate.
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From my conversations with clients, I would say they would be patting themselves on the back if it was at least a 6.As I work with business leaders, heads of departments and managers across different industries over the years, I often hear a similar comment or concern from them. One of their frustrations is how to get the team members to speak up more, to contribute ideas,to challenge them to think out of the box. Read More
This reflection is based on more than 10 years of Action Learning practice in the French national context, and the difficulties countered in optimizing the learning benefits of this great collaborative intelligence method.In France, the field of learning is closely linked to that of training, and therefore to teaching and its pedagogical approaches. What’s more, the notion of “apprenance” is still often misunderstood, and not distinguished from that of training, which focuses essentially on cognitive learning and too little on behavioral learning.
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IDP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH WIAL ACTION LEARNING WITH
RETURN-ON-INVESTMENT PROJECT Individual Development Plans (IDP) are crucial tools in human resources for fostering continuous people development. However, organizations often face barriers to effective IDP implementation. Traditional training evaluations typically measure only the initial stages, lacking insights into business impact and return on investment (ROI). This article explores the success story of IDP development through the World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL) Action Learning program, emphasizing the ROI achieved from September 2021 to January 2023.” Read More