What is culture?
I recently reread Edgar Schein’s seminal book “Organizational Culture and
Leadership”1. Schein identifies culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions
learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal
integration, which has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to
be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation
to those problems”.
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What is culture?
I recently reread Edgar Schein’s seminal book “Organizational Culture and
Leadership”1. Schein identifies culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions
learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal
integration, which has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to
be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation
to those problems”.
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THE PANDEMIC PURSUIT: A POST-GRADUATE CALC’S TIMELY TALE
As someone who loves to learn and to take action, you can imagine the immediate
curiosity I had when I first heard about Action Learning. My colleagues who have had
the chance to participate in Action Learning sessions spoke about it with much
enthusiasm, but when asked about the details, all of them said the same thing: “You
have to experience it to understand it.” Eventually, I did join one session. Little did I
know that a single session would cause a huge ripple effect in my life.
It was early 2021 and I was a struggling graduate student stuck without a thesis to
pursue to finally complete my master’s degree. I wanted to conduct exploratory
research that would not only contribute to the field of Organizational Psychology, but
also benefit organizational development practitioners in the Philippines. I took note
of possible topics to focus on and read through tons of literature to identify gaps that
my study could address. I kept hitting deadends. It seemed like all my topics of
interest were already charted territory.
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Professional Action Learning Coach Christoph Maria Ravesloot from WIAL
Netherlands specializes in working for teams with trauma blocking the team
development. The first step is to make the safety in the team negotiable and get it to the
attention and care of the team. He wrote a blog on that theme from two action learning
perspectives: who reports unsafety in the team and who experiences it? Those two
perspectives define the intervening questions an action learning coach can ask the team.
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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.
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When these invitations show up to write for the WIAL Newsletter my first sense is
that I really have nothing to tell anyone. So, why not use this opportunity for some
hard thinking to organize my ideas on how some of my practices may be showing
up to help me to see beneath the surface or as I will refer to it “see” the invisible in
different situations
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Given the current and growing interest in team coaching among a wide
range of organizations, it will be increasingly important to highlight action
learning as a systemic team coaching approach, in addition to its value as
a group coaching and problem-solving methodology. While there are
many flavors of Action Learning, the single-problem approach developed
by Prof. Marquardt can be regarded as an effective approach to systemic
team coaching. It shares the enabling conditions that support effective
team coaching as well as Peter Hawkins’ five disciplines that are essential
to the success of a sustainable and value-creating team.
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The human mind learns in different ways: reading, listening, seeing, debating the
subject… all this contributes to the acquisition of knowledge. And when we practice
something, then we perpetuate the learning cycle. In the corporate world, we call this
practice Action Learning, did you know?
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![](https://wial.org/wp-content/uploads/new_york_public_library.jpg")
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and the ongoing crises and
challenges that New Yorkers were experiencing during and after the global pandemic,
our frontline library staff were feeling very unsafe, unsupported and confused about
policing in the United States in general, in our city, New York, and also in our 92
neighborhood libraries.
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![](https://wial.org/wp-content/uploads/action_of_the_brave.jpg")
It begins with a simple conversation between action-learning coach Hou Shaohua and his friend Zhao Shuping that explains what action learning is all about.However, after a serious discussion in April 2021 ,they realise that action learning may help Generation Z,young people borning after 1995,out of the confusion of life and work as it does in other areas.
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![](https://wial.org/wp-content/uploads/community_of_impact.jpg")
Eight Coaches from Thailand have gotten to know each other while pursuing the
journey to become Certified Action Learning Coaches with Ms. Peerawan, a Senior
Action Learning Coach. Our relationship grew rapidly through the Action Learning
process. The group met online frequently to help each other until all members
became successfully certified in August 2021.
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![](https://wial.org/wp-content/uploads/iceberg.png")
It’s about shifting or changing the basic underlying assumptions. I recently reread Edgar Schein’s seminal book “Organizational Culture and Leadership”1. Schein identifies culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, which has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems”.
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![](https://wial.org/wp-content/uploads/FEDEX-FREIGHT-ACTION-LEARNING-PROGRAM-INVESTS-IN-FUTURE-LEADERS.png")
FedEx Freight Action Learning is a 90-day intensive developmental experience that brings leaders together from across FedEx Freight to produce revolutionary solutions to real organizational problems focused on generating revenue or saving/avoiding costs.
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![](https://wial.org/wp-content/uploads/ACTION-LEARNING-FOR-GROWING-BUSINESSES.png")
This is the first time Action Learning was used as a tool for a succession planning project in an organization. One’s experience as a senior executive coach with more than 1,000 coaching hours is a good basis for becoming an Action Learning Coach. In addition, having worked in the Human Resource Development Department and Organization Development in a large organization for 20 years, and combining both one-on-one and team coaching with Action Learning in the whole development process are very beneficial for this successor development program.
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![](/wp-content/uploads/Why-Action-Learning-is-So-Unique-2-300x188.png")
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.
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![](https://wial.org/wp-content/uploads/How-Enterprisewide-Leadership-Coaching-Benefits-Organizational-ROI-1-300x200.png")
An organization is only as effective as its leaders. The Washington Post reported that 4.3 million people left their jobs in January of 2022. At the same time, hiring the right talent is competitive, so it’s important to create a sense of attraction that brings people to you and helps them want to stay in the organization. A 2022 LinkedIn Global Talents report found that professional development is a key driver in retention, and a December
2021 Gallup article opined leadership development as a critical part of helping organizations thrive.
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