A very empowering and positive question that invites people or teams to reflect on their behaviours and actions that deliver great results. It is positive as it implies positive outcomes are being achieved. It is also motivational as it recognises and celebrates the desired outcomes and behaviours. This question reinforces the desired outcomes and behaviours and also motivates their repetition. This occurs because people will repeat the behaviours that they are rewarded for and positively recognised. It engages people in continuous improvement. Read More

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As coaches, we recognize the power of Action Learning in organizations – to achieve breakthrough strategies, obtain sustainable results and develop remarkable leaders and teams. But have you considered that with Action Learning you can have an even greater impact, one that touches the wider global community? This is the objective of the Fundraising, Scholarships and Grants committee at the World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL), which is exploring ways that we can use Action Learning and our coaching skills to create a better world. Read More

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What do you do when you reach a life milestone like your 30th birthday ? Splurge money on the latest fashion craze? Feast on excessive foods and debilitating drinks? After Yeye from the Philippines discovered Action Learning through a Foundations program, she decided to celebrate her 30th birthday in a different way. Fueled by events happening in the Philippines and inspired by Fr. Bienvenido Nebres’s and DILG Usec Austere Panadero’s call to help others at a conference she attended, she wanted to make her birthday celebration a meaningful one. Read More

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By using Action Learning to look at this challenge, the team realized that the solution they had in mind – growing by recruiting more and more staff – was not feasible. A new approach of building partnerships emerged as the most powerful way to move forward. Some of these partnerships will take time to implement. But some, in particular one focusing on disabled children, was successfully implemented within a few weeks to the great satisfaction of all involved. Action Learning not only delivers breakthrough solutions but helps a team to connect and learn in a powerful way. Read More

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Virtual Action Learning sessions are just as powerful as the original in-person meetings. While virtual AL can take some time and effort to get used to, similar results can be achieved in both leadership development and problem-solving. A quick Internet search will provide you with great tips and tricks for leading online team meetings. My biggest takeaway from these articles is the importance of time management and working from a clear agenda or meeting structure. This makes Action Learning a great fit for the virtual space because our script fundamentally integrates such structure and timekeeping guidelines. Read More

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When a team experiences Action Learning through a first discovery session, the questions they ask can be a bit haphazard. It sometimes feels like there is a competition for asking as many questions as possible. This can frustrate the problem presenter who might think that this “great tool” that would help with the problem feels more like an inquisition! And indeed, not all questions are created equal. Team members do notice during the session what questions are really powerful and helped the problem presenter, and which ones were not really helping that much. Read More

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Several years ago I was training new Action Learning coaches in a way with which we are all familiar. Through multiple sets, participants took turns coaching, presenting problems, and participating as problem solvers. I observed and offered feedback on the performance of the coaches. One of the participants was an experienced personal coach who had guided others to be successful in their performance of their management and leadership roles. When her turn came to coach, she listened well and intervened appropriately for a time. Read More

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In today’s world of rapid change, leaders and organizations must evolve faster than the white water rapids we are cascading through. Organizations that simply try to improve on the current benchmark will not survive, they must invent the products and methods that will define the new standard. To do this, they must shift to being a learning organization that is open to change. The flexibility and robustness of action learning lead to agile leaders, agile teams, and ultimately agile learning organizations. These changes must come from the top. Read More

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The beauty of Action Learning is its process. You just can’t read it from a book and suddenly own it. It is like a form of art. You must do it, practice it, and become better each day until intuition takes over your choices. Becoming a musician, playing in an orchestra or ensemble, and practicing Action Learning has a lot of similarities. As a musician, you must practice getting better on your instrument, but at the same time, you must solve the problems which are holding you back to become a genuine performer. These problems are mainly mental. Read More

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Action Learning changes our world view. It prompts us to work together, expands into new contexts and provides solutions in the most unexpected places. This was Mat’s on ground recent experience working in Papua New Guinea. This magnificent country contains a very significant portion of the world’s biodiversity, most of which is on customarily owned land and sea. The people are legal custodians, responsible for social, economic and environmental sustainability – goals that are often in tension with each other. It’s no wonder that mainstreaming conservation at the customary level has been tough going. Read More

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The Adult Learning Symposium is a bi-annual learning event organized by the Institute of Adult Learning, an institute under SkillsFuture Singapore. This year, the symposium took place on 1-2 November at Sands Expo and Convention Centre with the theme “Work and Learning: Conquer New Frontiers!” Against a backdrop of rapid technological advancements, disruption across industries, and fast-changing workforce needs, the challenges facing adult learning are momentous. But for the adaptable and resilient, it is also time to seize the opportunities hidden in the sea of challenges and thrive in times where disruption is the norm. Read More

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Action learning has been a core part of the Cru leadership program (SLI) since 2005. Cru, a global Christian non-profit organization with over 25,000 staff in 191 countries, uses action learning not only to build great leaders but also to solve major problems faced by the organization and its volunteers. Mike Marquardt and Bea Carson provided a 4- day CALC training program for 22 senior leaders in December 2018. The Cru action learning program follows the format shown in this graphic. Each participant also receives an Action Learning Handbook. Read More

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Three days in Washington DC. In August 2017, the International Coach Federation held its first large-scale global conference since 2012, ICF Converge, which brought together coaches from all over the world to network and learn from each other. Held in Washington DC, ICF Converge was designed to strengthen connections across the coaching community and offer best-practice learning around topics such as the art and practice of coaching, how to develop a successful coaching business, how to create a coaching culture within an organization, coaching science, and the future of coaching and of the workforce. Read More

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An AL team developed more than 40 strategies to address these challenges. The solutions included rap lyrics for customer service, shirts with logos that fit within the bank’s branding scheme, quarterly meetings with fun activities, a “meet-and-greet” training initiative on how to exchange pleasantries with customers, and a new reward system for service staff. Sample rewards are vouchers for vacations, shopping trips, and electronic products, items that are less expensive than those top management had been considering. Read More

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The participants of the ALS training comprised mainly experienced mental health nurses, who wanted to advance a particular project they had been tasked with and or implement a new way of thinking about how they engaged in problem solving approaches. Problem-solving approaches in mental health nursing has generally been based on a consensus model which seeks to obtain the agreement of those concerned. In contrast, action learning and in particular the use of Socratic questions to critically examine an issue is based more on dialectical inquiry where values and assumptions are challenged. Read More

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