a process that involves a small

group working on real problems,

taking action, and learning while
doing so

a powerful management tool that
creates dynamic opportunities for
individuals, teams, leaders and
organisations to successfully adapt,
learn and innovate
What is action learning?
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Family tree
Reg Revans UK
Fathers unsinkable Titanic story
Worked with Cambridge University physicists in
Cavendish lab with 6 Nobel prizewinner where
researchers met weekly to share their ignorance
Clients included: Belgium, 9 in Nile Project in Egypt,
National Coal Board, and hospitals









Mike Marquardt - US
Integration of European and US approaches to
action learning
six components and two ground rules
Microsoft
Constellation Energy
Sodexho
Novartis
Siemens
Boeing
Caterpillar
General Electric
DuPont
Samsung
Sandvik Mining and Construction
RMIT Melbourne
NASA
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
HealthCare NZ
Telecom NZ


Action learning is widely applied
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1. project, challenge, task, or
problem
2. group of 4-8 people with
diverse perspectives
3. reflective questioning and
listening
4. developing strategies and
taking action
5. commitment to learning
6. action learning coach
The 6 components of an
action learning program
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Should be both important and
urgent to the organisation or
individual not a made-up
exercise ideally mission critical
Why? Because unimportant
problems diminish creativity,
commitment and learning
Plus, the more complex in
nature, the more powerful and
valuable the action learning
session
problems should be within the
authority and/or responsibility of
team (and its sponsor/champion)

Problems/challenges for action learning
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4-8 members to maximise creativity and workability
from within and outside the organisation
diverse so as to obtain fresh viewpoints (pizza man)
may be familiar or unfamiliar with roles and
situations
may include external resources when needed
Action learning team
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enable us to diverge and
examine problems from a
systems perspective before
we converge towards
solution

allow us to listen, to reflect,
to be creative, and to learn

questions help to clarify, to
open up new avenues, to
unpack, to offer ideas and
insights, to learn

creates time and space
needed to stand back,
reflect, unfreeze, and gain
new perspectives
Questioning and reflective process
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Double diamond shape to the
problem solving process
diverge
converge
quantity
imaginative
free
intuitive

quality
analytical
restricted
intellect

problems
solutions
C
R
I
T
E
R
I
A

open-ended questions closed questions
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Strategies and action
at the end of every session: the learning coach focuses on
action by asking the individual or team what action(s) they will
take as a result of the work in the session
testing ideas in the real world determines if strategies are
effective and practical
develop a prototype of a solution, not just a white paper
merely recommending diminishes creativity and commitment
deep and real learning occurs when reflecting on real action
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members take responsibility
for own, groups, and
organisations learning
time set aside to talk about
learnings and how they can
be applied systematically
elsewhere
leveraging and linking of
knowledge serves as a
multiplier of action learnings
benefits

Individual, team and organisation-
wide learning
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may be group member or
external partner
ensures sufficient time for
capturing learnings
helps members to reflect on
interactions and implications of
actions to be taken
asks questions to focus the
team on norms and processes
creates an atmosphere of
learning and reflective inquiry
Action learning coach
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1. Formation of group
2. Presentation of problem or task to group
3. Reframing the problem
4. Determining goals
5. Developing action strategies
6. Implementing action
7. Capturing learnings
Stages of an
action learning program
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