Work Based Learning and
Continuing Professional Development

Action Learning for Organisational Development

What is Action Learning?

"Action Learning takes so long to describe, so much longer to find interesting, and so much longer still to get started because it is so simple." Pedler (1991)

Action Learning for individuals

Action Learning is a key feature on all of our programmes in developing the participants' capacity to learn from their work experience

"Through Action Learning individuals learn with and from each other by working on real problems and reflecting on their own experiences." McGill & Beaty (1995)

In addition we support the development of Action Learning within organisations

We work with organisations to enhance managers understanding of Action Learning and to develop their skills for facilitating Action Learning in their work context.

Typically we work with a group of potential facilitators over a one day workshop to consider:

• What is Action Learning?
• Role of Action Learning facilitator
• Developing facilitation skills
• Power and ethics
• Action Learning and its links to organisational development

Following this workshop participants are expected to facilitate at least two action learning sets.

Participants return to review their experience of facilitating action learning, identifying the benefits and outcomes for organisational learning. The group explore the challenges and issues experienced and develop advanced facilitation skills to enable them to respond to these challenges in the future.

The session progresses to explore how Action Learning might best be used within the organisation concluding with participants delivering a short group presentation to put forward their recommendations for Action Learning in their own context.

Assessment

There will be an assessment activity which will require some investigation/evaluation of processes and practices of their facilitated action learning experience, personal reflection and contribution to a group report and presentation.