Real Problems in Real Life

Ian McGill

First Published in Management Skills & Development magazine
© Ian McGill 1996

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What is action learning?

How does action learning work?

Why is it so relevant now and in the future?

These are the questions to be answered by Ian McGill in this masterclass.

Action learning is a process that brings people together in small groups to work on important individual and organisational issues. In working on issues or problems with others the individual manager moves forward what otherwise may be intractable problems, learns and develops, and importantly learns about the process of learning itself.

Let us go beyond definition and look at what is really a very simple idea. What are the key components of Action Learning?

• Individuals meeting together in a group (known as a set). For ease of working, about five to seven people make up the set.
• Each individual brings a real issue\problem or project to the set that they wish to progress.
• The whole set works on the issue for the benefit of the person presenting the issue.
• The aim for the individual presenting the issue is to be able to take action on the issue and to reflect and learn from the action.
• Typically the action learning set meets for 3-4 hours (or one day) every 4-6 weeks for a cycle of meetings over an agreed period (for example 6, 9 or 12 months).
• The set will create explicit ground rules to ensure effective working.

Real problems in real life

Action learning is thus based on the idea that learning and development has to be about real problems in real life with real people to be effective. Action learning is distinctive because the process stresses that it is not only important that the manager understands a situation but is also able to act in a situation.

Let us now step into a typical set meeting. The managers, as members of the set, ask who amongst them will take time at the set meeting today. Three colleagues want and need time today and the set agree each will have about one hour devoted to their issues. Some sets simply agree to have equal time for each person.

Our first manager, as presenter, starts by conveying the issue as she sees it, listened to by the other colleagues (referred to as set members). Set members will then seek to clarify what they have heard in order that they have as full a picture as possible. Then they will ask questions that seek to enable the presenter to consider, define, or re-define the problem\issue and her relationship to it.

Colleagues in the set will offer empathic understanding and support, as well as being challenging. The purpose here, as in all the interaction and dialogue, is to enable the presenter to understand the issue, own the issue, take responsibility for it and to learn from it. In addition, the set members will help the presenter take some steps towards action on it. She will be invited to be as specific as possible about any intended actions as this will make them more feasible to achieve.

Concentrated time

So what is so different about action learning from usual interactions between colleagues? The presenter is given concentrated time and attention by a number of colleagues. This is quite different from the quick moments of thought offered from our repertoire of individual past experience. Such thoughts tend to be based on what we would do if we were dealing with the situation. It is not our situation. It is the presenter who will take responsibility and any subsequent action. What I might do is not necessarily relevant for someone else! In action learning we do not prescribe or say what the presenter should or ought to do! She may want ideas and pictures of how set members see her situation, but the purpose is for her to re-frame or re-conceptualise her situation. Ownership remains with her as does its resolution and potential action, in contrast to imposed or directed solutions which may lead to incomplete or partially owned commitment.

Through action learning the presenting manager takes responsibility for her issue, asks for what she needs from the set, really listens and reflects on the questions and statements made by colleagues and then concludes with actions - important next steps that are specific, clear and feasible.

Time for reflection

Another key difference is pace and time for real reflection. Organisational life often leaves too little time for slowing down the pace to enable people to really think and feel their way through to the more intractable issues they face that underlie surface matters. We tend to press on with the urgent, giving little time and reflection for the important.

Between set meetings our presenter implements her intended actions. At the next set meeting she will report back on those actions she has taken and will engage in reflection upon their impact as well as what she has learned. Other set members replicate the approach when it comes to their turn.

Thus a cycle of learning and action is built into the process for every set member: intended action leading to learning in and from the experience of the action (between the set meeting), leading to the set meeting where the presenter reflects and questions with others that experience, leading to a reframing of the picture and\or new way of seeing the situation, leading to new action.

We learn beyond our previous accumulation of previously "programmed" knowledge and understanding with and through others.

What else is going on in the set meeting that promotes development of managers engaged in action learning?

Take account of the process

So far I have emphasized the task for the presenting manager in working on significant issues in the set. In managerial work attention to, and learning about, the process by which the tasks are achieved is often understated or even ignored. Process and task interweave. When tasks effectively undertaken take account of the process by which they are achieved then real learning occurs.

An understanding of process is crucial for effective management development. Action learning enables set members to become aware of and improve their understanding of process. By process I mean how set members interact in the set alongside the task of enabling set members to work on their issues.

Attention to process is undertaken by consciously taking time in the set meeting to examine:

• the interpersonal skills (see Box 1), qualities and values presented and expressed
• how the set is working
• what and how we learn and develop.

Most sets have a facilitator until a set can become self-facilitating. The facilitator models the skills and qualities to ensure that the process results in effective action learning for the set members.

In the environment of the action learning set the facilitator will ensure "reflection on our practice" - a key component of a manager’s development. Reflective practice or learning about how we learn is a frequently espoused value for managers that is at the core of the meaning of management development. By making reflection on practice "in-use" in the set we enable managers to transfer and live that developmental value elsewhere in their practice as managers.

Organisational learning

We can now also make the connection with the idea of the "learning organisation" or organisational learning. Much is lauded about the capacity for an organisation to engage in its own learning. The reality is that only if its staff, particularly its managers, are able to be reflective learners will the organisation move to that state of being able to learn and transform.

Thus the relevance of action learning lies in bringing together the following key components of organisational sustenance, survival, growth and sustainability:

• effective management development
• organisational learning and development
• the moving forward of, and action on, issues and problems relevant to the organisation and their employees.

Management development enables individuals to prepare for the future by developing their potential. Managers cannot rely upon previously developed skills and understandings, or on existing and past ways of doing things. The capacity of the organisation to learn, survive and work with an ever changing environment will depend upon the energy deriving from its staff and managers. That energy amongst managers will in turn partly depend upon the kind of developmental activities they engage in.

Action learning that is sponsored by the organisation to promote management development provides the conditions for engaging, energising and empowering managers so that they own their development. At the same time the organisation can accrue that essential value-added element so that there is a pay-off for the manager and the organisation. Action learning can also benefit particular managerial activities (see Box 2).

Some of the most valuable applications are with organisations using action learning for in-house management development and as a means to create the conditions for organisational learning via the cascading of action learning.

Written by Ian McGill, co-author of McGill, I., & Brockbank, A., (2004) The Action Learning Handbook. London: Routledge Falmer.