Evaluation of an action learning programme for leadership development of SME leaders in the UK

This paper presents the findings from an evaluation research project undertaken by Henley Management College in 2006. This project followed an earlier research study that focused on identifying the leadership development needs for leaders of small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, developed a leadership development model and made recommendations for a leadership development programme. The principle challenges facing the SME organisations overwhelmingly concerned leading change in their organisation. Their personal challenges concerned implementing change initiatives, communicating these and motivating the people in their organisation. In consideration of the challenges identified, one of the key recommendations was to pilot an action learning programme and evaluate the effectiveness of action learning to develop leadership skills in SME leaders. Henley Management College then conducted a research project to evaluate the pilot programme. This pilot consisted of three learning sets, run in three geographical areas in the UK and facilitated using three very different styles. Following the pilot programme, there were several wider reviews by academics, advisors and representatives of relevant government boards. This has since resulted in a significant programme of action learning for SME leadership development being implemented. This paper provides an overview of the relevant literature and research methodology and then presents the evaluation results from the pilot programme. The dominant theme was that action learning does indeed deliver significant business benefits and provides a real opportunity for SME leaders to develop their leadership skills.     

Renewing professional organizations and action learning

This account concerns the renewal of established professional organizations though action learning. In order to revitalize one national organization, an executive group of leaders committed to co-leading and co-learning through a friendly, computer-supported governance structure. Manifestations of our work together were an accelerated decision-making process and creation of interdependent committees (e.g., research committee, policy committee). Keys to the innovative learning described are peer learning supported by turn taking of the executive leaders and synchronous learning buoyed by asynchronous communications technology. We awakened to the reality that if our organization was to grow, as executive leaders we had to manage our own teaching and learning and tap one another's expertise. We also learned that while face-to-face meetings and annual conferences foster goal attainment, collaboration and camaraderie, they limit the momentum necessary for organizational revival in a rapidly changing world. Organizational capacity is developing quickly as the leaders experiment with action learning interventions that are raising the overall caliber of this professional association.     

Moving from opportunism to expediency when introducing action learning into an organisation

During my first year of practice as a new action learning facilitator undertaking an ‘ILM Level 5 Certificate in Action Learning Facilitation’, an innovative Individual Service Fund pilot was launched by ‘Certitude’, the organisation for which I work. The aim of this pilot was to enable people with learning disabilities and mental health needs in London to have more choice and control over their support. By recognising the opportunity that this pilot provided, I was able to design, introduce and facilitate an action learning intervention to develop the confidence of leaders and managers involved in implementing the pilot's project plan and in turn explore my own emerging practice. This paper focuses on my journey from an opportunistic to expedient action learning facilitator; responsible for introducing, planning and establishing a new model of learning and development in Certitude.     

The role of the blended action learning facilitator: an enabler of learning and a trusted inquisitor

This paper reports on a research study that involved the use of blended action learning to support leadership development within the New Zealand education sector. An important contributor to the success of this technology-enabled approach to professional learning was the role taken by the blended action learning facilitator. Two complementary aspects of this role were: enabling learning, the main focus of which was encouraging participation in online interactions; and acting as a trusted inquisitor, a process involving both supporting and challenging participants in their leadership learning. This study found that the balance between these two roles varied over the course of the blended action learning groups and this led to the identification of five distinct stages of blended action learning facilitation.     

Relevant and timely learning for busy leaders

Lord Leitch was commissioned by the Chancellor in 2004 with a remit to ‘identify the UK's optimal skills mix in 2020 to maximise economic growth, productivity and social justice and to consider the policy implications of achieving the level of change required.’ In the 2006 Budget, the Chancellor asked Lord Leitch to consider how to better integrate employment and skills services at a local level. In his final report ‘Prosperity for all in the global economy – world class skills’ Leitch states the need to further improve management and leadership skills in the UK recommending that the UK should aim to be a world leader on skills by 2020. One of the key ways to maximize economic growth is through leadership of small and medium enterprise. In response to this Leitch report and in conjunction with the Sector Skills Councils, an action learning opportunity was made available for leaders in the retail and leisure sectors in Merseyside. Alongside the government also highlighted a need for skill development in ‘inspirational’ leadership in particular. To make learning and development ‘relevant and timely’ for busy leaders, action learning is often a preferred option. This paper looks at three particular aspects of using action learning with leaders in the retail and leisure sectors. Firstly, how commitment to engage with the process was created and fostered, in light of work pressures and long working hours. Secondly, the factors that encouraged each member to feel, and act upon, a sense of responsibility for each others' learning and development, rather than just their own, and, thirdly, a frank look at some of the difficulties which arose which could have threatened the effectiveness of the learning.     

Developing emerging leaders using professional learning conversations

Leadership in learning and teaching is a strategic priority for Australian universities, in that it is critical for improving the quality of higher education. Opportunities for academic staff to prepare for such leadership, especially during the early phases of their career, are not well embedded. This article reports on the implementation of a leadership development program for emerging leaders of learning and teaching in higher education that developed and utilised a professional learning conversation protocol. The results demonstrate that participating in the conversations had a range of positive outcomes for participants and the organisation in which the program was offered.     

Developing an action learning design model

As the number of organizations implementing action learning increases, both successful and failed cases also increase in action learning practice in South Korea. Existing studies on action learning have listed key success factors of action learning at the program level or at the team level but have not paid sufficient attention to the program design process itself. The purpose of this study was to show how to develop a design model of action learning that incorporates a step-by-step decision-making process and that provides design principles necessary along the way. This design model will present the importance of contextualizing the action learning process by asking ‘highly required’ questions and help raise the level of successful implementation of action learning programs.     

LEAD at lunch: inquiry,learning, and action

This account of practice discusses the author's experience in facilitating a small group of managers in health care over lunchtime utilizing an action learning approach. This was part of a larger leadership development initiative which took place in the organization and the intention was to create a more intimate, informal and safe setting whereby the group could further delve into the collaborative learning process, explore issues around leadership, garner feedback about the formal programming, gain insight into larger organizational issues, and perhaps develop strategies for change. Outcomes achieved include better meeting management, revision of an organizational communication forum, the development of a training program for performance management, as well as plans for more collaboration with upper administration and the development of a mentoring program. In summary, this venue created a supportive space whereby all aspects of a problem could be explored and resolutions could be formulated and acted upon.     

Animating critical action learning: process-based leadership and management development

Increasing attention is focusing on the value of critical approaches to enhancing leadership and management development processes. This paper examines how a critical action learning perspectives can be harnessed to produce valuable learning and development through critically reflective practise. Critical action learning approaches not only explore underlying power and control issues, but actively engage in an examination of political and cultural processes affecting leadership development. The aims of this paper are to explore approaches to critical action learning, to elucidate its principal features, to highlight how it can be applied in leadership and management development contexts and, finally, to illuminate some of the complexities and challenges of working with critical action learning in practice.     

Leadership development,wicked problems and action learning: provocations to a debate

The paper examines whether, if leadership is defined by the willingness to tackle wicked issues, and if action learning is employed for leadership development purposes, do the action learning participants on leadership development programmes address such wicked issues? It adopts a version of dialogical sense-making to consider this and describes an attempted literature review which led to a series of questions on academic motivations, puzzles and problems, when exactly a problem is wicked, the possible difference between private and public problems, leader development and leaderful practice. It failed to identify such evidence and it is postulated that this is due to the individual-focused nature of leader development.     

Leaders behaving badly: using power to generate undiscussables in action learning sets

‘Undiscussables’ are topics associated with threat or embarrassment that are avoided by groups, where that avoidance is also not discussed. Their deleterious effect on executive groups has been a point of discussion for several decades. More recently critical action learning (AL) has brought a welcome focus to power relations within AL sets. This paper brings these two streams of research together by exploring the relationship between undiscussables and the exercise of power by AL leaders. Analysis of statements and actions at times of negative affect in various AL sets over a two-year period showed three distinct categories of activities of AL set leaders that seemed effective in generating undiscussables within the set. It is argued that each of these categories represented an exercise of power by AL set leaders as they accessed privilege associated with their rank. Also proposed is that these activities seemed to be done without awareness by the AL set leader, with that lack of awareness being central to achieving the result of undiscussables. The paper concludes by inviting both AL set leaders and members to consider the described activities as a means of growing awareness about their role in generating undiscussables.     

Incorporating a transformational learning perspective in action learning sets

A field study focused on learning capabilities within action learning sets was used to evaluate potential opportunities between action learning and transformational learning. The use of action learning as a methodology for the acquisition, sharing and transfer of information while integrating an added perspective for transformational learning within the action learning set was investigated. There could be occurrences of transformation within action learning and critical action learning sets. However, there could be the added possibility of using action learning as a potential vehicle for an enhanced or more specific focus on transformational learning. It is useful to explore this potential, especially when there is an increased awareness regarding associations between action learning and transformational learning. Within such learning environments, there could also be the increased potential for outcomes that transform an individual, group or organization. The use of transformational elements based on discussions and resulting themes that occur within action learning sessions are discussed with the aim of encouraging personal development, enhancing skills and engaging in adult learning that could lead to organizational development. Recommendations for these environments are also presented.     

Action learning: developing leaders and supporting change in a healthcare context

This account of practice outlines how action learning was used as the key component of a leadership development initiative for managers in an acute hospital setting. It explains how the initiative was conceived, why action learning was chosen and how action learning principles were incorporated. Insights into the outcomes and considerations for the future are also included.     

Systemic action and learning in public services

Complex, systemic issues continue to challenge public services without respect for organisational and professional boundaries. In practice, collaborative working with others who have differing professional cultural norms and systems confront members with the need to learn about each other's values, priorities and practices. This paper explores the potential of action learning for the development of systemic leadership capabilities within public services. Starting from core principles it is argued that action learning be seen not simply as a small group process for problem-solving or individual development, but as a collective process for inquiring into and taking action on projects and practices within their complex, multi-agent contexts.     

Developing an interpretive learning framework for understanding action research projects

In contemporary educational settings, school leaders and teachers face increased accountability and pressure to raise student performance. Utilising professional learning to develop individual and collective capability is a common feature of these settings. In Australia, there is evidence that many schools have implemented action research to support the improvement agenda. A significant part of this agenda is providing evidence of outcomes arising from the action cycles. Indicators of progress and outcomes provide evidence of improvement to external audiences and afford insights and feedback for participants, which assist in developing further plans to address improvement. This paper outlines the development and use of an interpretive learning framework, incorporating a two-part reflection tool, developed to assess the quality of action research projects conducted by teacher researchers in schools. To do this, individual school case accounts were initially developed from analysis of action project data. A thematic analysis was then undertaken and the emergent themes, together with pertinent action research literature, informed the basis of the tool and its two integrated elements: an innovation matrix and rubric. Both elements permit understanding of project strengths and areas for further development within individual projects.     

Following the action in action learning: towards ethnomethodological studies of (critical) action learning

Action learning is a pedagogical practice that helps participants learn by talking about their workplace action with fellow participants (‘comrades in adversity’) in their action learning set. This paper raises questions about the action in action learning, such as: how do members of an action learning set learn from and through each other? How do they learn through their developing conversation and interaction?

To answer such questions, I argue that, ‘ethnomethodology’ (the study of ‘member's methods’ or ‘folk methods’ for doing any kind of practical action) is useful for showing the intricacy of the practical learning process in action learning, as in learning in action, more generally. The paper illustrates the conversational and interactional work of members doing things and learning together in action (for example discovering things in science and in board meetings); and argues that this approach may also be used to study action learning in practice.     

Virtual action learning: a pilot in building leadership capacity

This account of practice encompasses a pilot virtual action learning programme with a small group of learners. This was an 18-month extension to the one-week Leadership Open Programme that the participants had previously completed at the Business School. It includes insights from an evaluation study completed in early 2016. It considers in particular the following issues: the structuring of a virtual event; the significance of maintaining continuity of learning; the need for commonality of reference points about leadership in order to enhance it; the selection of problems by participants; whether leadership development itself is a ‘wicked problem’ and the role and skills required of the tutor to add value to the learning experience. Amongst other benefits, the participants found the chance to build relationships broke down the loneliness of leadership and greatly enhanced their learning. These issues will be explored further in a review planned for early 2017.     

Developing an action learning way of working within a leadership context in higher education: barriers and enablers

This account of practice considers action learning within an accredited leadership course at a post-1992 university. It outlines a more individualistic approach than that envisioned by Reg Revans and questions how this technique, inherited from a Staff Development colleague, could potentially be improved.     

Using developmental relationships in mentoring to support novice principals as leaders of learning

Mentoring is an established method of supporting principals as they begin their careers; however, early studies focus on how a veteran principal supports a novice principal in acquiring the skills to manage the school. As the role of a principal has evolved from a building manager to a leader of learning, the role of mentoring has also evolved. The purpose of this study was to explore the mentoring experiences of novice principals and their mentors in a school district’s mentoring program, and how developmental mentoring relationships support novice principals to be leaders of learning. The ?ndings suggest that a strong mentoring relationship can support a novice principal in developing skills to be a leader of learning by clarifying the mentor’s role as a leader of learning, focusing mentoring sessions to build the mentee’s capacity as a leader of learning, and a commitment to mentoring sessions that support teaching and learning.     

System leaders using assessment for learning as both the change and the change process: developing theory from practice

Many schools and school systems have been deliberately working towards full implementation of Assessment for Learning for more than a decade, yet success has been elusive. Using a leader's implementation of Assessment for Learning in one school as an illustration, this article examines eight positional leaders’ experiences as they implemented both the ‘spirit and the letter’ of Assessment for Learning at all levels. This longitudinal qualitative research study draws on the experiences of leaders from Alberta, British Columbia, Germany, Georgia, Hawai`i, Manitoba, New Zealand and Ontario. The authors identify five findings that show how positional leaders use Assessment for Learning as the focus for system-wide change, as well as the change process itself.