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Tips for Successful Action Learning

Thursday, June 16, 2005 - by Andy Beaulieu

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Action learning is a systematic approach that uses real-world problems and opportunities as vehicles for professional development. Because action learning programs generally introduce very little new training content, they can be a perfect complement to existing curricula. Presented below are fourteen factors that will enhance the success of your action learning program for future leaders.

Do recruit compelling, high-profile projects for teams to tackle.

This year's strategic plan is a great source of potential projects, both opportunities and problems. Also look to customer satisfaction data. Although process improvement projects are fine candidates, don't overuse this category. If you anticipate an issue with participants feeling underwhelmed by a project, consider developing a pipeline of projects and allowing your teams to apply for their top three choices in advance of the launch workshop.

Don't make the program a one-shot deal.

Just as learning never ends, neither should your best laboratory for developing future leaders. The program should be ongoing, at least twice per year, and participants should know that they will be invited into it more than once.

Do require that the action projects all produce a bottom-line business result.

There is no substitute for the learning that comes from having to develop and implement a solution that actually achieves a desired bottom-line result. The result can be costs saved, profits from the acquisition of new customers, profits from the sales of a new product, or some other economic benefit. But they should not be any of the following: solutions developed, new systems implemented, recommendations developed, or processes improved. If your finance expert wouldn't show it in the financials, then it isn't a bottom-line result. Don't give an action learning team a research project.

Don't let the projects stretch out forever.

Thirteen to fifteen weeks is plenty of time for the projects to be completed. If a project needs a lot longer than it may not be right for an action learning team. Or perhaps a piece of the larger project can be carved out for the team as a demonstration of capability. Remember that the projects must include implementation in order to achieve bottom-line results.

Do provide each team with an executive sponsor, and do hold those sponsors accountable for the developmental and business results.

The executive sponsors are being granted the services of a team to help them accomplish one of their strategic priorities for the year. Thus sponsors are mutually accountable for the team results or lack of results. A sponsor whose team fails because he/she wanted to see how they could do on their own has not fulfilled the sponsor role. Your future leaders deserve a strong example in driving results. This is not to say that no teams will ever fail, but it should not be due to a laissez-faire sponsor. And at the same time, this is a learning program. Sponsors need to reinforce the developmental side, as well as provide coaching wherever possible.

Don't "teach" anything.

The action learning program is an opportunity for participants to apply what they have learned in your other leadership programs. Make this a learning pull rather than a push by assuming that participants already know what they need to know to succeed in their project.

Do keep all the teams in synch within each round.

Each round of the program should launch the teams all at once and end the teams all at once. In between, a single midterm workshop can serve to keep the teams updated on each other and on schedule. This approach maintains the overall group atmosphere, including both collaboration and competition. At the end, make all the teams present at the same executive session.

Don't just let development happen.

Many so-called action learning programs are simply task forces from which participants are supposed to learn. In real action learning, participants should each be pursuing a specific, personal development objective that can be woven into a task or role on the project team. Although a lot of other learning may occur at various levels, this is an active learning process. Participants' managers should send them into the program with a short list of key development objectives for them to try to work into the plan.

Do make feedback and coaching overdose the norm during this activity.

Set the expectation that your participants are going to get lots of feedback: from their normal work peers, from their action learning team mates, from their team coach, from their team sponsor, etc. As they take on unfamiliar roles and tasks on their team, their learning must be accelerated over normal trial and error approaches by heavy doses of coaching and feedback.

Don't let development take a back seat to the project.

Use tools like a development plan coupled with regular journaling to keep this aspect of the program at the forefront for participants. At the final presentation to executives, each participant should describe how they used the program to prepare themselves for a step up in responsibility in their next role.

Do make the teams visible at the highest levels.

The teams should present their final results to the highest level executive group you can assemble. In talent management/success planning sessions, executives should ask about the individuals' performance in the action learning program. Have a top executive appear at the midterm workshop and talk about leadership at your organization.

Don't make the projects a full-time commitment.

Scope the projects at about 25 percent of participants' time. And although a quarter of their time allows them to continue their regular jobs, it also forces them to plan ahead and manage the overload (a key learning objective for future leaders).

Do collect information for use by future participants.

Your action learning teams can benefit from the insights of past projects and participants. Build and fill a repository of lessons learned so that current teams can tap into the experience of their predecessors. Also consider developing a short case study of each project.

Don't forget to publicize your success.

Debrief participants to learn what worked and what could be improved in future rounds of the program. Positive information should be used to promote the program internally. Publish your teams' results in your employee newsletter.

In addition, by using only bottom-line projects requiring actual results and by drawing those projects from the company's strategic plan, you are contributing significantly to your organization's performance. You are only steps away from being able to publish ROI results for your program. Your Annual Report on Learning and Development should highlight these contributions.