Action Learning

This entire blog post is taken from the article, "Adult Learning" by Julie Conlan, Sarah Grabowski, and Katie Smith.  

Action Learning

"Emphasize action learning. Classroom training is inefficient. Half the people in the room are secretly working on their "real" jobs; half are so relieved not to be doing their real jobs, they've turned their minds entirely off. Half already know half the stuff being taught and are playing Buzzword Bingo on their Palms; half will never need to know more than half of it (Stewart, 2001, p.184)."

Action learning is a commonly used term in many discussions regarding adult learning in a variety of business settings. It holds many similarities to learning communities, discussed at length in the ebook chapter on Learning Communities. If it is to be distinguished, action learning is basically the small components that create the main team involved in a learning community. Action learning has been compared with project work, learning communities and various forms of simulation used in management development. It has been more widely used recently for organizational problems (Yorks, 2000).

"Action learning is defined as an approach to working with, and developing people, which uses work on a real project or problem as the way to learn. Participants work in small groups or teams to take action to solve their project or problem, and learn how to learn from that action. A learning coach works with the group in order to help them learn how to balance their work, with the learning from that work (O'Neil, 2000, p.44)."

Components of Action Learning:

• The first part of action learning is creating action groups based on programmed learning, "the expert knowledge" and learning or real world experiences. These are small groups, generally consisting on 3 or 4 people.
• Emphasis is placed on diversifying these small groups so that each group is best equipped to contribute to the learning community.
• A learning coach is designated for each group. Together, the learning coaches also form a group.
• From there, a project group leader is chosen. Both the project group leader and the learning coaches act as organizers, facilitators and overall motivators for the action groups (O'Neil, 2000).
• Action learning involves learning from experience through reflection and action with the support group.
• It is important that the groups remain constant and have duration, meaning the opportunity to establish themselves over a solid time period (Wade, 1999).

Case Study: Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G), the nation's sixth largest combined electric and gas company, developed an action learning program in order to help the distribution department learn how to be successful in the new competitive environment that was quickly replacing its former regulated world.

The following objectives were established for the program:

• Enhance the way people communicate and interact with one another
• Weave quality tools and behaviors into the fabric of the organization
• Develop and use problem-solving and coaching skills
• Develop an environment of openness and trust, and get conflict on the table

Over two years, there were nine separate sessions with more than 250 participants. Each session averaged 28 participants, formed into four action learning groups of 7 participants each. A learning coach worked with each group. The four learning coaches also formed a learning coach team. Each action learning group addressed an actual business project, sponsored by a senior leader in the organization. During the program, the action learning groups met for a minimum of six and a half days over a six-week period with their learning coach and additional days on their own. At the end of the session, each action learning group proposed recommendations to the entire senior leadership team. Many of these groups were involved in the implementation of their recommendations after the end of the session. Some of the outcomes included savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars through work restructuring, improved relationships with the community through outreach programs, and a transformed view of company-customer interactions, from providing customer satisfaction to that of building customer loyalty (O'Neil, 2000).

During the beginning of these sessions, participants were overwhelmed and apprehensive about the learning approach. After working through sessions, by the end, participants were surprised at the revelations that occurred during the learning process. They reported being challenged by the learning coach and establishing a rich camaraderie with their team members.

Advantages/Strengths:

• Process used in forming groups
• Balanced and diverse groups enhance the learning process and allow significant contributions to the learning community
• Utilization of group dynamics

Disadvantages/Weaknesses:

• Struggle constantly with the balance between accomplishing their task and learning from it
• Difficult to ensure consistency across groups and across sessions of any program
• Challenge of group dynamics

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Reference

Conlan, J., Grabowski, S., & Smith, K. (2003). Adult Learning.  In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology.  Retrieved from: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Adult_Learning

References used in above article 

O'Neil, J. & Lamm, S.L. (2000). Working as a learning coach team in action learning. New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, v. 87, p. 43-52.

Stewart, T. (2001). Mystified by training? Here are some clues. Fortune, v. 143, p. 184.

Wade, S. & Hammick, M. (1999). Action learning circles: Action learning in theory and practice. Teaching in Higher Education, v. 4, p. 163-179.

Yorks, L. (2000). The emergence of action learning. Training and Development, v. 54, p. 56.