Action Learning Articles
A selection of articles from our facilitators reflecting on facilitating Action Learning.
The 7 P’s of collective sense-making
I admit to being something of an Action Learning anorak. I regularly extol the value of a group coming together to share challenges and opportunities through questioning, reflection, learning and action, without judgement and without rushing to offer advice. Yet, in...
Negotiating Hierarchy in Action Learning
‘No hierarchy!’ was an emphatic addition to a recent group agreement at the start of a new Action Learning (AL) group.
When the Pause Becomes the Practice
See how the deliberate pause creates the conditions for real reflection, deeper insight, and meaningful development in Action Learning.
The Power of a Good Ending: Inside the Final Day of a Long-Term Action Learning Programme
We often put thought into beginnings and getting off to a good start. This is a reflection on how to create good endings and their importance.
What happens when Action Learning is stirred into very different cultural pots across the globe?
You get surprising, challenging, and inspiring new flavours of practice that sharpen your thinking and open your eyes. That’s what I experienced in April at the 9th International Action Learning Conference hosted by Alliance Manchester Business School. Bringing...
Facilitation: A Broad Church.
When I first started calling myself a facilitator, most people didn’t really know what that meant. Facilitation is often misunderstood or underappreciated. Facilitation is a broad church. It covers everything from one-off strategy sessions, team building and away...
When Intentional Focus Is What’s Required – Themed Action Learning
If you’re familiar with Action Learning (AL), you’ll know it enables space to pause and reflect deeply, problem-solve, and create meaningful change. But what happens when we introduce a common thread or single focus for everyone to work on together? That’s where...
The generative power of silence, questions and trust
I’ve had the privilege recently of co-leading an Action Learning (AL) Facilitator Training. It’s been a real joy for me. Working with a group of skilled and enthusiastic professionals, who are in dual learning mode – figuring out how AL works (some of them for the...
What to do when traditional training methods just don’t cut the mustard.
Winter Newsletter 2024 - Focusing on Facilitation The 2025 Gartner Report is out, and once again, leader and manager development tops HR’s priority list. With 1,400 HR Directors surveyed across 60 countries, it’s clear that traditional training methods just aren’t...
Developing a Reflective Practice – Why Bother?
Spring Newsletter 2025 - Focusing on Facilitation Ready to Supercharge Your Facilitation? Action Learning is inherently a reflective practice—it builds awareness and sharpens reflective skills. The entire Action Learning (AL) cycle revolves around reflection, making...
Trust and Safety In Action Learning
Autumn Newsletter 2024 - Focusing on Facilitation There are few spaces where we can feel truly safe enough to share and explore what we really think, to fully reflect, be open, vulnerable even, take risks and admit mistakes. We know one of the key aspects people value...
Preparing The Ground For Learning
Spring Newsletter 2024 - Focusing on Facilitation When did you last support someone develop a skill or master something new? Did you think about the stages they would go through? What related skills, strengths, or knowledge they already have? What obstacles might...