‘No hierarchy!’ was an emphatic addition to a recent group agreement at the start of a new Action Learning (AL) group. The group included three senior managers and four people they managed. The statement recognised the hierarchy in the room, which I had already raised with the commissioner and with the group.
A great aspiration, and difficult to avoid. Having acknowledged this extra layer of complexity, I am learning several things about AL, systems and my role as facilitator.
Action Learning works best with peers. That said, there can be useful unpacking of the unevenness created by hierarchy, which can show up in many ways beyond job titles. I have noticed managers wanting to ‘rescue’ rather than empower or challenge the issue holder. When this impulse is recognised, it becomes helpful learning and opens up ways they might change their approach.
I have also seen managers realise they do not have to carry issues alone. They can find expertise and support within the team they manage. This can lead to a more collaborative leadership style and begin to shift the internal culture. I am also noticing that I want to build in more time for process review to reflect on how hierarchy is affecting them and how we can sustain a safe, open and stretching for learning space.
Action Learning can demonstrate how teams recognise shared challenges and a range of expertise, rather than becoming stuck in perceived or structural ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ status. This happens through honesty and bravery in articulating what is noticed in the room, beyond what is spoken. It offers opportunities to learn different ways of operating within hierarchies that can have impact up, down and across teams.
In practice, it helps to be openly honest about hierarchies from the start. Giving the contracting process more time to explore and articulate the hierarchies in the room, both actual and perceived, can be valuable. It’s also helpful to agree how the group will notice and reflect on different power levels, both seen and unseen, and the effect these have on all voices. Revisiting how systemic and perceived hierarchies influence the learning through regular shared reflection is equally important.
Not wanting to show vulnerability can become a strong fear in the presence of both a manager and the managed. Yet there can be rich learning in naming those barriers and negotiating them together.
I am noticing that my earlier assumptions about hierarchy being a barrier are not always true. When hierarchy is recognised, shared and regularly revisited, it can become, like many sticky aspects of AL, a useful lever for learning.
Author – Joanna Ridout
Image by valeska salgado from Pixabay