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 first time), while also learning how to create and hold the space for AL to happen.
It’s been a decade since I first encountered Action Learning. So when I get to experience the process through the eyes of newcomers, I feel refreshed and reinspired by the power embedded in what appears to be a simple process.
As the group grew in skill and confidence, we reflected on what was working and what they were noticing. While the learning was multi-faceted, three recurring themes stood out to me as being core to Action Learning.
The first was the benefit of space and time to think. An opportunity to slow our busy minds and the option to allow silence. Quiet and thinking time are rarer than we realise. So much so that some of us find silence hard but when we allow it, it turns out to be generative.
In tandem with silence and pauses for thought, the group grappled with using questions. Issue holders worried that it would be hard to find a solution if colleagues asked questions rather than offering their own wisdom & advice. And yet…once more, we witnessed the power of the process. When given time to think and open questions to explore a challenge anew, they found they did in fact have ideas, options and possibilities they hadn’t previously identified.
All of this unfolded so naturally, in a space where we are building trust. Trust in the safety of the group. Trust in the process, and trust in our own capacity to deal with the challenges we are facing. Trust isn’t automatic. It takes a little investment, but once you do the groundwork, it can blossom quickly.
Maybe it’s the shift from spring to early summer that I’m left with a gardening analogy. Action Learning feels like cultivating the conditions for growth, and the group members flourish within it.
I’m reminded that we can nurture these conditions in our everyday lives; allowing a little time for silence, pausing to think, leaning into open questions rather than advice, and investing in relationships so they feel safe enough to grow within them.
As I write this, I’m aware that I’ve had this insight before. Then life gets busy and it slips out of awareness. Yet the best lessons are worth learning over again. Like the seasonal cycles in our gardens, we benefit from renewal on an on-going basis.
I really appreciate the opportunity for renewal in this recent training role. What opportunities do you have on the horizon?
By Carol Conway, Associate Consultant