Optimizing the Power of Action Learning

I do not think our team is fulfilling its learning potential as much as it could. So I read this book. I wanted to know the answers to these questions:

What action learning is?

What are the components of action learning?

The benefits of action learning? 

How to present a problem to our team?

Basic principles of action learning?

What is action learning?

Action learning is a powerful problem-solving tool that can build successful leaders, teams and organizations. 

Action learning has six components:

1) A problem (project, challenge, opportunity, issue, or task)

Action learning centers on a problem, project, challenge, opportunity, issue, or task, the resolution of which is of high importance to a Teampreneur and team. The problem should be significant and urgent and should be the responsibility of the team to solve. It should also provide an opportunity for the group to generate learning opportunities, to build knowledge, and to develop Teampreneurs and skills in our team. We can focus on a single problem or multiple problems.

2) An action learning group or team

The core entity in action learning is the action learning team. The group should be ideally composed of four to eight members who examine a problem that has no easily identifiable solution. In our team we have Teampreneurs with diversity experience and background so we can acquire various perspectives and get fresh viewpoints. For action learning problem we can include Teampreneurs from other teams in Tiimiakatemia or we can invite our customers. The more perspectives the better. :) 

Yup, we have a problem (challenge), our team has more than eight members. What does it mean? It's not a big deal but it can create following challenges:

• Too little and/or too much participation. In action learning, active participation by all Teampreneurs is necessary. There can simply not be enough time for everyone to remain involved. Some Teampreneurs either will be aggressive to insert their views or ask their questions, or they will back away and become passive, particularly if their nature is not to be pushy. Some Tempreneurs may not be happy with the options offered, but may feel there is not enough time to offer new choices. 
• Too much complexity of communications. More than eight Teampreneurs create an enormous complexity of communication patterns. The difference between eight and twelve Tempreneurs is not simply a difference of four Teampreneurs, but a difference of hundreds of more possible communication channels. 
• Too much time needed to reach an agreement. The more people involved in making a decision, however, the more time is usually required to come to an agreement. Sometimes our team May not reache an agreement. 

3) A working process of insightful questioning and reflective listening

Action learning emphasizes questions and reflection above statements and opinions. By focusing on the right questions and reflection above statements and opinions. By focusing on the right questions rather than the right answers, action learning groups become aware of what they do not know as well as what they do know. Questions help us to build team cohesiveness, generate innovative and system thinking, and improve learning results. Insightful questions enable us to first clarify the exact nature of the problem before jumping to solutions. We should recognize that great solutions will be contained within the seeds of great questions.

4) Action taken on the problem

Action learning requires that our team will take action on the problem it is working on. We must have the power to take action or be assured that our recommendations will be implemented. If the team only makes recommendations, it loses its energy, creativity, and commitment. There is no real meaningful or practical learning until action is taken and reflected on. We will never know if an idea or plan will be effective until it has been implemented. The action of action learning begins with reframing the problem and determining the goal, and only then determining strategies and taking action.

5) A commitment to learning

Unless we will not learn, we may not be able to creatively solve a complex problem. Action learning places the same emphasis on the learning and development of Teampreneurs and the team as it does on the solving of problems, for the smarter our team becomes, the quicker and better will be our decision making and action taking capabilities. 

6) An action learning coach

Our coach helps us to reflect on both what we are learning and how we are solving problems. Through insightful questions, the coach enables us to improve our performance and develop our skills. The coach helps us to reflect on how we listen, how we may have reframed the problem, how we give each other feedback, how we are planning and working, and what assumptions may be shaping our beliefs and actions. The learning coach also helps us to focus on what we are achieving, what we are finding difficult or what processes we are employing.

“Real progress in business is achieved only by teams and individuals trying out creative ideas and making them work. By pooling talend and, most of all, by learning while doing.“

I have a problem that I need to discuss with my team, how should I do it? 

The initial presentation of the problem should be short, with an emphasis on the important points. The book suggests that the Teampreneur who is presenting the problem should prepare his/her speech by examining the following questions:

• How can you describe your problem situation in a few sentences? 
• Why is this problem important to you and/or the organization? 
• How would you recognize progress on this problem? 
• What are the difficulties you anticipate as you and/or the organization work through this problem?
• What will be the benefits if this problem is minimized or resolved?

The presented problem may not be the critical problem

The problem originally presented is rarely the problem that is the most critical one for our team to work on. Oftentimes it is only a symptom, and a more urgent and important problem emerges as the group works on the original problem. In action learning, we should carefully determine whether solving the original problem really resolves the situation. Gaining clarity and consensus on the real problem is thus the first and most important part of problem solving in action learning, for if we jump into solving the initial problem, we may end up solving the wrong problem.

Problems as opportunities for success and growth 

I have confirmed what I read previously in the book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”. We should have a growth mindset and learn from problems and mistakes. The greatest and most significant learnings and achievements have occurred when our team or project faced seemingly overwhelming problems. Action learning groups welcome challenges because they are confident that the action learning process will lead to breakthrough solutions.

After each training session we should take more actions

Action after every session is important, for if the group does not regularly take actions, the result will be diminished commitment as well as diminished learning - mostly our case. Just as one cannot learn how to serve a tennis ball unless he hits it, an individual or group cannot learn unless there is the opportunity to implement. Thus, at the end of each session, the group agrees to take concrete, specific actions. The steps developed include the specifics of who, what, where, and when, as well as the measurable, the visible, and the worthwhile. These actions should be recorded and then referred to at the beginning of the subsequent session of the action learning group.

We should build questioning culture

In this book I have confirmed what I wrote previously in my essay about the book “Leading with questions”. Part of the success is to build questioning culture. We should remember that if we ask great questions, we will be doing our job. The questioning process will help us to solve our problems. It is valuable for team members to also recognize that periods of silence can be liberating to all Teampreneurs, especially for the Teampreneur who is pressenting the problem - he/her may sometimes feel overwhelmed by the questioning. 

When someone Teampreneur is absent, valuable knowledge and companionship are lost. Teamwork, especially team thinking and team learning, requires participation by all members.

How have I started applying adult learning principles to my life?

Adult education specialists over the past century have identified a number of principles and practices that increase the speed, understanding, quality, and application of learning. Everytime when I learn something I am focusing on these ones, they work pretty well on myself. I created basically my learning codex:

• I learn not so much when I am motivated to learn, but when I am motivated to achieve something.
• Experience is the richest resource for my learning, the core of my education is the analysis of experience.
• I learn more when I am responsible and accountable for applying the learning.
• Learning increases when I am asked questions or ask questions of myself.
• Working on unfamiliar problems in unfamiliar settings causes me to unfreeze some of my previous ways of doing things and develop powerful learnings since I am faced with challenges and difficulties.
• I learn best when I can see results and I am allowed to take risks.
• Learning increases when I reflect on what I have experienced.

What do I appreciate most about the book?

The author is great. This is the second book I have read from him and I am excited about it. The book describes everything about action learning very clearly. In the last chapter the author describes step by step how to introduce, implement and maintain action learning in organizations. So after reading the book, you do not only have theoretical knowledge, but you can immediately put yourself into practice.