During part of the Leadership for Social Enterprise course we tried an activity that was a first for me - Action Learning Sets. One of the attendees at the course had a problem that she wanted help with so she spoke about the issue for around 10 minutes. Members of the group listening to her were given various roles including a summariser, a reviewer and 3 questioners with questions being themed around challenging assumptions and differing perspectives.
Once the problem had been aired we were able to ask clarifying questions only then we heard a summary of the issue and then we asked our questions. However, the attendee with the issue was not allowed to answer any of the questions we put to her. Once we had all asked our questions the session ended.
This apparently is quite the in thing within the NHS but I struggled to see the benefit of the "process". Within Fusion the value seems to come from peer to peer discussion of a problem or through case study type sessions with mentor, mentee, facilitator etc or with people in the group taking on various "roles" such as marketing expert, accountant, solicitor when looking at the problem.
I wondered whether the Action Learning Set process described above infact raised more issues that it solved - the person with the problem infact received no answers to her issues, no tips or guidance from anyone within the group who may have experienced the problem previously and wasn't able to chat through the issues with anyone.
If you have had experience of Action Learning Sets and found it useful then perhaps some guidance on what I am missing would be useful. If you haven't had any experience would you see a benefit to your business of this process?
Comments very welcome!
Once the problem had been aired we were able to ask clarifying questions only then we heard a summary of the issue and then we asked our questions. However, the attendee with the issue was not allowed to answer any of the questions we put to her. Once we had all asked our questions the session ended.
This apparently is quite the in thing within the NHS but I struggled to see the benefit of the "process". Within Fusion the value seems to come from peer to peer discussion of a problem or through case study type sessions with mentor, mentee, facilitator etc or with people in the group taking on various "roles" such as marketing expert, accountant, solicitor when looking at the problem.
I wondered whether the Action Learning Set process described above infact raised more issues that it solved - the person with the problem infact received no answers to her issues, no tips or guidance from anyone within the group who may have experienced the problem previously and wasn't able to chat through the issues with anyone.
If you have had experience of Action Learning Sets and found it useful then perhaps some guidance on what I am missing would be useful. If you haven't had any experience would you see a benefit to your business of this process?
Comments very welcome!
1 comment:
I love action learning sessions precisely because the presenter receives no answers and advice. Everyone has their solutions within them and the action learning process facilitates bringing those to the surface - it's fascinating. I have found that people generally give you advice based on their own experience and the person that they are, and it could not be well suited to you - that's why I value finding your way to your own answers, because they will always be right for you. (Of course, it's also useful sometimes to just be offered advice and solutions, and I'm also part of a "boardroom" type group where when you present an issue, everyone in turn gives you advice or what their solutions would be. Both approaches are useful in different circumstances and at different stages.)
Happy to chat more about action learning if you wish to! :)
Noreen
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