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This account of practice describes what three executive leaders in a professional association have learned about action learning and their own practices of organizational renewal. Data are approached narratively and stories are told from the perspectives of diverse educators' experiences, agency, and expertise. Mature organizations can be revitalized and diversified through the action learning of executive leaders who integrate a new and diverse faculty body into the governance structure and decision-making process. The goal of facilitating diversity goals for established organizations has relevance for universities, schools, businesses, and other learning environments. Public conversations can strengthen the diversity-oriented outreach missions of professional organizations.

This article concerns the origins of the idea of action learning, especially the claim by Revans that his Memorandum on "The Entry of Girls into the Nursing Profession" in Essex hospitals written in 1938 was the first step in the development of action learning. Whilst Revans repeatedly made this claim, there is no evidence in the actual words of the Memorandum to support it, and he never explained the basis for his belief. Why Revans saw this paper as a first step is therefore a mystery. In this paper we examine the circumstances of the production of the Memorandum to find possible answers. After discussing the evidence we conclude that Revans' claim is based on the ideas and insights which occurred to him in 1938 in his research and thinking, rather than upon what he actually wrote. We also suggest some defining aspects of action learning can be traced back to ideas first stimulated in the research and production of the 1938 Memorandum, including the importance of first-hand knowledge in tackling organisational problems; the limitations of expert knowledge in complex conditions; the impact of hierarchy on the flow of knowledge; the importance of problem ownership in bring about action for improvement and the primacy of learning in the processes of problem-solving and innovation.

As supervisors who advocate the transformational potential of research both to generate theory and practical and emancipatory outcomes, we practice participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). This paper offers an illustrative case of how supervision practices based on action learning can foster emancipatory and lifelong learning within a university context that is becoming ever more focused on throughput of students, rather than on the quality of their learning. Conference attendance offers an excellent opportunity for postgraduate students to develop as researchers and lifelong learners, yet anxiety often prevents them from making the most of the learning experience. We explain how we encouraged the development of capabilities in students through a PALAR support programme that assisted postgraduate students prepare for a conference to make overall participation, presenting a paper and subsequent publication a true learning experience. We generated and analysed data from the written reflections of 11 postgraduate students who participated in the programme. The findings suggest that action learning, specifically PALAR, can be used to enable a rich learning experience for postgraduate students attending conferences through fostering relationships, building trust, a supportive environment, collaboration, communication and competence among them. Postgraduate students who experienced our PALAR support programme developed not only skills, knowledge, confidence and deeper appreciation of learning opportunities through conferences, but also understanding of the principles of PALAR that apply not just to the conference context but across all aspects of learning and research and life at large.

This is a reflective Account of Practice paper that delves into the author's role as an Action Learning coach, emphasizing the crucial role of intuition in facilitating breakthroughs and creating an environment conducive to problem-solving. It narrates a transformative 2019 coaching session where the author used unconventional techniques to empower a team member to create a comprehensive action plan for a complex issue. The paper underscores the significance of addressing 'invisible' group dynamics, such as shifts in group energy and emotional responses. It emphasizes personal reflection, shared learning and heightened sensitivity to group dynamics for effective coaching. The paper discusses daily practices: mindfulness, compassion and post-session reflection; these amplify intuitive responses, resilience and self-awareness. The paper highlights the Action Learning coach's capacity to positively impact others, inspire authentic responses and unveil hidden potential.

This paper poses the question 'What can we learn from the person-centred counselling literature which could be used by the action learning facilitator to help benefit the set?'. This question may be particularly important to facilitators seeking new ways to run their sets and to facilitators who would like to introduce a more humanistic and less mechanistic way of working with set members. Person-centred counselling is an approach to helping which aims to foster human growth and wellbeing. The person-centred approach was developed by Carl Rogers in the 1950s and has a number of similarities with Revan's original ideas. Although Revans was insistent that action learning was not counselling there are several facets of person-centred theory which align with Revans underlying ideas and philosophy. The paper concludes with suggestions of how to incorporate Rogerian ideas into facilitation, namely those of empathy, congruence and Unconditional Positive Regard.

This paper delves into the role of an Action Learning Coach in real-world scenarios. The coach addresses challenges such as team members leaving for phone calls, disruptions caused by important participants and the team returning from a break visibly shaken. As the coach, I employed an approach involving awareness, team queries, and collaborative decision-making. The paper emphasizes the vital function of language in coaching, advocating for a non-judgmental, future-positive approach to instill a learning mindset. The paper underscores the transformative potential of action learning, a process that encourages constant questioning and questioning everything. Action learning coaching leverages coaching at the group level, fostering self-awareness, goal setting and feedback. The article concludes by highlighting the impact of coaching on participants' goal orientation and self-efficacy, stressing the importance of a learning orientation for building powerful, growth-oriented teams.

Critical Action Learning (CAL) is a well-established approach to action learning. However, it has not necessarily been clear to action learning practitioners what makes CAL 'critical' and what are the implications in practice. In CAL, the facilitator has a key role in helping the set to engage with underlying emotions and power relations that are inevitably embedded in learning sets, and that both promote and prevent learning. The paper explains the main ideas of critical action learning, why facilitation is important, and how to facilitate CAL. Examples are provided from the authors' practice and eight key components are presented as a guide to facilitating CAL. The aim of the paper is to improve the action learning community's knowledge of how to facilitate critical action learning and when it is appropriate to utilize this approach.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been particularly challenged by the COVID pandemic, the climate crisis, war and political tensions including the fuel price crisis. Strategic responses to crisis including cost-cutting as retrenchment in the short run, debt financing to preserve the status quo and exit. However, perhaps the most positive is to innovate for renewal. The paper considers how working with an approach to futures and foresight learning, three different SMEs during the COVID pandemic and beyond formed action learning groups and were able to find future opportunities from which innovation ideas for action in the present could be undertaken. The paper considers the meaning of innovation including what Revans saw as an 'Innovation Paradox' as a gap between invention and innovation. In SMEs, the importance of informal innovation and an innovation orientation are identified. The meaning futures and foresight learning is considered and the focus on the identification of new opportunities for products and services, delivered by a process of action learning. Findings from three SMEs are presented from meetings that took place during 2021 to 2022, when COVID restrictions were partly in place. They show how each programme begins with opportunity questions for the future which then lead to ideas after a consideration of trends and patterns. Further methods of futures thinking are presented which allow further ideas to be developed for innovation. In each case, ideas are selected for business planning after approval. Discussion of the findings considers the importance of futures and foresight learning combined with action learning for SMEs to become more strategic, future-oriented and creative in seeking opportunities for innovation.

This paper seeks to advance the understanding of the complementarity between action learning and lean. Today, this is an underexplored research area, despite the high degree of similarities and syngeneic possibilities between these two research streams. The paper describes an action learning intervention at VELUX, a Danish rooftop manufacturer designed to develop its leaders as lean learning facilitators to cope with the increasing velocity of change stemming from growth, sustainability, and digitalisation agendas. The paper locates the complementary between action learning and lean in the extant literature and presents an account of practice from VELUX for extrapolating five promoting factors for developing leaders as lean learning facilitators. The paper concludes that lean complements action learning with a suite of concepts, systems, practices, and methods for institutionalising ongoing action learning and concepts on how to think and act as a leader to foster a lean learning system consisting of empowered and proficient problem-solvers. Furthermore, action learning complements lean with the underlying learning mechanisms of facilitating and sustaining the change towards instituting leaders as lean learning facilitators and adopting a lean learning system.

This paper focuses on a two-year program with a Norwegian public sector project-based construction company, where action learning groups and critical incident technique were combined to enhance organizational learning. Project-based organizations typically face difficulties of 'project amnesia', as they fail to integrate learning from experience into organizational memory. In drawing lessons from experience, employees often focus on solving short-term problems with individual projects rather than contributing to medium- and longer-term organizational learning. The program that is the focus of this paper engaged newly-appointed engineers in action learning groups and trained them to use critical incident technique to gather and analyze information about recent projects undertaken by the company. The groups reported back their findings to colleagues in the program and to managers and senior executives in the company. Originally designed as an alternative to the traditional induction training for new employees, the program generated useful practical learning across the whole organization about project success factors. This paper explains how action learning and critical incident technique combined in this program to enhance individual, team and organizational learning, and argues that the synergies between these three processes should be explored in other contexts.

This paper explores how three organisations collaborate to support organisations and individuals to act on the challenges of sustainability through action learning, each using its unique skills. It examines the roles of each organisation and how by moving from individual to a collaborative they could do things better and do better things. The paper describes the challenges of collaborating at an organisational and international level and gives examples of two projects where the skills and capabilities of each organisation came together to create a new future for a commercial organisation and community.

This paper provides a review of the use of action learning in healthcare organisations, or by healthcare professionals, in the past decade, as evidenced in peer-reviewed journals. Action learning has a long history in healthcare and is perhaps particularly suited to an environment where wicked problems abound, where professional development is prized, and where many of the professions subscribe to reflective practice as a vehicle of development. A systematic search for literature in peer-reviewed English language journals was undertaken, followed by a process of pursuing references from the publications revealed by that search. Papers that provided accounts or evaluations of programmes and projects that included action learning were analysed. Common themes concerning purposes, processes, benefits and challenges were identified. Action learning was used for three purposes in the projects and programmes: to improve an aspect of healthcare services; to develop skills of the participants; to enhance collective capability. Whilst in some cases the intention was to achieve all three beneficial outcomes, it was apparent that in the majority of examples one or another of these purposes was prioritised as the principal aim of the programme or project.

Action learning has been used in healthcare settings to bring about changes to how services are delivered, to help individuals to develop their knowledge and skills, including leadership development, and to enable the development of collective abilities and communities of practice. It is evident that there are some positive elements in the healthcare environment that support the processes of action learning -- what we might call affinities between the environment and these processes. However, those who have practised action learning in these environments also know that difficulties and disablers can arise, to derail or block the processes -- what we might, perhaps optimistically, call challenges. This paper is based on the authors' experiences as facilitators of action learning in healthcare, and also social care. Each of the authors independently identified the main affinities they had experienced and the main challenges they had encountered in their work with action learning in different organisations in health and social care. They were collected together and themes were identified. The authors then reflected on the themes and, in some cases, built on them. The purpose of the paper is to share the learning from their experiences, and to encourage others who are using action learning in these environments to consider how best to use the affinities and how best to monitor for and, where necessary, tackle the challenges.

This paper draws upon recent research into leadership and the use of power in the virtual space and also upon the author's nineteen years as a facilitator of Virtual Action Learning (VAL) and Virtual Leadership (VL) training. This paper briefly surveys various developments in the last twenty years which have nudged us as people and organisations into more virtual ways of working and learning. The author's belief is that VAL, and virtual collaboration generally, constitute a different paradigm of interaction with its own idiosyncrasies and is therefore different in many ways from what we have learned from face-to-face experience. This account of practice combines some key findings from the author's latest research with the learning from her practice over these years. Five main lessons emerge for facilitators of VAL and virtual leadership including the effects of using cameras and different channels of communication on power dynamics and the importance of voice and silence in the virtual space.

This paper aims to make known the materials on action learning that are held in the universities of Salford and Manchester, with the aim of bringing these unique resources to the attention of researchers and other interested parties. It is a joint effort between the Editorial Board members of the Journal, Action Learning: Research & Practice and staff at the two universities. Subsequently, we hope to publicise further resources available elsewhere. The paper begins with a brief history. Starting with Revans, his career and the early development of the action learning idea, it also records his long association with Manchester and some recent institutional history beginning with him donating his archives to the University of Salford. This is followed by introductions to the Revans Archive at Salford University and the action learning materials held at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS). Details of the two collections are in the latter part of the paper.

The educational benefits of challenge- or problem-based approaches to learning are now well established. Action Research (AR) and Action Learning (AL) together provide educators with an ethic, a research methodology and a pedagogical strategy for harnessing and developing the motive power of purposeful activity for reflective enquiry in teaching and learning. However it is argued here that AR and AL implementation demands a sophisticated epistemological awareness on the part of the teacher-researcher. This paper suggests that the cognitional theory of Bernard Lonergan comprises a powerful resource particularly suited to underpin, inform and orient the practice of AL applied to the teaching of mathematics through practical problem solving. In this paper, aspects of Lonergan's thought are outlined and brought to bear on the development of an AL approach for teaching mathematics and its applications through collaborative practical problem solving. Lonergan's thought, as well as offering a theoretical framework of great clarity, when brought to bear on the development and implementation of AL strategies, has the potential to guide researchers, teachers and students in the design and implementation of such strategies and worth incorporating in practice. Also most beneficial for students as they negotiate the complex and dynamic epistemological territory that characterises AL.

There is concern that management and business research favours rigour and theory over relevance and practice. There are pressures from funding councils for researchers to show more impact. The paper shows how the bridge between the academic world and the world of practice can be served by action learning. Consideration is given to the difficulties that sustain the disconnection of business and management research before recent ideas on theories of knowledge translation are presented. Using the example of an article published for an academic journal relating to futures and foresight in organisations, the paper shows how action learning provides a vehicle to complete the process of application. Two examples of the introduction of Futures and Foresight Learning are presented, including how impact was made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper examines the learning gained from facilitating four action-learning sets whose members were drawn from management teams of local authority, health, education and police, working in partnership. Facilitation posed a series of difficult choices which impacted on personal and organizational dynamics within and between the partnership teams. The different journeys taken by the four learning sets are chartered and analysed. The paper concludes with reflections on these facilitation choices and suggests that real learning can arise when teams are prepared to risk exploring the tensions and conflicts that are an integral aspect of partnership working.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the perspective of "critical realism" has considerable potential for moving forward the theory and practice of action learning. The paper addresses three questions: (1) Does action learning emphasise the individual or the collective? (2) Can action learning be thought of as critical, but should it also be the subject of criticism? (3) What gets carried forward from action learning by way of learning? Critical realism is argued to be illuminative of these issues; this involves dealing with ontological questions--what is there out there to learn about--as well as epistemological ones - how can this be learned about. It also involves seeing the world as an open system with emergent properties rather than the predictable machine of the positivist approach and the "nothing but a sea of meaning" of the extreme social constructionist approach. The conclusions are that: (1) Yes, it can, and should, focus on both. Individual and organisational foci (one form of the individual-collective question) for action learning are compatible and reconcilable, though often with difficulty. (2) Yes to critical approach of and from action learning, which is its true intent. Suggestions are made on how to do this in an ultimately constructive way. (3) There are several answers to this, the ability to learn, "mechanisms" that can but may not necessarily work in future situations, depending on circumstance and "state of play" information. (Contains 4 figures.)

The paper considers the learning of former abductees in Nigeria who enrolled on the New Foundation School University Preparatory (NFSUP) programme at the American University of Nigeria (AUN). The research question is: Can action learning enable a holistic evaluation of the student learning experiences of former terrorist abductees on a university preparatory programme at the AUN? The methodology employed is based on the praxeology of action learning, combined with grounded theory. Literature relating to abduction, stigmatisation and exclusion are considered along with coverage of the Boko Haram abduction of Chibok school girls in Nigeria. Findings show action learning enables student engagement, promotes confidence, encourages social and emotional learning and provides a forum for feedback from NFSUP students. This paper could also be relevant for preparatory and transformational courses in a wider community that includes refugees, internally displaced persons, child soldiers, teenage victims of trafficking and sexual grooming. Action learning probably enables a more holistic evaluation of student learning than Course Experience Questionnaires. A hybrid of both approaches should be considered by educational institutions as an assessment tool.

In this paper, I discuss participatory action research (PAR) as a way to support social and political engagement and develop civil society. After a short overview of my personal journey to participatory action research, I describe a general structure that I have developed for organizing PAR projects and a short introduction to the state of civil society in Hungary. I then summarize three PAR projects in Budapest between 2011 and 2018. All three revolved around the issue of affordable and adequate housing and were designed as part of the movement for the right to housing in Hungary. The paper concludes with some of the most important implications I drew from this work regarding the development of civil society and critical consciousness.

This paper gives an account of how Action Learning Sets (ALS) are used in two of The Rank Foundation investment streams to support the social action impact of charities and social enterprises. With the aid of two Case Studies, the paper illustrates how the ALS can help to connect, sustain and support the social action responses of the local organisations involved. The first case study considers the impact of diversity and the importance of composing sets reflecting the diversity of sector, community, age, gender, and sexual orientation. The second case explores how the ALS process helps participants reflect on the actions that are most congruent with their values and then supports them in their social actions. The paper concludes that the ALS structure offers a safe and critical thinking space for participants who are working with high degrees of complexity in the absence of simple answers. The opportunity for a deep connection between people and their issues, can helpfully connect individual challenges and local social actions with wider societal struggles.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by action learning in a collaborative action research project to alleviate poverty in a city region in the UK. Researchers from two universities worked with 12 large anchor organisations to investigate procurement and employment practices that positively impacted inclusive growth within the city region, and therefore had a positive effect on poverty, and spread those practices more widely. A core group of representatives from the 12 participating organisations met in action learning sets to share the results of their investigations, to design a model of good practice, and to develop and support action plans. The paper summarises the results of the project, examines the different methodologies that were employed, and reviews the contribution made by action learning.

Different styles of Action Learning that have evolved from the original form by Reg Revans, the originator of Action Learning. In this paper, we offer a further development of Action Learning which we name DIAL (Drop-In Action Learning). DIAL is a facilitated or self-managed form of action learning that has the specific quality of being a 'drop-in' process. Participants do not need to sign up to attend, nor do they need to attend regularly. This drop-in quality has lent itself to the choice of venue being in informal meeting spaces such as cafes. This paper outlines the history of DIAL, the project to experiment with and research it (The DIAL project is based in Brighton and Newhaven in the UK), and the specific challenges and advantages of the drop-in element. That is one part of the paper and the project. The second part refers to the location of the action learning meetings. We are researching how we believe flow and creativity in the DIAL meetings is enhanced (as is the drop-in element) by them being located in non-formal meeting spaces, such as cafes and pubs. By being community-based they are also a form of social action.

This paper explores the thinking and practice of 'action inquiry' an embedded learning practice that can help navigate complexity when practising change together. The paper uses examples from social contexts where there are concerns about community wellbeing and health care. These are drawn from collaborative or collective leadership development programmes within public services that seek to bring new attention to the qualities of how people think, converse and interact, as part of their collective professional practice. This treats social action as a relational and dialogical practice, something that we do together as professionals by engaging in reflective inquiry and action. The paper suggests that action inquiry offers a prospect of rekindling the links between 'action learning' and collaborative leadership by developing a co-mission and a mutual commitment to a new type of learning partnership. Action inquiry can be wrapped around and enmeshed within initiatives and programmes that work with complexity, anywhere where effective social action will depend on the quality of relationships that can be developed. This research was funded by two separate Scottish Government commissions, where the author was a learning partner. The paper also draws on the further reflections of some of the practitioners most centrally involved.

This paper explores the learning and experience of Western action learning facilitators engaged in developing Chinese facilitators of action learning, all of whom were also managers, as part of a qualification programme based in China. The Western facilitators interviewed for this study had been specifically asked by their hosts to deliver a 'Revans' based approach' to action learning which was to include an emphasis on organisational as well as individual development. This paper suggests that the facilitators interviewed here saw themselves as being and acting very much according to Revans' classical principles. The paper highlights some of the complexities inherent in facilitating action learning in China, and the complex and in some cases contradictory nature of facilitators' learning about their own practice.

This paper uses action learning as a basis for producing research data that help explore the relationship between learning and listening in public organizations. The regional government of Gipuzkoa in northern Spain is engaged in a sustained effort to change the way it interacts with and interprets the future needs of society. Based on grounded theory and on a review of key concepts about critical action learning, a reflexive analysis of the implementation of the methodology of action learning with policy makers was conducted. The paper explores the learning journey participants undertake when implementing a governmental programme of citizen engagement, and shows that a space for criticality resulted in participants learning to listen to each other, and consequently to society, in ways which had previously been beyond reach. The paper concludes by discussing the learning implications for listening to society.

This paper examines a Revans led action learning / action research project in services for people with learning disabilities which took place between 1969 and 1972 across seven local authorities in the UK. It explores aspects of social and political history as the project unfolded, including the notable scandals in hospital and social care which occurred around the time of Revans' work, starting with the Ely hospital scandal in 1967. The paper identifies some of the lessons from the project and from some of the social history of the period which may prove useful to practitioners engaged in social action work currently. Recommendations from hospital inquiries are often repeated, and many from the 1960s and 1970s included themes which obsessed Revans at the time, such as the need for better communications, inter-disciplinary working and stronger leadership and coordination of services. Key lessons and themes which emerge from his own intervention and from social history include the need to equip staff with the tools of analysis to carry out their own service investigations and evaluations, more honest sharing of 'chronicles of failure', and encouraging a climate of openness in which the need to speak out and challenge what is already known and believed is more fully supported.

This paper looks at some research conducted with young carers and a multidisciplinary team of professionals as co-researchers. In this paper I suggest that action learning is a natural activity which occurs when programmed knowledge is combined with questions from colleagues/learners with different perspectives to create a shift in perception in the learner. I look at the "ingredients" which allowed this natural "action learning" to occur and identify a personal involvement which created the motivation and courage to follow the process together with the "comrades in adversity", who provided the confidence to learn and a locus of responsibility for action. In effect, learning is a gift, an innate propensity of humans, as primordial as life itself, which occurs whenever obstacles to learning are removed. I would suggest that action learning creates the motivation to learn in order to act and the empowerment, support and challenge to remove any barriers to learning.

This account of practice provides a practical example of the use of mindfulness practice within action learning which was a component of a bespoke UK Business School post-graduate leadership development programme commissioned by an English NHS Mental Health Trust aimed at improving the leadership capacity of mid-level managers through work-based learning. The article discusses background and context of the programme followed by how application of mindfulness exercises was integrated within the action learning process to encourage participants to be 'in the moment' as an added component of their leadership development. The aim of the paper is to share examples of practice applied within action learning. Finally, the paper asserts that the application of mindfulness exercises helped to enhance the action learning process by creating a calm, focused space for individual and collective reflections, enhancing the quality of engagement and enabling action learning members to take a more pragmatic approach to addressing the work issues raised within the action learning sets.

The aim of this article is to make a contribution to understanding the ethos of action learning, by exploring how it was influenced by the early family experience of Reg Revans as the originator of action learning. In order to do so, it examines what is meant by the term 'ethos of action learning' in terms of its values and beliefs. The paper identifies in Revans' early family life 7 underpinning values that found their way into action learning as it later emerged as a viable practice and 7 guiding beliefs. In the light of these findings, it discusses a range of issues including the definition of action learning and, therefore, what counts as action learning, the practical uses of self-knowledge and the differences between cleverness and wisdom. The paper concludes by asking some fresh questions about action learning and its development.

This paper outlines the outcomes from three rounds of action learning sets with a charity that supports vulnerable adults and those with learning disabilities in supported living and residential care. The action learning sets focused on safeguarding cases and how they had been managed by 11 leaders at various levels of the charity (the team). The findings demonstrate that using a reflective process and the 'fishbowl' model of action learning sets in this context is effective in evaluating the actions taken by the team in the safeguarding case, but also the awareness of the perspectives -- or lenses -- the team had used when reflecting on the roles of the various stakeholders included. We outline the development and application of the Multiple Lens View Model (Table 1) which was designed during the research and which helps to analyse the perspectives the participants were taking when focusing on the issues in each case. We conclude with an exploration of how this charity can more critically engage in debate around assumptions made in safeguarding incidents. We discuss how The Multiple Lens View Model can be developed further as a conceptual framework for this charity and for critical action learning in other institutions.

Critical Action Learning (CAL) is undertaken with an awareness of the persistent tension in organisations between the desire to learn and defences against learning. Attempts to learn in organisations are inevitably bound up with the specific emotional and political context that organisations create, as well as the impact that this has on the outcomes of learning. A key question that arises for CAL practitioners therefore is: what methods or approaches can be used to engage directly with underlying emotions and established power relations? In this paper, one answer to this question is provided. The 'SAGA' (Situation, Assumptions, Gut feelings /Emotion, Actions) method is explained and discussed. This model has been designed to engage with emotions and power relations as an integral aspect of action learning. Four examples of SAGA in practice are presented. It is argued that the method offers action learning practitioners an effective approach to CAL, as well as supporting the ongoing process of rethinking and developing it.

This paper presents a framework which captures the complexity and multi-dimensional process of learning in action learning (AL) on an accredited executive Master's programme. The framework extends current knowledge by presenting a holistic participant perspective of learning. Underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology, the study supporting the framework's development adopted a qualitative narrative approach. Data were generated using in-person individual and group interviews with a total of 13 executive-level graduates from four cohorts of the programme. Data were analysed iteratively, culminating in the development of a conceptual framework for learning. The framework provides insight into the depth and richness of learning and change that can occur for participants on programmes adopting an AL approach in Higher Education. It highlights the importance for participants of having a trusted supported space for their learning. Furthermore, it illuminates the role of emotion and the paradox of vulnerability in the learning process. The conceptual framework, which encompasses emotional, social and relational dimensions, extends knowledge of AL by providing a unique and holistic view of participant learning on an AL programme. Additionally, through an enhanced understanding of the learning process as undergone by participants, the research informs academics in facilitating action learning programmes.

Amid the backdrop of the global pandemic and other complex societal and organizational challenges, the demand for proficient people management skills among managers and leaders has become increasingly urgent. The ensuing narrative offers an account of a leadership development initiative tailored for line managers and delivered amid the pandemic. This account focuses on a specific facet of the training -- a series of online action learning sessions conducted between April 2021 and May 2022. The article commences by laying a contextual foundation for the project and profiling its participants. Subsequently, the paper delineates the precise action learning methodology adopted within the project, detailing its structuring and implementation. This is followed by the presentation of case studies featuring participants who engaged with the action learning process, delving into their training experiences and elucidating key outcomes pertaining to their learning, development and alterations in professional practice. Ultimately, the article culminates by reflecting on crucial findings and insights gleaned from the execution and assessment of the action learning initiative, thereby underscoring valuable recommendations for the future implementation of action learning in leadership development.

During an assignment as a change leader of a complex IT change program within a Dutch public government organization, I used action learning to develop and support the desired changes and to tackle the complex problems that usually accompany such a change program. During this action learning project, I took the role of facilitator and I devised and presented the initial conceptual tools and their application to two action learning sets. Subsequently, after proposing the idea of ??applying action learning to problem solving, the program team members including the senior managers, were prepared to apply action learning as an integral part of the IT program. We formed two action learning sets, with around 10 persons in each set. One set consisted of diverse and multidisciplinary subject matter experts, and external IT suppliers who participated as program team members. Another set was made up of managers of delivering departments, who would take the lead in adopting the solutions developed by the software development and implementation program. To shape the action learning approaches and processes within the sets during the lifetime of the change program, I developed, and we used, seven instruments (MALS) based on progressive insights, and applied them within the sets for process, quality, and improvement based on progressive insight. This paper describes the seven instruments and explains how they were used within the project.

This Account of Practice concerns a short training programme for action learning facilitators, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The programme is run on action learning principles and it involves participants working as an action learning set, taking turns to act as facilitators, set members, and issue holders, and reflecting on the processes they experience and the learning they are gaining. They are supported by two experienced action learning facilitators. The paper explains how these learning processes are structured and enabled, and also shares examples of the models that are used to help participants understand how best to learn through engaging in new experiences and to support the development of the fundamental facilitation skills of listening and asking questions.

Action learning is one of the most effective leadership development interventions [Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm, and McKee. 2014. "Advances in Leader and Leadership Development: A Review of 25 Years of Research and Theory." The Leadership Quarterly 25 (1): 63-82; Pauleen. 2003. "Leadership in a Global Virtual Team: An Action Learning Approach." Leadership & Organization Development Journal 2003; Stewart. 2010. "Action Learning and Virtual Action Learning for Leadership Development." Developing Leaders (1)], yet Virtual Action learning (VAL) has always struggled to be seen as a viable alternative, with both facilitators and participants often preferring face-to-face set meetings, and dismissing the technological options [Dickenson, Burgoyne, and Pedler. 2010. "Virtual Action Learning: Practices and Challenges." Action Learning Journal: Research & Practice 7 (1): 59-72; Stewart. 2009. "Evaluation of an Action Learning Programme for Leadership Development of SME Leaders in the UK." Action Learning: Research and Practice 6 (2): 131-148]. However, the onset of the COVID pandemic saw the rapid implementation of this remote technology-enabled approach, where VAL became the only option for action learning due to the restrictions on face-to-face working and travel limitations. This paper shares insights on the differences facilitating action learning and virtual action learning from a research project, based around a two-year Masters in Leadership programme in a UK business school, now delivered to over 300 experienced senior leaders, predominantly working in the UK NHS and a major UK retailer.

This paper explores the professional practice of the Action Learning (AL) facilitator through a process of critical inquiry, self-reflection and evaluation of action learning practice within a Higher Education Leadership Programme, commissioned by an English NHS Mental Health Trust. Action research was adopted as the overarching research approach which was built into the one-year post graduate programme. This enabled planning, fact-finding, and taking actions in analysing the role of the AL facilitator as an iterative process to explore the practice of action learning facilitation. It involved examination of the complexities and dynamics within an AL process and how learning and action is facilitated, as well as different relational dimensions that the facilitator must be aware of to effectively manage and support AL set members. Thematic analysis, which involved a 5-step process, was used to collate and investigate the research data. Results from this research reinforce the significance of the role of the AL facilitator in the learning process and offer a framework for pedagogy of AL facilitation presented as the art, craft and apparatus of AL facilitation practice. This framework contributes to the current AL literature by offering a holistic point of reference for the learning and practice of AL facilitation.

This paper explores the critical difference a certified Action Learning Coach makes to the outcomes of the Action Learning process, which underscores WIAL's insistence that the coach is indispensable to achieving breakthrough solutions with Action Learning. Real-life coaching examples are used to illustrate three key benefits of having a coach: the positive impact of the coach's trust on the group's growth and ability to achieve spectacular results; keeping the group productively bonded while protecting the diversity necessary for attaining winning solutions and ensuring that there is learning at individual, group, and organizational levels.

The concept of action learning looks at how people learn, which is using gained knowledge to create needful and beneficial change. As a result, real problems and concerns are the contexts for which programmed knowledge and questioning insights are set to allow for unlearning and learning. Using Reg Revans theory which assumes action learning as programmed knowledge and questioning insight (P + Q) and Jack Mezirow's theory on transformative learning which engages critical thinking to create new perspectives, this paper reviews a radio show that discusses conceptual views and lived experiences of women entrepreneurs. It brings together practitioners and scholarly concepts in an engaging manner to encourage critical thinking and enable new perspectives for research, teaching and practice. Using an innovative technique to evaluate learning, we examine the social and relational dynamics of a radio programme, which examines the complexities of doing entrepreneurship of two female entrepreneurs who operate in Africa (Nigeria and South Africa) and three who operate in the UK. The paper uses a reflective writing approach and narrative analysis to interpret the findings that evidence action learning in the process.

Action learning is extending its reach internationally and is increasingly used in distinct cultural settings. This paper explores action learning in an African context and examines how action learning as a cultural product is biased towards Western values and practices. We draw attention to the political, cultural and social encounters of internationalizing action learning which are often glossed over in current debates. The paper illuminates the historical development of pedagogical practices in Africa to elucidate how the social, political, cultural and economic processes have influenced and informed learning in African societies. Second, we review action learning and question its relevance and transferability in non-Western contexts. Finally, we will reflect on the potential of action learning in Africa, and its implications for future research and practice.

The authors review the Organisational Development and Design (OD&D) capability building programmes they have facilitated in the UK Civil Service and consider the learning and impact which they have had at an individual and organisational level. These programmes have been delivered to over 350 professional civil servants across a broad range of business functions, ministries, departments and agencies. This paper builds on the article published in this journal entitled 'Nurturing the H in HR' (Hale, R. and Saville, M. 2014. "Nurturing the H in HR: Using Action Learning to Build Organisation Development Capability in the UK Civil Service." "Action Learning: Research and Practice" 11 (3): 333-351) which explained the early stages of programme roll out. Data to inform these findings has been drawn from a desk based review of the postgraduate level accredited papers written by participants as an integral requirement of the programme and an impact review exercise which used a storytelling approach in order to understand and interpret real accounts of practice. It can be seen how combining the Action Learning Question methodology with a humanistic approach to organisation development has made a significant cultural contribution beyond individual learning and this is impacting the wider system of a complex and dynamic government organisation that has faced, and most likely will continue to face, unprecedented and unpredictable political, social and economic change.

This paper explores the practice of action learning (AL) facilitation in supporting AL set members to address their 'messy' problems through a self-reflexive approach using the concept of 'living theory' [Whitehead, J., and J. McNiff. 2006. "Action Research Living Theory." London: Sage]. The facilitation practice is investigated through personal observations and explanations of learning and action through shift in identity, thinking and approach of AL members in resolving complex problems raised during the AL sessions. The paper demonstrates how AL can be applied as a methodology for supporting leaders to address complex organisational problems through inquiry, critical reflection and advocacy to gain new insights as well as new practice. The findings highlight that key theoretical principles in AL such as critical reflection and problem-solving can be applied to support managers and leaders to analyse and solve complex organisational problems. The paper also contributes to the current literature on AL through the application of the living theory approach as a discipline for critical inquiry, self-reflection and evaluation.

In Action Learning programmes, it is held central to work on real business challenges (task) while learning about team and self (process); staying mindful aware of the process is referred to in this paper as "double awareness", and emphasises noticing and acting on process cues while working on the task. As business challenges within Action Learning programmes are real, pertinent, and worked with in the context of the organisation, implementation of potential solutions to the challenges is proved to be efficient. However, less is known of how individual participants manage to stay with double awareness upon re-entry into the organisational routines left behind. The aim of this paper is to explore when, why, and how participants manage to maintain double awareness and act on what they notice when back in organisational reality--and what characterise the moments where they struggle to do so. A study will be shared, where participants have been followed for a period of time after an Action Learning-programme. The study takes a psychodynamic stance and contributes to the knowledge of the individual re-entry by exploring individual, group and organisational dynamics promoting and hindering double awareness. The concepts "mindful avoidance" and "mindful alertness" are introduced as essential conceptual findings. Finally the paper will explore how the overall findings can be applied back into Action Learning-methodology as enablers for improvement.