Action Learning Laboratories for Leadership Development

Action learning laboratories for Leadership development are a great crucible for evolving a group to engage and grapple with the transformation an organization is attempting to accomplish.

Engaging the leaders through these processes, I have gained and learned immensely. The lockdown gave me an opportunity to reflect on the process and explore newer ways of designing action learning processes.

The process kicks in after the workshop which covers a large ground on key principles and behaviors leaders need to focus on. Key expectations of the participating leaders is clearly articulated. This includes expectations from the senior management of the organization and the large number of team members below. 

About six to seven connects designed to enable the participants to learn, unlearn, design and implement new behaviors, initiatives, practices, and expand one’s agency in the system. To enhance the impact and influence they could produce in the system so that their divisions could move from a transactional approach to organization development to more transformational outcomes both in the doing and the being.

In my experience of engaging with leaders in the action learning groups, a clear distribution curve emerges. About 15 to 20% of the participating leaders stand head and shoulders above the rest in understanding the purpose of the intervention and their roles. About 5% to 10% resisting the process and expressing all the obstacles they faced in implementing new behaviors and the rest in between, do what is necessary. 

 Transactional to transformational: 

Design the journey and don’t feel shy in challenging the group when it is ready and ripe.  Definitely gain buy in of the sponsors to avoid mid-flight turbulence. 

While designing action learning processes, it might not help to articulate the grandiose idea of the larger transformation you are trying to accomplish. This might overwhelm the participants and at times, in systems where cynicism is already high, it could further get exacerbated. It helps to expand the spiral of change by expanding the issues the group brings to discuss and engage with. It would help if the participants are expected to produce transactional outcomes and when they reach a stage where their transactional outcomes become possible then nudge them to start exploring the transformational outcomes they could produce by zooming out and taking in the bigger picture. Will there be resistance, absolutely, resistance is very intrinsically embedded in our muscles and bones. Especially when we push the participating leaders out of their comfort zones. 

From listening to questioning: 

In Asian contexts, there might be a tendency to listen rather than ask questions. Especially there is a tendency for the learning group to go along with what one participant is sharing, there are hardly any questions. Seems like the group is willing to coast along in our response to dealing with change. We want to save the face of our colleagues. Do not want to challenge an idea or its consequences. Need to coach the participants to feel comfortable to challenge each other and in the process learn and also drive change as a community of leaders who understand the larger purpose of the journey. 

Celebrate the mavericks: 

In every group, there are a few who get the message the arc we are designing and end up moving faster than the pack. Highlight their behaviors. Tag team with them and nudge them to challenge their peers. Challenge from peers are better appreciated than for the coach facilitator to step in and rock the boat. Showcase the mavericks and the progress they are making. Give them more time to brag about their accomplishments. Helps create a positive velocity for change and transformation. Celebrate change and visible tangible business outcomes they are generating even if they are early shoots of cost reduction, popping business ideas, fewer client escalations, enhanced quality of product or service. 

Sprinkle spice of additional learning: 

Use the small windows of action learning sessions to sprinkle some magic spice of contextual learning. Keeping in line with small change accomplishments, share how cost could be further crunched. Frameworks for generating more business valuable idea generation. Enhanced frameworks for client engagement. This is like giving a further lift to the group learning process and also enables the early movers to further consolidate their early wins. Enables the whole group to start seeing the value of moving in a direction they feel will bring in more value to their learning and transformation process. 

Enable the laboratory to evolve: 

The entire action learning process cannot be crafted well in advance. It needs to develop and mature as the group chugs along. It has a lot to do with the culture of the organization we are working with, the quality of leadership. The inertia to change in the system. 

It is like a living laboratory where the coach facilitator is a scientist, catalyst, a pathologist etc. who is extremely sensitive to the group’s evolution and ensure there is cohesion in thought and movement forward. 

If anything, the coach facilitator needs to hold the big picture in his/her mind to be able to not just define an arc but to keep the group true to its purpose and calling.