'When the rate of change is faster than that of learning, the organism fails. When the rate of learning is as fast as (or faster than) that of change, the organism is likely to adapt, to survive and even to grow.'
The Keil Centre has been involved in establishing and facilitating action learning for several years. Used as an integral part of a development programme, working with others in action learning sets allows individuals to make and sustain significant change. The opportunity for focused reflection, combined with the support and challenge provided by group members can create a powerful learning environment.
The Keil Centre's approach is to work with action learning set participants to establish clear development objectives through a 'contracting' process. This may form part of a personal development planning workshop which would typically include diagnostic tools, such as questionnaires, psychometric tests or 360 degree feedback. It is important to create an atmosphere of trust and openness, if participants are to explore and tackle difficult issues. Action learning set members meet on a regular basis for a given period of time, usually over 8-12 months. This timescale allows for real progress to be made and the obstacles and difficulties met in implementing plans to be worked through. Participants frequently comment on the value of taking time away from the immediacy of daily work pressures to learn from their experiences in a way which is real and directly relevant to what they are trying to achieve. For the organisation, establishing action learning can create a learning culture. For examples of how action learning can be used to develop people's potential, see Issues 3 and 6 of our newsletter.