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Contact Manager
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+64 21 620 456
16 Kauri Street, Woburn, Hutt City, New Zealand
email:
Manager@virtual.co.nz
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Action learning is different from normal problem-solving
1 Emphasis on questions
As a society we have a bias towards answers. Answers settle matters and tell us its safe to move forward. Questions are troublesome, they open things up and leave things unsettled. You never quite know what will happen when you ask a question. But questions are also powerful tools for mashing facts, exposing vulnerabilities, stretching imaginations and moving forward.
By far the most obvious difference in action learning, is its insistence on questioning and gaining consensus about what the problem is. This forces the group to spend time on understanding the problem and its context and conditions. Most individuals and groups rush to search for the answers. This is natural because most people are uncomfortable with spending too much time in ambiguity. The original problem is rarely the one that is most crucial. Groups that accept the initial problem often end up solving the surface problem. Understanding the problem is the group's first and primary task. As some wag said: It's better to first put your finger on the problem before sticking your nose in it.
Normally we search for one right solution, action learning recognises there may be multiple right solutions.
Normally we try to eliminate possibilities, ask specific questions, be deterministic and sequential, in action learning we collect insights, be holistic, integrate the possibilities, ask open questions and rely more on intuition and synchronousity.
2 Systems thinking
Action learning is different because systems thinking is at the heart of it's power. Action learning acknowledges what scientists proved nearly a hundred years ago, namely, that Newtonian physics does not explain reality. Action learning recognises the old ways of thinking and solving problems do not work in today's rapidly changing environment. Action learning utilises quantum physics, chaos and systems thinking.
Today's leaders must be able to handle complex adaptive systems and be able to work close to chaos. Action learning (by asking layers of questions and reflecting on the responses) forces group members to think beyond symptoms to root causes, and explore a wide array of perspectives.
3 Appreciative enquiry
Action learning is different because it searches to uncover and build on the most positive elements of a situation first. Groups explore first what is going well, what works, what can be done better, what the group wants to achieve ... not what went wrong. Appreciative inquiry research clearly shows that improvements are made more easily and successfully when you focus on things that are working well rather than the things that are working badly.
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