Action learning: what is it?
Put managers from different disciplines in a team. Provide them with an actual business problem that keeps the company’s senior management awake at night. Give them three months and some support from external facilitators and/or academics to develop a solution.
The benefits?
I’m a big fan of this approach as it offers many benefits. The ‘student managers’:
- discover other areas of expertise
- develop new skills
- learn to work effectively with colleagues
- find the necessary information within the organisation
- take decisions
- gain senior management exposure
