Building Managers and Creating Results

Business training has changed radically. Traditional training that takes place in an off-site classroom has been shown to be too expensive and no more effective than more economic means. Further, most traditional training focuses solely on the subject matter and lacks effectiveness because it ignores how people learn. In the last ten years, more companies have started using online learning, distance learning, and other methods to reduce the cost of training and try to improve its effectiveness. The problem is that these changes do not eliminate the most important fundamental problem with traditional training: it's divorced from real work. Training that happens away from the job must be brought back to the workplace and employees must then determine how to make good use of what they have learned.

That disconnect between learning and doing is the primary reason why people retain so little from training and why so much training seems to have little impact on business results. Most training suffers from this disconnect.

Enter Action Learning, which forms a direct bond between learning and doing. The possibilities with Action Learning are exciting because it:

• Improves upon traditional training in virtually every important way.
• Applies equally well to small and large organizations.
• Pays for itself.
• Promotes a culture of learning and self-development.
• Develops employees while producing real business results.

What Happens In Action Learning Projects

These are the usual steps:

1. Senior management identifies a need to develop some employees for greater responsibility within the company.
   
2. Selected employees are formed into groups.
   
3. Each group is assigned one or more real problems or business opportunities as its focus.
   
4. A facilitator guides each group through a systematic problem-solving method to investigate, analyze, and propose solutions for its assigned problem or opportunity.
   
5. While working on this problem or opportunity, group members periodically take action, reflect on the results of their actions, plan new actions, and then repeat the cycle.
   
6. Through repeating this process, group members accelerate their learning.
   
7. When the group has completed its objective, it reports back to senior management with its results.
   
8. After the group has finished its project, the members continue to use their improved problem-solving, communications, critical thinking, and teamwork skills on the job. Because their Action Learning experience has made them much more efficient learners, most will accelerate their career growth. Further, participants in Action Learning groups usually spread what they have learned to those who work with them.

What an Action Learning Project Might Look Like

Note: this description is a compilation of several actual Action Learning projects. Action Al's Auto Parts is a small chain of 16 parts stores that operates in the American Midwest. Founded thirty years ago by "Action Al" Doyle, Action Al's stores have always had a reputation for good service, a wide selection, and knowledgeable counter people. Four years ago, at a time when they faced increasing competition from larger chains, Al was frustrated at the length of time it took for his new store managers to acquire mature business judgment. After some research into training programs, Al brought in a consultant who suggested using an Action Learning approach to employee development.

In the first year, Al set aside a budget of $20,000 and identified six new managers with real promise. Al assigned to the group a variety of company problems and opportunities related to increased competition. He told them he expected positive results but gave them the authority and resources they needed. The group worked on their assigned problems and then gave their final report after one year. All their key business objectives had been met or exceeded. Audited financial reports showed that the projects the group worked on produced a total of $70,000 in new revenue and savings within the first year and were projected to produce $425,000 within the next two years.

During this project, the members of the Action Learning group all developed core leadership competencies that were seen in action by their supervisors. In some cases, members distinguished themselves enough to be promoted. The members of the Action Learning team also gained the following from their experience:

• The ability to plan well and monitor effectively
• The ability to think critically
• Expanded knowledge of the auto parts business
• Expanded knowledge of areas of the company where they did not work
• Increased ability to trouble shoot problems
• Improved communications skills
• Became better team players
• Increased awareness of special concerns and issues within the company and the industry
• Became models of leadership within the company

The next year, Al put together a second group of promising employees and gave them a new series of business problems and opportunities. This second group out-performed the first one by creating new revenue and savings of over $100,000 in the first year. Two years later, the efforts of the two groups led to a total of $1.2 million in savings and new revenues. While Action Al's has not expanded, the company's market share has improved each year despite the fact that two national chains have opened nearly a dozen stores in Action Al's trade area. The future of Action Al's looks better than ever now, with a very strong management bench, a new culture of continuous learning, and almost non-existent turnover among the junior management team.

If your organization is thirsty for more effective ways to develop new leaders and improve the strengths of existing ones, Action Learning could be for you. If your organization has one or more problems that are draining away revenue or business opportunities that could produce significant savings or new revenues, an Action Learning group may be the best way to get the job done.

The Eli Lily company has a regular program of involving potential leaders and selected line managers in Action Learning groups every year. The program is repeated twice each year for a reason: it works.

So far this article and every other mention I've made of it has focused on using Action Learning groups within a single company. Action Learning groups made up of managers and executives from different companies have also been very successful. This is a well-established practice in Great Britain , where Action Learning got its start. It's just a matter of limiting each group to individuals who are in non-competing businesses. Because most businesses are alike at their core, working with an Action Learning group can help anyone become a stronger manager while producing real business results.

Whether you work in a large organization or you operate a very small business, Action Learning can work for you.

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