The Action Learning Handbook: Powerful Techniques for Education, Professional Development and Training

Citation

Brockbank, A. (2007), "The Action Learning Handbook: Powerful Techniques for Education, Professional Development and Training", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 21 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2007.08121bae.002

The Action Learning Handbook: Powerful Techniques for Education, Professional Development and Training

The Action Learning Handbook: Powerful Techniques for Education, Professional Development and Training

Anne Brockbank, Ian McGillRoutledge Falmer

The goal of this book is to provide a comprehensive guide to action learning. The authors have aimed it at the key action learning stakeholders: prospective participants, facilitators, action learning sets and “clients” of action learning. They have tried to produce a resource that will benefit both newcomers to action learning and experienced practitioners.

The book follows a straightforward pattern of “getting in”, “getting on” and “getting out”. Getting into action learning includes a map of the territory of action learning, an account of how to get started and the nature of the first two set meetings. Getting on with action learning looks at where it fits with broader theories of learning and how they inform the processes and roles of action learning. Getting out of action learning addresses important issues like reviewing and reflecting on the action learning experience, evaluating it and bringing about closure to an action learning programme.

The three aspects of the book I like most are its account of the introductory workshops as preparation for action learning, concern with how to get the most out of action learning and its emphasis throughout on process.

As seasoned professionals in the field, the authors appreciate the importance of readiness for action learning. The account of introductory workshops as preparation for action learning would be invaluable to new practitioners in the field. Also, as seasoned practitioners, they pay due attention to the practicalities involved. Their approach can be summed as “action learning works but you have to work it” and learning to work action learning involves paying attention to how to get the best out of it. This involves focus on the roles of action learning and processes of doing it well. According to the authors action learning is not just a process to help people learn from the problems or issues they bring to the set; they can also learn much from the process of action learning itself. And this book shows how.

The implication of the book is that getting the most out of action learning is a skillful activity. So what are the skills? The core skills seem to be active listening, questioning and giving/receiving feedback. Perhaps some development of these skills at the outset of an action-learning programme would enable participants to get the most out of it.

Whereas the strengths of the book are clear, I had to look harder to find weaknesses. For me, the main weaknesses are in the theoretical rationale provided and the way this theory is presented as integral to the process of action learning. A reader does not have to subscribe to the theoretical positions adopted in that part of the book entitled “Understanding action learning” to find the rest of the book useful and enlightening. The other main weakness was in the “evaluation” chapter. There is little in this chapter for the HR director with a limited budget faced with the challenge of evaluating action learning against other forms of learning and development.

This book addresses both theory and practice. What it has to say about the theory is interesting but its real strength lies in its analysis of practice. It is packed with helpful examples and vignettes of practice – the sort that only experienced practitioners can provide. There may be better books on the theory of action learning but for those who want actually do action learning the analysis of practice in this book is as good as I’ve seen.

This review, by Tom Bourner, was published in Education + Training, Volume: 48 Number 5, 2006