Action Learning Conference

I went to the one day conference on Action Learning hosted by Lancaster University Business School yesterday.

The morning was a useful overview and reminder of the basics, the back ground and the application - including some fascinating videos of Reg Revan discussing the thinking behind Action Learning.

In the afternoon, we had a brief experiential session as Action Learning Sets, and a couple of Workshop sessions.  These were all stimulating and enjoyable, and brought back to my conscious awareness how much of my work incorporates these principles, both using Action Learning sets as a part of leadership development programmes, and also in my coaching work.  I particularly enjoyed the Advanced Skills session which encouraged a very self-aware approach to personal development as AL Facilitators.

As so often, much of the richness came from the discussions with, and contributions of, other delegates on the programme: there was a rich mix of academics, practitioners and business people, which made for very good conversation.  All in all, an excellent and most enjoyable day.

DEI Day

Had a very interesting day working with Mark Crabtree, running an Awayday for the Directors of the Durham Energy Institute.

Mark and I had met them all previously both together and on a one-to-one basis, so were able to design a day that addressed the things they wanted to explore and discuss.

As with all such work, the content is confidential.  What I can say is that they really threw themselves into the day, including staying on 2 hours beyond the intended end time to ensure we'd done all we could on the day.  They are a very talented and committed group of people, and I am confident they will go from strength to strength, addressing Energy issues from a perspective informed, from the outset, by the social sciences as well as drawing on their considerable technical expertise.

It was good working with Mark, too: the first time we have run an event like that together.  Days like that make me reflect on how privileged I am to do the work I do.

An Exciting New Project

Today we are starting a new piece of work which I am really looking forward to.  I say we, as it involves a colleague, Laura Meagher, whom I really enjoy working with.  And I say exciting, because both the content and the context are fascinating.

The context is working with the SiDE project, (Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy) who are doing extraordinary multi-disciplinary work across two universities, looking at a range of important issues and coming up with extremely innovative solutions.  Just the other day, I heard one of the SiDE team on the Today programme talking about their SatNav ideas for elderly drivers, for example.

Our project is working with them to explore different ways of getting even more creativity out of the rich mix of people involved in the project, under the auspices of the EPSRC creativity@home project. We are starting today by meeting some of the key figures, and will continue to interview all the researchers on the programme over the next month or so, to build a joint understanding of what will be most valuable for them.

Awayday Feedback

A while back I ran an awayday for the DMOC research group at Newcastle University.  It was a very buzzy day: they seemed a really good group.

So I was naturally pleased to see the feedback they had submitted to the University about the day, which was very positive.  But what was even more pleasing was running into a couple of people this week.  One had attended the day, and said that it had made a real difference.  The other was somebody working in the same building, who hadn't known I'd been involved with them, who commented quite unprompted on how much more vibrant their area seems to be now.

I note these things against those days when I doubt the value of my work, my competence etc, as one does from time to time...

360 feedback - some musings...

There are two ways of doing 360 feedback. One is online, where colleagues answer a questionnaire, the data is collated and a skilled facilitator meets the subject of the process to talk through the feedback and draw some conclusions, leading to an action plan.

The second is for an independent person to conduct interviews with colleagues, and then collate the feedback and conduct the feedback meeting.

The first process has several advantages: it is quick, simple and relatively inexpensive; it allows comparisons to be made across populations (anonymously), and ensures consistency of questions, targetting issues that the organisation has deemed to be important.

However, I have a strong preference for the second approach, interviews; and not only because it generates work for me.

The advantages I see in the interview approach are these:

The subject of the process is involved in deciding what questions are asked.  That means that issues which are important to the individual are addressed, and also that there is a greater commitment from the individual to the process, increasing the probability of profound learning and action as a result. That does not mean that the issues the organisation deems important are not explored. Typically, I suggest that questions around the organisation's competence framework are among those to be asked.

Likewise the subject is involved in deciding whom should be interviewed, with similar impact.  I always encourage people to include those who think well of them and those who don’t, as well as considering the 360 degree aspect.

Moreover, the interviewees are much more engaged in the process. Frequently, when I am conducting such interviews, people tell me that they have previously done online feedback, and find it a less satisfying or worthwhile experience; some say that the online process doesn't really get them to think and reflect, but just give quick and (possibly) superficial answers.  Others have told me that they weren't asked the right questions: the one bit of feedback they think would be really valuable isn't asked for. 


Clearly the cumulative effect of participants finding the online process unsatisfactory could be that the process loses credibility in the organisation.

Further, by being involved in the process in this active way, interviewees' perceptions are changed, generally for the better. This is another application of tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner. That is, to understand everything is to forgive everything.  Quite frequently, people when interviewed will have something negative to say about the individual: not least because I encourage the subject of the process to choose people whom they suspect will offer criticism as part of their sample.  


However, when they are invited to reflect in depth and in a safe thinking environment, on the other's behaviour, intentions and motivations, they often move beyond an initial critical stance to a more understanding, and often more compassionate and sympathetic evaluation.  That has value to the organisation, as relationships are thereby potentially improved as part of the very process.

This aspect of the interview as an intervention was particularly brought home to me a few years ago, when there was a delay between my collecting the feedback and meeting the subject to share and discuss it.  In the interim, I met one of the people I had interviewed, and she was keen to tell me about the impact the feedback had had: how the subject was really making an effort to change now, and so on.... My interpretation of that was that the colleague had left the interview with a readiness to expect positive change, and had regarded the subject differently, looking for evidence of more positive behaviour; and what we look for, we find.

Also, when discussing the feedback, someone who has done the interviews has a much better understanding of the issues and the feelings and nuances that sit behind them, than can be gleaned from online surveys.  That can lead to a deeper understanding and a richer discussion, resulting in more insight, better action planning, and greater commitment to carry the actions forward.


So for all these reasons, I am convinced that an interview-based 360 process is far more powerful than the online version: more expensive, undoubtedly; but I suspect it to be better value for money.  Proving that, however, is very difficult indeed...

Some interesting projects

I have a number of new and interesting projects, all coming live quite soon.

One relates to some early work on a cultural change project in a large organisation; the real launch is in the autumn, but we are planning some taster sessions over the next few months to stimulate interest and pique people's curiosity.

Another is looking at approaches to creativity - an area of particular interest to me for a long time.  We will be exploring both creative tools and techniques, but also facilitation skills to enable creativity to flourish in meetings, and a number of other related approaches.

There's a few interesting team awaydays coming up too;  I always love that sort of work, as the issues are so practical and real, and with all members of a team present, you have the right people in the room to make some substantial changes and ensure they will be implemented and sustained.

Coaching Supervision

Really valuable session with my coaching supervisor today.

It is so easy to get fall into habits of behaviour and lose that quality of awareness and active choice in the way we are with others.  We were reflecting on recent patterns and noticing a little erosion of how I have been compared to when I'm at my very best: lots of good insights and practical steps to apply them.

And of course, she'll hold me to them when we talk next week!