Using action learning to consolidate coaching skills

This article aims to answer the questions: • How can action learning aid in strategic change? • What are the benefits of using action learning as part of a broader learning intervention? • What are the issues to consider when introducing action learning into a corporate environment? • How can you engage people in reflection as a part of their development? The purpose of this article is to provide the readers with an account of how to introduce learning sets in a corporate environment. We start by describing the business need that drove Accenture to select the action learning set as the forum for developing skills in coaching in the organisation and the strategy that we used to sell the intervention to the sponsors. Then we share our definition of action learning sets and how it fits within the context of this learning intervention. We describe the structure of the sets, issues for us as facilitators of the sets, and conclude with our evaluation of the intervention, including the outcomes. In short, it will give you the benefit of our experiences, as you decide when and how to use action learning.