Diving Head-First into Action Learning

More companies are training their managers by having them tackle real problems instead of just attending classes

By Marshall Goldsmith

One of the leadership development tools that I believe in the most is action learning. I am not an expert at action learning myself (my personal focus is individual or team behavior), but I have seen action learning make a huge positive difference in many of my clients' organizations. Chris Cappy is a good friend of mine, and an expert on this topic. I hope you find value in his reflections on action learning. Edited excerpts of a recent conversation follow:

Chris, how would you define "action learning?"

At the heart of this idea is learning by doing (BusinessWeek.com, 6/4/08), or learning by tackling real problems. One of my clients believes that around 10% of what people learn comes from a class or conference, 20% comes from other people, and 70% occurs while you are on the job. Why is this? You are in the line of fire, you are focused, and there are real consequences.

Action learning deliberately sets up situations in which there's visibility both to your results as well as how your results came about. A lot of companies use some version of action learning to develop their leaders and managers, and as a methodology it has proven cross-culturally valid, something really valuable in these times of globalization.

This makes sense to me. In my research on behavioral change, I find that leaders who achieve positive changes in behavior take action upon what they learn in feedback. They do not just attend classes. How do you use action learning?

There are quite a variety of approaches which I might classify on the "spice index"—mild, medium, and hot. "Mild" might be seen in experientially based simulations or training exercises that can help build awareness and specific skills. —Hot" is based upon significant business challenges in which leadership needs to change something on the dynamic and challenging playing field of their work—where their performance will be visible and consequential. This gets a learner-leader's heart pumping, for sure!

Yet what better way to develop a mindset along with skills than to take a deep dive into the realities of your environment where there is the genuine challenge to you to be an ever-better performer?

How did you get interested in this field?

I started 24 years ago working with an award-winning consulting group at Boston University called Executive Challenge…an innovator in the U.S. with simulation-based education that focused on the "how-tos" of high-performing teamwork…our central message was "extend yourself!"

It seemed the Japanese were increasingly dominating critical core industries—steel, automobiles, semiconductors—and they seemed to work more collaboratively and productively than we Americans did. In that environment, there was a strong reaction that screamed "We need to team better!" My first clients included Walt Disney (DIS), General Electric (GE), and Morgan Bank—all vanguard companies who were trying in earnest to figure out how to be stronger competitors.

The learning challenges we set up got heads turning and important conversations going. It led me to serve in a role creating and running action-learning-based programs for 11 years at the GE Crotonville facility. It was an amazing time to be there when a lot of resources were being invested to help GE managers and leaders step up. We used all sorts of simulations and we built action-learning teams who led in-depth market analyses of emerging-market countries. There was rigor and there were results.

What goes into good action-learning design?

At the heart of how we learn, there is typically something of challenge or interest that gets our attention.