Recently, Harbour Future Leaders (HFL) shared the results of research conducted among nearly one hundred participants in HFL run action learning projects at two at two interactive breakfast seminars hosted in Sydney and Melbourne. Over 40 organisations attended bringing a rich diversity of expertise and perspectives on the topic.

HFL Leadership Development Practice Leader Joanne Greenlees also shared the HFL team’s Ten Golden Rules for successful Action Learning Projects. “A whole lot of pain has gone into the development of these rules,” she told the group.

Overall, participants reported that the action learning projects they participated in were among the best leadership and teamwork learning experiences they had ever been involved in. “Doing it” rather than just “talking about it” is clearly the way most managers want to learn.

Some specific findings of the research among participants were:

75% of participants find Action Learning Projects challenging and engaging, enjoying the chance to work with other people, increasing their leadership and communication skills, self management, creative thinking and self awareness.
Genuine support from the business increases the effectiveness and value add for participants.
On reflection 74% considered the time invested worthwhile and would recommend ALP’s to others, although they were slightly more reluctant to engage in another ALP in the short term.
Ideally they would welcome an equal focus on learning and task, versus task over learning preference. A number of other personal learning results were also achieved by participants.

HFL also conducted a small research study among 100 organisations, to try and glean the organisational perspective on ALPs. 39 organisations responded, providing general insights and some common themes about action learning. Key insights were:

more than 50% of respondents have not used ALP’s in their leadership programs
Those that have included ALP’s believed that they are an opportunity for practical skills application, increasing business knowledge and teamwork skills.
Organisations reported that ALP’s often produce real business results including process and business improvement and improved top and bottom line.
ALP’s are typically targeted evenly across leadership levels, mostly managed internally and sponsored by Senior Execs. Their key purpose for ALP’s are practical learning application and increasing business knowledge.
Yet learning results are dominated by increased leadership skills and teamwork skills.

A number of factors impact on the success or failure of the project, which are detailed in our full research paper.

Ten Golden Rules for running effective ALPs

HFL’s ten golden rules for Action Learning Projects illustrate what we believe are the essential success factors, drawn from a large number of ALP’s executed since 2008. They have been developed by HFL’s L&D Practice Leader, Joanne Greenlees and Assessment Practice Leader Jennifer Scott. Some key highlights include:

It is extremely important to clearly define the business issue that will be addressed by the project team – but broadly (give them some space); what is important to the organisation now, or what will be in the near future?
The learning needs of the group have to be clearly established. And aligned with the project; hat do the participants most need to learn, and does this project provide the opportunity?
The structure of the project, and it’s clear end, need to be clearly defined. What needs to be done and by when? Start with the end in mind.
The committed engagement of senior leaders is also a key to success; but getting the right engaged in the right way takes time, effort, communication, and excellent briefing.

This in-depth research paper was undertaken with the assistance of a number of clients well advanced in implementation of their talent management (TM) programs. We are grateful for their assistance.

Contents
1. The Harbour Future Leaders Orange Paper series

2. Executive Summary: Why Talent Management Programs Fail

3. Eleven Pitfalls to Beware

Failing to win senior management commitment
Failing to align the talent management program with the business plan
Failing to define and assess “potential”
Failing to define the goals of the TM initiative
Failing to align TM goals with rewards
Failing to allocate sufficient resources
Failing to take a long-term view
Failing to manage expectations
Failing to integrate all the elements of the program
Failing to understand the skill and commitment required of line managers
Failing to implement a clear communications strategy