Learning Impact
Action Learning: Closing the Loop Between Learning and Impact
A major global consumer electronics firm faced the challenge of two strong competing technologies for its next generation of digital video. With competing platforms, the next step was not clear. A team of executives came to Wharton for a unique "action research" program. They worked with faculty to examine broader strategic marketing issues and conducted research to explore technology choices. The team developed a proposal for a set-top box that combined multiple technologies in one device. Within a few months, it was engineered, prototyped, and won a best-in-show award at the annual Consumer Electronics Show.
Clearly this is not your typical executive program. It represents one of a variety of approaches that Wharton is using to address real business issues while building the knowledge and leadership of executives. "Learning through action" focuses on actual business challenges faced by a company or an executive, rather than on historical cases or classroom lectures. Education is delivered just in time, to address the specific business challenges on the table. It emphasizes field-based research to find answers for issues that are important and urgent to the firm. Because it emphasizes learning, it goes beyond simple business projects to sharpen the thinking of participating executives.
Everything we know about how managers and executives learn reinforces that they learn by working on real stuff.
–Joe Ryan, Adjunct Professor of Management; Expert on action learning; Academic Director, Leading a Resilient Organization
"Everything we know about how managers and executives learn reinforces that they learn by working on real stuff," says Joe Ryan, adjunct professor of management, who leads action learning projects in many Wharton programs and is academic director of the new Leading a Resilient Organization program. "It is application-driven learning."
A "Learning Through Action" Portfolio
Traditional action learning is just one part of a broader portfolio of approaches that Wharton has developed to blend education and real-world problem solving. "We use a blended learning approach in our executive programs, and action learning is one of the key learning methods we bring to the table," says Dave Kurz, a director at Wharton Executive Education. "Action learning programs are developed from our portfolio of approaches tailored to an organization’s specific needs."
This portfolio includes:
- Experiential learning: This is learning outside the classroom through applied activities such as team rowing events and other outdoor leadership challenges. It is used in programs such as the Advanced Management Program to encourage participants to examine and develop leadership skills in a different context.
- Action plans: As part of some open-enrollment programs, participants create 100-day action plans for applying their knowledge to projects at work. Faculty provide guidance and check in with graduates to see how they are progressing against their plans. In Leading the Effective Sales Force, for example, participants identify a current business challenge at the start of the program and then make notes during the program sessions on how the knowledge from the program can help address the challenge. At the end, they develop individual action plans which are followed by an email check-in with Wharton after the program.
- Applied learning: In applied learning, predetermined business challenges are assigned to particular teams at the start of the program. The teams then work on solutions to these challenges as part of the educational program, typically over a period of about a week, and present the results to senior executives at the close of the program.
- Action learning: In action learning, teams work with senior organization sponsors to identify strategic business issues specific to their business units. Faculty teach the particular skills needed to address these challenges. The action learning cycle typically encompasses faculty-guided selection and pre-work, followed by in-depth residential learning sessions, and clearly defined post-work to ensure maximum organizational impact and individual learning.
- Action research: Action research tackles a specific research issue. Faculty provide insights on large strategic issues and related technologies, participant researchers help to fill in knowledge gaps, and the team develops a strategy. This process can, depending on scope, take up to a month of pre-work, a month onsite, and a month of post-work to achieve specific strategic targets.
- Project accelerator: The project accelerator takes the next step to actually accelerate the implementation of new initiatives. The full Wharton academic team provides coaching and learning on process and content issues to translate an idea into reality. A company launching a new product line in China might work with experts on China, new product development, marketing, and with other content experts to develop the launch plan. This type of project typically takes a month or more of pre-work, one to six weeks onsite, and flexibly scheduled follow-up.
Success Factors
Ryan, who has been involved in action learning projects since his time as a manager at General Electric, identified a few critical success factors for making the approach work:
- Defining the right scope: You need to have some boundaries around the problem and issues you are looking at. "People try to boil the ocean, and go after some things that are too big," Ryan says. "Look at it as a laboratory."
- Strong executive sponsorship: Like any new initiatives, action learning projects need high-level support to move forward. These projects are typically undertaken in addition to the executive’s normal job, so strong sponsorship is essential.
- Manage the tension between learning and action: While the business challenges need to be addressed, program faculty also have to ensure that learning takes place. Process tools such as debriefings can provide a platform for learning.
The experience of actively wrestling with business challenges can lead to rapid learning, as Ryan recalls from his work at GE. There, high-potential executives were given complex challenges that forced them to develop their capabilities. "There was de facto learning because you were in over your head, working on complex strategy processes outside your area. You were forced to thrive in the deep end of the pool."
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