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Action learning sets - why now for local government?

Local government is today required to promote greater democracy, more public participation and give people a bigger role in decisions, services and design than previously. The new Duty to Involve is just one element in this shift.

Although terms such as ‘involvement’ and ‘empowerment’ are widely used (and often interchangeably), many statutory bodies find there is little clarity or consensus about what they mean and how best to go about ensuring local people have influence.

Facing up to the challenge
Some of the major challenges currently facing local authorities today include:

• How to turn all the talk about participation into concrete initiatives on the ground that succeed and achieve sustainable impact?
• How to integrate learning about what works and improve practise and performance for the long term?
  
• How to shift mindsets and practices within the wider organisation in order to gain support, understanding and influence for participation initiatives?
  

What action learning can offer
Action Learning Sets provide a highly effective way to address these and a host of related challenges in a safe and supportive environment.

Action learning is a method of collaborative learning among peers who meet regularly in small groups to explore and reflect on real work issues in a safe and supportive, yet at the same time, challenging and dynamic environment.  It involves participants identifying their own problems and moving to solutions with peer support guided by an experienced facilitator.

The process serves as a catalyst for outcomes that entail not just new ways of doing things but new ways of looking at things. Effectiveness can be measured by the changes in each person’s work and working context as well as the immediate practical results achieved. Action Learning Sets work especially well for people who:

• have some responsibility for introducing new ways of working
• are in new roles or have expanded responsibilities
  
• need to achieve complex tasks
  
• are in complex organisations facing new challenges and changes
  
• review existing practises and establish new ways of working.
  

How does a set work?
An action learning set involves 5 - 8 people – who are usually peers from within or across organisations – meeting together to learn and support each other collaboratively over an agreed period of time.

Members bring areas of their work with them that they would like to explore and gain support and get new perspectives on. This may be certain aspects of their job or specific issues they encounter that they find challenging or specific projects they want to work on with the group.

To find out more about the Action Learning set courses we can provide, contact us.

Photo by velo_city, available under a Creative Commons license