Contributed by Verieux Mourillon, Senior Action Learning Coach, World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL) C Management Institute for National Development in Jamaica among others. In addition, CARICAD has brought Action Learning to its leadership programme participants who hail from several organisations across the region. ARICAD has incorporated into its leadership development programmes the Action Learning methodology which is embraced by brand-recognisable organisations across the world. Based on the feedback from CARICAD programme participants, Action Learning has proven to be very effective in real time development of leadership skills, breakthrough problem-solving and strengthening of team effectiveness skills. Organisations can significantly increase their internal capacity for leadership development, team building, innovation and problem-solving by using Action Learning. Action Learning, developed over the last 60 years, has been used by companies like Microsoft, Samsung, International Federation of the Red Cross and SONY as well as countries worldwide including the USA, Canada, China, India, Singapore, Brazil, and France. Several universities, governmental agencies and international organisations like the Organization of American States have found Action Learning to be of great benefit. The Canadian-funded Caribbean Leadership Project (CLP) used Action Learning to develop public sector leaders of 12 CARICOM countries so that they can transform the public service. CARICAD assumed responsibility for continuing the leadership development work commenced in the Canadian-funded CLP. Some Caribbean organisations that have used Action Learning include the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre in Belize, Government of Grenada, Ministry of Social Development and Family Services in Trinidad and Tobago, the National Bank of Dominica Limited, the National Cooperative Credit Union Limited in Dominica, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Barbados Supreme Court, the Institute for Advanced Teacher Training (IOL) in Suriname, the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies, the Medical Benefits Scheme in Antigua, National Commercial Bank of Anguilla and the What differentiates Action Learning from other methods is that participants work on real problems to achieve breakthrough solutions on which specific actions must be taken and they are all required to develop identified leadership skills in real time during the process. The six components of Action Learning are: a real-life problem to which there is no easy tried and proven solution; a diverse group of six to eight persons committed to working on the problem; iterative questioning and reflective process; learning at three levels – individual, group, organisation; emerging strategies and actions that group members or committed problem owners are responsible for implementing; a Certified Action Learning Coach. Within an hour or two, persons who have never worked together before, develop solid rapport and mutual respect in an Action Learning session. There is no other process that can yield so many individual and organisational benefits all at once. Moreover, Action Learning is remarkably simple in its elegance. So, an organisation’s staff members can quickly and easily learn how to use Action Learning to achieve phenomenal results. Action Learning has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to give employees, work teams and organisations a leading edge. In its Transformational Leadership Development Programme (TLDP), CARICAD brought together leaders from organisations across the Caribbean, which include the Caribbean Examinations Council, National Bank of Dominica Limited, Cannabis Licensing Authority (Jamaica), Forestry Department (Saint Lucia), Ministry of Tourism (Saint Lucia), and Ministry of Works (Antigua & Barbuda). Participants worked in two separate Action Learning Groups and the multi-problem, multi-session approach was used. Each participant presented to the group a problem that he or she was facing in the workplace. Continues on next page 19
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