Dear Aaron:
Thank you very much for your kind reply regarding how to grow
strategists./ I am familiar with ACtion Learning and have read Reg Revans.
I have had experience leading sets and just completed an article on Action
Laerning. I truly believe it is the most effective process for growing
strategists. However, for some reason, it does not sit well with teh
American mind. Maybe it is too slow, maybe it is not enough a "religious"
experience, like workshops can be.
It is intersting to see tha Action Learning has mostly cuahgt up in
countreis of NOrthern Europe, which have a cultural bias towards teamwork,
and consensus.
Individualistic countries like the US find it in my opinion more
difficult. It is significant to see that there are 20 books on Action
Learning liste in "British Books in Print" and only 1 or 2 in US books in
print. None of these books is even to be found at UCLA or USC, or NYU
universities, in the university libraries......
I have been experimenting with other formats, which even though they
compromise a little bit, can be helpful:one-day workshops, with custom
designed business case, combining facts and inferences, forcing
particpants to lookat realities from multiple perspectives, susp[end
judgement, develop multiple scenarios, etc...I am exploring right now the
use of tools to expose participants to the relativity iof their
perceptions and to invite them to think deeper.
Your work sounds interesting.
It may interest you to knownthat in the Journal of Management Development,
6,2, an article was published called "Chinese boxes and learning cubes:
action learning in a cross cultural context, by Max Boisot and Michel
Fiol. Boisot was with the EEC management Programme in Beijing.
Glad to talk to you. Are you active in consulting/action learning? What
does your company do?
Regards
Jean MArie Bonthous
From: jmb@panix.com (Jean-Marie Bonthous)