This week I had the pleasure of running an Action Learning set with the 2022/23 cohort of Roundhouse Resident Artists – artists between 18 - 25 from the Roundhouse’s brilliant and well-established annual programme that supports the personal and professional development of a cohort of talented emerging creatives. The group has taken part in lots of industry related sessions as their residency comes to an end, but this was their first experience of Action Learning. Alongside my work at Raw Material, I am an accredited Action Learning facilitator. I am often asked what Action Learning is so am taking a moment to share the experience.

I trained with Action Learning Associates in 2009/10 as part of Arts Council England’s Cultural Leadership Programme and I have been using the facilitation skills I learned since then alongside and occasionally part of my employed roles. I’ve been fortunate to work every year with mid-career and senior creative producers at the beautiful Coombe Studios in Devon, I’ve run sessions with ACE Relationship Managers, with groups of dancers via Independent Dance and Dancers Career Development and senior management teams at Bristol Old Vic. Although I only do this a few times a year at most, each time I am reminded how valuable the practice can be for individuals and groups for so many reasons – active listening, the art of powerful questions, connection, validation, and sometimes truths revealed that have been hiding themselves…

Despite Action Learning being a relatively well-established management tool or process across different sectors since the 1950s, I often find that people in my sector (arts/creative industries/charitable sector) haven’t heard of it. In a nutshell, Action Learning is a formal process where one person in a group will present a challenge (personal/professional) they are facing. The group (‘set’) helps them to find solutions via ‘actions’ that they can take away. The set are only allowed to ask open questions (questions which cannot be answered with a yes or no) to support the presenter find their own solutions. You could say it’s a little like group coaching. The aim is for the set to work together to ask the right questions which will help open the presenter’s thinking – especially when they might be feeling ‘stuck’. There is no two-way conversation, no talking about our own experience and importantly, no giving of advice. This unusually reflective opportunity enables new options and ideas which the presenter might not otherwise have arrived at and importantly, they’ve come up with those ideas themselves, which is empowering.

For me the focus, active listening, time and space which the practice provides is a really welcome disruption from normal dialogue and the way we generally interact with each other. It’s so exciting to witness this process lead to real ‘lightbulb moments’ for people who realise the path was clearer than they thought, and there’s a way forward which was always within their grasp. Participants generally leave an Action Learning set feeling uplifted having connected with each other at a deep level. It even works virtually/online (as many of us found out during Covid.)

Although Action Learning is something I mainly do freelance, I try to make sure its principles – lack of hierarchy, self-empowerment, ensuring time and space for reflective practice, collective working – are represented in our organisation. It’s not always easy to do in a busy frontline role, so much easier/faster just to jump in and offer solutions for team members when they ask for help. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the best work we have done at Raw Material has been on those occasions when team members felt empowered to lead and develop their own ideas, and the learning that came with it and sense of satisfaction from a successful delivery is visibly greater.

Anyway - back to the Roundhouse group of Resident artists. This was the first time I’d facilitated a set with younger people at the start of their careers. A bit of me wondered if they would ‘get it’ or how it would relate especially after a year of creative industry focused training. Whether I could make sure it felt authentic to their own experiences as artists. But I should have known better - every time I work with this generation in workshop situations I am inspired by their intelligence, insight, and support for one another. And I have never seen Action Learning fail to engage people as it is entirely their show, not mine.

One ‘action’ which one creative, paralysed by their own expectations came up with, has stayed with me as I write this. They decided to stop trying to ‘produce’ something and to include a ‘joyful 10 minutes’ of creative play into every day. Such a simple thing and totally achievable for all of us!

If anyone would like to know more about Action Learning feel free to get in touch and there are tons of resources online too. You can also train as a facilitator with the fantastic Action Learning Associates - I’m so glad I did.