Action Learning in Health Services (PDF)

This Leadership in Health Services ebook focuses on action learning in health services. The demand for such a publication might be seen as a contemporary response to the exhortation of the originator of action learning, Professor Reg Revans, who told us that when we are trying to work out how to lead organisations through periods of accelerating change, when we don't know how to approach let alone solve a problem and when the textbooks cannot give us much help, we should embrace our ignorance and work collaboratively with others using the principles and practice of action learning.I have heard, read and been involved in many a heated discussion as to what action learning actually is and have concluded that Revans' reluctance to define it may have been a stroke of his genius at work, because he foresaw that without a tight definition, various interpretations and practices would emerge, and they have as you will see in this ebook.The tight prescription for action learning that I often find trainers or organisational consultants in search of may prove elusive. However, I see a thread through all of the papers included in this ebook, which demonstrates that there are certainly a number of core principles and values that underlie an action learning approach. As the reader you will come to your own conclusions regarding these and I hope you will add to the debate by sharing your own experience and reflections.