Leadership development through action learning: an executive monograph

Abstract

This article examines a leadership development program based on action learning principles, in a quasi government health insurance organization, undergoing transformation to a more private and entrepreneurial format and attempting to shake some of the more bureaucratic shackles of the past. The purpose of the program was to develop leadership and build business literacy by bringing managers and supervisors together from across the organization to work on real business projects through an in house action learning program. Using reflective essays written by participants and material provided from interviews some two years after the program ended, the paper examines some of the key leadership themes that emerged. These include an important distinction between leadership of organizations and leadership in organizations and the relationship between the two; the need for managers to understand emergent strategy; the value of a marketing approach for building support around strategic issues, the importance of critical thinking through the interplay of theory and practice; and a different paradigm for understanding learning.