The varieties & verities of action learning

Abstract

All five reviews in this Issue illuminate particular aspects of action learning from the importance of creativity and the place of ‘active failure’ in learning to the workings of power and paradox and their impacts in organizational life and in action learning sets. We begin with Russ Vince who hails Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis’ Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems for acknowledging the tensions and paradoxes characterise our lived experiences both within and without work organizations. He endorses the fulsome praise being lavished on a book that brings together the authors’ insightful academic work with ‘their confident vulnerable voices’, and in a very accessible way. As Russ points out, this book is of obvious relevance for readers of this Journal not only because it has caught the attention of so many business leaders and managers but also because it is ‘important for enthusiasts of action learning to be aware that there is always a tension between the radical potential of action learning to make change happen and the political purpose behind the use of action learning in organizations.’ Our own Helen Baxter continues with themes of power and relationships as she reviews Ghislaine Caulat’s Powerful or Powerless in the Virtual Space. This book is based on the author’s recent research with how power works in virtual meetings, including virtual action learning sets, and builds upon her long-standing interest in virtual leadership. Helen describes how the book illuminates her own understandings of what is going on in sets, especially those of a hybrid variety, where the mix of virtual and face-to-face presence can impact upon power relations. She concludes: