Action Learning as a tool for concurrent problem solving and leadership development in IT organizations

The concept of action learning, while well known in educational circles is not widely used in corporate environments to infuse leadership skills in ldquohigh potentialrdquo or leadership ldquopipelinerdquo employees. The current trend for leadership development of these kinds of employees is usually that of theoretical instruction coupled with ldquoapprenticeshipsrdquo or mentoring by more senior employees. Action learning introduces a new tool for the development of these employees. After several years of successfully implementing an action learning program for its corporate leadership program, Intel's IT group Management and Leadership Development team decided to implement its own version. Essentially, the strategy involves taking a team of employees and posing a problem or challenge to them whose subject matter is not in their realm of expertise. This team then, who is "naive" to the problem to be solved, gets access to the foremost company experts in the specific subject matter at hand for consultations during the three-week period of the experience. During this period, the team also receives visits from respected leadership and innovation luminaries, both external and internal to the company. The participants' final set of recommendations are presented to the IT executive staff for their consideration on the final day of the program. The benefits of doing this are manifold; participants get a chance to work as a team to solve a complex issue that can benefit the corporation; they get access to some of the foremost leadership development experts in the field and they also get a chance to propose their ideas to the company's IT leadership team. The IT leadership team gets to observe pipeline candidates in action and also gets creative and innovative proposals to help them solve some of the organization's thorniest problems. Rabe, (2006) refers to this concept as "zero gravity thinking" where creative people who are not experts on a given subject matter can provide interesting and innovative ideas on that particular subject matter due to their naive approach to it. This paper describes the program itself, the results obtained by this program and possible avenues for future exploration of this concept as well as how this program approach could be used for other areas or disciplines.