The authors give guidance and advice on how to facilitate the complex change interventions that are required to build learning into the system so that it makes a difference. They highlight the need for business leaders and development professionals to work together.

Organizational defences that exist in most organizations can inhibit organizational performance. This book shows how to diagnose the organization to expose the weaknesses. Each chapter contains advice about how to reduce organizational defences to bring about improved involvement and performance.

This book tackles the latest challenges in education in the business sector, outlining how the students of the future must be taught to adapt to a highly fluid business environment in which their ability to acquire new skills and collaborate with others is more important than possessing facts. Taking its cue from the growing body of theory advocating multi-faceted and often multilingual education, the book focuses on ‘competences’ and collaborative, team-oriented, project-based learning. Beginning with a set of studies on the differences in individual learning and ways of supporting students, the volume moves on to a collection of papers on learning at the level of the group, which include material on team learning, and the sharing of knowledge in problem-based learning. The editors view these factors in education as an inevitable feature of pedagogy, reflecting the fact that knowledge, and its acquisition, is increasingly collaborative in our working lives, and especially in business. A final section applies the principles developed in the first two parts at an organizational level, evaluating the enormous implications these developments in our ideas about learning have for the educational institutions charged with teaching future generations. Combining research and theory with practical factors in business education and training, the volume provides wide-ranging perspectives on developing best practice in the sector.

Praise for Facilitating Group Learning "In this engaging and accessible book, George Lakey draws on a lifetime's experience to provide a highly practical resource to anyone seeking to understand and respond to the complexities of group work. The book will be invaluable to anyone trying to effect social change through groups while striving to stay simultaneously sane and employed." Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished University Professor, University of St. Thomas "I've been working with forms of direct education for many decades, and I found new ideas and inspirations in every chapter. For anyone involved in teaching, training, sharing skills, or leading groups, this book is an invaluable resource!" Starhawk, author, The Earth Path, Dreaming the Dark, and Webs of Power "George Lakey has inspired our union to engage in education in a way that challenges us to redefine social justice and equality in new and exciting ways. This book helps us to continue our journey to touch the souls of union members." Denis Lemelin, national president, Canadian Union of Postal Workers "Facilitating Group Learning will ease the way of all who venture into the white waters of facilitation. George clarifies the most basic, complex, and nagging challenges of facilitation, while honoring the realities of individual and social power dynamics and providing real-life examples from the path of continued growth and mastery. A rare gift!" Niyonu D. Spann, founding president, TRV Consulting and Beyond Diversity 101 "This book is a must-read for people who teach adults of any age, no matter what the subject, and care about doing it in ways that yield deep and abiding learning. Wonderfully well-written and rich with psychological and spiritual insights as well as practical strategies, it represents the fruits of a lifetime of transformational teaching and learning by one of the foremost adult educators of our time." Parker J. Palmer, author, The Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, and The Heart of Higher Education

Reshapes the way teachers and administrators think about people, practices, and policies... This innovative book about organizational learning in K–12 settings reshapes the way teachers and administrators think about people, practices, and policies while providing a compelling roadmap for transformation from within today′s school systems. Key Features: Six interrelated conditions support organizational learning: prioritizing learning, fostering inquiry, facilitating the dissemination of knowledge, practicing democratic principles, attending to human relationships, and providing for members′ self-fulfillment. An on-going case study connects everyday practices in school systems to a holistic framework that helps practitioners understand how their thinking and behaviors influence learning, work environments, collegial interactions, decision making, and innovation. Numerous practical examples bring complex theoretical concepts to life, while a series of essential questions, activities for getting started, and reflective journal prompts allow practitioners to apply content and ideas to their own settings

For teachers in higher education who haven't been able to catch up with developments in teaching and learning, James Davis and Bridget Arend offer an introduction that focuses on seven coherent and proven evidence-based strategies. The underlying rationale is to provide a framework to match teaching goals to distinct ways of learning, based on well-established theories of learning. The authors present approaches that readers can readily and safely experiment with to achieve desired learning outcomes, and build confidence in changing their methods of teaching.Research on learning clearly demonstrates that learning is not one thing, but many. The learning associated with developing a skill is different from the learning associated with understanding and remembering information, which in turn is different from thinking critically and creatively, solving problems, making decisions, or change paradigms in the light of evidence. Differing outcomes involve different ways of learning and teaching strategies.The authors provide the reader with a conceptual approach for selecting appropriate teaching strategies for different types of content, and for achieving specific learning objectives. They demonstrate through examples how a focused and purposeful selection of activities improves student performance, and in the process makes for a more effective and satisfying teaching experience.The core of the book presents a chapter on each of the seven ways of learning. Each chapter offers a full description of the process, illustrates its application with examples from different academic fields and types of institutions, clearly describes the teacher's facilitation role, and covers assessment and online use.The seven ways of learning are: Behavioral Learning; Cognitive Learning; Learning through Inquiry; Learning with Mental Models; Learning through Groups and Teams; Learning through Virtual Realities; and Experiential Learning.Along the way, the authors provide the reader with a basis for evaluating other approaches to teaching and other learning methodologies so that she or he can confidently go beyond the "seven ways" to adapt or adopt further strategies. This is the ideal companion for teachers who are beginning to explore new ways of teaching, and want to do some serious independent thinking about learning. The book can also be used to prepare graduate students for teaching, and will be welcomed by centers for teaching and learning to help continuing faculty re-examine a particular aspect of their teaching.

Action Learning is based on the simple idea that leaders and managers learn best by working together in a group, helping each other find solutions to real work problems through discussions. Facilitating Action Learning is a clear, concise and straightforward guide to this well-established leadership and management development technique. The role of the facilitator is to provide guidance in the action facilitation process. In this practical guide, Mike Pedler and Christine Abbott present a new threefold model of the facilitator's role - as initiator, set adviser and facilitator of organizational learning. Supported by many real life cases and practical examples, this superbly practical book shows you how - as a manager, business coach, trainer or facilitator - you can add to your repertoire of skills and abilities, and enhance your effectiveness as a leader and developer. Suitable as the course text for ILM Level 5 and 7 qualifications in Action Learning Facilitation. "A 'must read' book providing a very practical method and approach for all those interested and passionate about helping people help themselves, and in optimizing Action Learning." Dr Yury Boshyk, Chairman, The Global Executive Learning Network, and the Annual Global Forum on Executive Development and Business Driven Action Learning, Canada "This book best reflects my lived experience of integrating learning and change in a large complex organisation; reading it was like coming home!" Mandy Chivers, Assistant Chief Executive, Mersey Care NHS Trust, UK "This is a superb, well-crafted book. The balance it achieves between conveying the spirit of action learning while providing concrete and practical tools is exemplary." Bob Dick, independent scholar, Australia "With this book, Christine and Mike have brought a significant maturity to the field of action learning. This book will go some way in helping action learning advisors improve their craft. An important contribution." Professor Jeff Gold, Leeds Business School, UK "Pedler and Abbott have done a masterful job in presenting and analyzing the wide array of roles and responsibilities that one can undertake in facilitating action learning groups." Michael Marquardt, President, World Institute for Action Learning, USA "Pedler and Abbot pack lifetimes of experience into this book - which shine through in the depth, breadth, and practicality of its coverage. Reflective tools accompany the reader throughout to help practitioners develop their own thinking and practice of Action Learning. This is a must-have for both practitioner and scholar resource libraries!" Victoria J. Marsick, Professor, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, USA "The authors have written a book that is engaging, inspiring and practical - a book to make you think also about learning relationships as constructionist practice; which they put forth as the correct approach and warn against action learning for power, influence and dominance." Paul Olson "This is an extremely significant contribution to understanding and developing practices in action learning. It will add value, provide direction and stimulate practitioners and academics in equal measure." Brian Milsom, University of Hull, UK