"Unless your ideas are ridiculed by
experts, they are worth nothing." (Reg Revans)
Reginald
"Reg" William Revans was an academic professor, administrator and
management consultant who pioneered the use of Action learning.
In the
late 1920s he was a doctoral student in astrophysics at the University of
Cambridge. A Commonwealth Scholarship in 1930 took him to study astrophysics
and astronomy at Michigan, and on his return to Cambridge as a fellow to
Emmanuel he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory under Lord Rutherford and Sir J.
J. Thomson. There were five Nobel prizewinners in the department, but Revans
found them humble enough to share their puzzlements and to listen, rather than
claiming to know and be able to instruct. Revans always remembered Albert
Einstein saying to him: "If you
think you understand a problem, make sure you are not deceiving yourself."
It was here that Revans began to
develop his thinking on the role of 'non-expert' in problem solving,
distinguishing between knowledge and wisdom in so doing.
He
moved into education to become assistant education officer for Essex
(1935–1945) and then director of education for the National Coal Board from
1945 to 1950.
Professor
Reginald Revans, coined the term Action Learning to describe an educational method that he developed in
the UK in the 1940s. Action learning is an educational process whereby the
participant studies their own actions and experience in order to improve
performance. This is done in conjunction with others, in small groups called
action learning sets. It is proposed as particularly suitable for adults, as it
enables each person to reflect on and review the action they have taken and the
learning points arising. This should then guide future action and improve
performance.
The
Action learning method differs with the traditional teaching methods that focus
on the memorization and presentation of knowledge and skills, by focusing on
experiential reflection as a major learning tool. Revans argued against the
overvalue of the traditional "chalk and talk" management education
and he believes that people learn most effectively not from books or lectures
but from sharing real problems/projects. He called it “action learning."
The
contribution of Revans is being seen today through initiatives in leadership
development working towards organization development. Many universities and
management consultants developing new approaches to the education of leaders
interested in work-based learning.
Revans
distinguished between puzzles and problems, noting that action learning lent
itself to working on real problems (e.g. improving productivity or morale
rather than puzzles e.g. constructing a balance sheet.) He also noted the
distinction between cleverness (i.e. knowledge) and wisdom, which showed in the
form of insightful questioning. Revans achieved major honors in Belgium where
he linked higher education with industry achieving major results that impacted
on national economic recovery.
People
had to be aware of their lack of relevant knowledge and be prepared to explore
the area of their ignorance with suitable questions and help from other people
in similar positions. To Professor Reginald Revans, the learning process may be
expressed as:
Learning
(L) = P + Q ; where L is learning, P is programmed (traditional) knowledge and
Q is questioning to create insight.
Programmed
knowledge (P) is conveyed through books, lectures, and other structured
learning mechanisms.
Insightful
questions (Q) are those questions that are asked at the right time and are
based on experiences or an attitude about ongoing work projects.
Revans
maintained that P is the domain of experts, while Q is the domain of leaders
who wish to drive projects forward by getting answers.
Q uses
Four "major" questions: where?
who? when? what? and
3 "minor" questions: why? how
many? how much?
Although
Q is the cornerstone of the method, the more relaxed formulation has enabled
action learning to become widely accepted in many countries all over the world.
To
succeed in Action Learning need the following:
- The learning context must be a real working/project
- Scheduled input of theory knowledge /lectures should be kept to a minimum and more time for time for workshops, meetings and questions
- Commitment from top management and team members with No hidden agendas
- An independent adviser needs to be present from the life of the team to facilitate, help or guide when needed.
- An atmosphere of and openness to confronting sensitive internal issues.
- Flexibility in terms of scheduling
No comments:
Post a Comment