We’ve all heard, “Experience is the best teacher.” Yet relying on experience alone leaves us vulnerable to reinventing the wheel and repeating yesterday’s mistakes. As the pace of change quickens, we tend to react to problems. We may feel that we lack the luxury of time to formulate a more thoughtful response. We may feel that we need to update our skills and knowledge, but the weekend seminar seems ill-suited to help us cope with the complexities we face daily.

Many professionals have returned to the university to earn new credentials. Yet, the distance between the traditional classroom and today’s high-performance workplace has never been wider. What we need is relevant knowledge in a form that we can rapidly apply, test, and refine. Every individual and team must also learn to apply this knowledge in a manner that aligns with the strategic direction. The knowledge we need is often so context-sensitive and unique to the complexities of the task at hand that our peers may be the best source of knowledge and insight. However, the dynamics of many teams are counterproductive. The paradox is that we can accomplish little of significance alone, yet many teams, groups, divisions, and organizations function so poorly that they drain the human spirit.

Enter Action-Learning teams Action-Learning Teams (ALTs) are a unique form of team charged with developing special capabilities that are designed to close particular process gaps, or to generate new capacities where none exist. Such capabilities tend to be strategic. By nature, ALTs tend to be cross-functional and cross-organizational, drawing together individuals with specialized knowledge to collaborate on developing and applying new forms of knowledge. ALTs rely…

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