Learn toGet to the root of raging issues through Action Learning

The challenges in our industry are great. Every healthcare organization has issues for which there are no standard solutions. Through Action Learning, you learn to take issues back to the core and tackle them at the root.

Within the Over Morgen program, three groups of directors are following the 'Action Learning for Directors' program. They are entering into a dialogue with each other about Sustainable Employability. Anja Stunnenbergdirector at the elderly care organization Markenheem followed this course and tells us about her experiences. The advice of Stunnenberg: "Just go do it!

What is Action Learning?

Action Learning Helps teams or individuals to innovatively search for relevant solution directions. Together they discover and learn what the real problem behind the symptoms is. Creative thinking techniques and forms of work are used. The goal is a concrete result that can be used immediately in the organization.

Action Learning in a nutshell

During the program 'Action Learning for Directors' learned Anja Stunnenberg, together with several other directors, the principles of Action Learning. Stunnenberg: "We have multiple meetings had where we talked to each other about problems we were facing in the work area. Everyone brought at least oneonce a own issue in order to be "problem owners," so to speak.' Action Learning is all about the concise mapping of issuesso that they can be actively addressed. 'If a colleague starts talking about a personnel problem, then it may mean something completely different to me than it does to that colleague', states Stunnenberg. By using Action Learning, you try to explore, dissect and concise such a problem through open-ended questioning. The problem or the issue lies like a kind of rough diamant in the middle: everyone sees a plane from a different angle and thus a different color. Dhe art, I think, is to see all those colors together.' Easier said than done, admits Stunnenberg admits. 'The first few times it took a lot of effort, but op the moment you it figure it out you get into the right conversation very quickly and it's also just fun to do.'

New insights

The trajectory gave Stunnenberg the opportunity to philosophize with her colleagues about the problems facing the healthcare industry. 'What is actually the source of the culture problem in healthcare?? What are we going to do with the eternal part-timers discussion? En how do we reconcile that with sustainable employability?' Dealing with changes in healthcare came also was also discussed at length. Are we equipped well and professionally enough to deal with the changes introduced by others (e.g. VWS ) being thought up by others (e.g. VWS )?? And doare we not asking too too much from ourthem employees?' Also noticed Stunnenberg and the other directors that they found it difficult to deal with negativity toward these changes to dealing with it. 'We concluded that this very critical people really do want to think along, but that it is also it is also about control. I plan to work more bottom-up in our organization and give employees more ownership.'

Improved business processes

Stunnenberg's experience with Action Learning was so positive that she is eagerly following it up in the rest of the organization. 'It teaches employees to solve a problem not one adimensional, but from as many different perspectives as possible,' states Stunnenberg. That, she says, can be about something relatively small, such as problems with grids, but she prepares her organization and staff for conversations about bigger challenges as well. 'There is a lot coming at us with the upcoming transition and it is important to listen to the experiences of your staff listening. This seems like a great tool for us to go into those conversations. Stunnenberg finds Action Learning well worth the investment and thinkst that it can improve business processes. 'Of course it's no use if you put a problem on the table and then end up finding the wrong solution to it. Then it will cost you even more time and you will not get a solution. solution. This is dé way to have the right conversation right away.'

Home team Twente puts direction with employee with Action
Learning

Thuisteam Twente is a care organization that has grown rapidly, necessitating a new way of working. To include employees in this change and to support them in taking their own direction, the care organization chose Action Learning. This methodology is already bearing its first fruits.

So ordinary that it doesn't stand out! With this motto in mind, the employees of Stichting Thuisteam Twente are there for people who find it difficult to keep their daily lives in order. Whether it is help with a chronic illness, old age, a mental and/or physical disability or psychiatry, Thuisteam Twente offers customized care and support.Without thinking in terms of target groups, together with the client and the informal caregivers, we look at what help is needed and how this can best be organized. Thuisteam Twente does a lot to avoid bureaucracy and to concentrate on what really matters: helping clients to live as independently as possible.

Thuisteam Twente has been working this way in Almelo and the surrounding area since 2007. With success, but the organization is growing rapidly and that requires a different way of working. "When I came here two years ago, there were 35 employees and now we are almost tapping sixty," says Manager of Care Eelco Wobben. "It has always been one big team, but now that the organization is growing, the group is getting too big. Then you just need a different arrangement. This is also the need of the employees who ask for this for various reasons."

The control with the employee

Control by the employee The steps that Thuisteam Twente is taking towards the future are intended to lead to a self-managing organization. The client's wishes will remain in the first place, but within the organization the control must be in the hands of the employee. Eelco Wobben: "What we find important is that employees themselves take the initiative to develop. As an organization, we want to facilitate the employees. At the moment we see that some of them are eager to do so, while others are very focused on their caseload and find it difficult to take the initiative. But if you want to change as an organization, you have to take everyone with you and motivate them in that change."

To enable change, Thuisteam Twente enlisted the help of intervention partner WIAL Netherlands with a grant. The World Institute for Action Learning teaches companies and institutions how to work based on the Action Learning methodology.

Action Learning is a process in which a small group works on real problems, takes action and learns as individuals, as a team and as an organization. Frank Campman, co-owner of WIAL Netherlands and facilitator of Home Team Twente, explains the purpose of the sessions. "With Action Learning, team members work simultaneously on improving cooperation, the team process, team behavior, discovering the real problem behind the symptoms and discovering relevant and new solution directions." As WIAL Netherlands does with other healthcare organizations around the country, employees are given various tools to properly have the conversation. This means creating a safe atmosphere during a meeting in which everyone can speak up and be heard. All team members dare to speak up, ask questions and give feedback. The word 'judgment-free' is central to this.

It is important when introducing Action Learning that the new way of working is not forgotten when WIAL's involvement is over. To prevent this, two home team Twente employees have been trained by WIAL Netherlands. They continue to guide the teams during their sessions and secure this methodology within the organization.

Action Learning in Practice

In early 2023, Thuisteam Twente took its first steps toward Action Learning, a methodology that Eelco Wobben says has many advantages. "We want to become a self-managing organization and for that you need self-managing employees. With Action Learning we want to collectively solve the dilemmas we experience within our work. Action Learning is then a great methodology to have a good conversation with each other, to let the undercurrent and the upper current communicate with each other."

What a session according to the Action Learning method looks like in practice becomes clear when we are allowed to watch a session in Almelo. This group of a dozen or so employees has already met three times and on the whiteboard is now articulating a problem for which a solution is being worked on. 'The problem is that the impact of the lack of an adequate, two-way exchange of information with those involved within Thuisteam Twente before, during and after decision-making or actions is not properly assessed, possibly creating new problems.'

Although the problem statement is clear, the road to it took some time. Iris Koning, itinerant supervisor, takes us through the process leading up to it. "In the first two sessions, the focus was still mainly on communication from us to our supervisor and from the supervisor to us. Eventually we started to see it more organization-wide. It's actually also about mutual communication with colleagues or teams. The problem is not only the distance between the supervisor and the employees, but within the organization a lot can be gained by trying to get clear in advance what the consequences of an action could be. We haven't come to the solution yet, but the Action Learning sessions did deliver something. They were necessary to learn more about the process."

Advantages

Although ultimately a problem is being addressed, how this is done with Action Learning is at least as important. After all, Action Learning should lead to good communication between team members. Gerwin Bosch, ambulatory supervisor, has already experienced this during the sessions. "It is a great tool to reach insight. By asking the right questions, you arrive at a clear problem definition. From there you can move forward. It lays a foundation."

By tackling a problem based on Action Learning, session participants see the various benefits.

The employees of Thuisteam Twente who attended WIAL's sessions see how Action Learning fits within their organization. "It's funny to see that it's not just about cooperation between colleagues, but that this skill continues in our approach to the client," says Iris Koning. "With that, it ties in with the Krachtwerk methodology that we want to propagate within Thuisteam Twente, where you really only start from what the client desires within certain possibilities. We really put full focus in asking 'what can we do for you?"

Now that the first steps on the road to the future according to the Action Learning method have been taken, its influence within the organization is already becoming somewhat visible. Eelco Wobben: "Yes, there will be discussions, and sometimes fuss, but you need that to start talking to each other. Things are now becoming somewhat more visible and not just in one place within the organization. Everyone also feels the freedom to do something with it and the employees are increasingly taking charge themselves. That change takes time, but there is definitely development in it."

Azora chooses for Action Learning
at way to high performing teams

A great deal is already going well at Azora, but that doesn't mean it will always stay that way. Healthcare is facing major challenges and Azora likes to be prepared for them. This is why a training course in Action Learning was chosen for the management team.

Using this method, it becomes clear how to have a good conversation. The management team is enthusiastic, so enthusiastic in fact that efforts are now being made to get all of Azora's employees on board with this.

Azora is a care facility in the Achterhoek region where living and working enjoyment are highly valued, and that has a positive effect. The residents of a dozen residential care centers and clients in home care rate Azora with an 8.5 on ZorgkaartNederland. For employees, working at Azora is a pleasant experience. The care institution has been voted Best Employer of Gelderland three times in recent years, and absenteeism among its more than two thousand employees is below the national average. Director Mieke Zemmelink can therefore be satisfied. "At the moment things are going very well. The clients are satisfied, there is a lot of salaried staff and there is low absenteeism. There is quite a steady line visible."

Still, the good results are no reason for Mieke Zemmelink to be complacent. "What is important is to look to the future in order to continue to do a good job even then. We see the challenges coming our way and there is a lot to be done in elder care that we think is going to be exciting. The number of people needing care is increasing while the labor market is shrinking, so we will have to deliver care differently. This generates discussions about what good quality of care actually is, says the director, who notes that the conversations and meetings about this are not always conducted in a constructive manner. "I noticed that when things get tense, there is a tendency to convince each other. At a certain point you notice that that doesn't get you anywhere. You hear arguments, but are you really solving a problem together?"

Action Learning

An aid to having the right conversation Mieke Zemmelink has found in Action Learning, a methodology she previously trained with as a director from the About Tomorrow program. "By applying Action Learning, we can have the conversation even better. In the MT everyone has to be behind the decisions so that we can move forward easily and well," says Mieke Zemmelink. "We should not only look at the quality of the managers, but we also need good teams in the future teams. We need an extra push to get to the next level as a team and be a high performing team. Action Learning is a great methodology to achieve this in a relatively simple way."

Azora's management team, consisting of twelve people, attended training in the field of Action Learning at the World Institute for Action Learning (WIAL). Frank Campman, co-owner of WIAL Netherlands, briefly explains what Action Learning is all about: "Action Learning really means nothing more than that we integrate working, learning, innovation and improvement into real work. With Action Learning, team members work simultaneously to improve collaboration, the team process, team behavior, discover the real problem behind the symptoms and discover relevant and new solution directions."

For three days in April, the entire MT of Azora attended WIAL's sessions. During these sessions the emphasis was on having a good conversation. The basis for this is creating a safe environment, in which team members dare to say something, ask questions and give feedback. One word always accompanies this: non-judgmental. "Being able to have a good conversation is a basic requirement for growing into a high performance team," Frank Campman says decidedly.

Positive result

For the MT of Azora, the first introduction to Action Learning has already led to positive results. Mieke Zemmelink: "We really have different conversations in the MT and also decision-making goes differently. The basis is listening and questioning and in addition you get a handle on the decision-making structure. Consent is very important. The way you make decisions makes sure you have support. That you really have the feeling 'we have a yes and we are going to do it' and not that people nod yes and think 'it will take my time'."

The first effects of Action Learning within the MT are now evident. Decisions are made faster and implementation is handed over to others. "Often we were sitting around debating details when at the core everyone was in agreement.

For MT member Lianne Spaan, the Action Learning sessions have also been very beneficial. "For me personally, it's mainly about connection, the connection between reason and emotion. That ultimately contributes to a more effective collaboration," says the regional manager for Zorg Thuis, who also feels more connection in the MT. "Within the MT we now connect with each other much more from the undercurrent. It's about the way we address each other, ask questions and reflect. In that, we really did develop skills that allow us to work more effectively toward the goal and result. You can reflect much more on each other by asking open-ended questions. By applying those tools, we as MT are much more able to connect the upper flow with the lower flow and therefore be more effective as a team."

"Action Learning is a great methodology for connecting the upper stream with the lower stream in a relatively simple way."

Further dissemination

A next step for Azora is that Action Learning is spreading spreads by the organization and that all employees will use it in their daily work. After all, it is useful for every employee. Also, a conversation with a client or the next of kin can go better through proper questioning and listening.

The spread of Action Learning at Azora is partly automatic because MT members take it to other subgroups and apply the methodology in their own team. A concrete step to make Azora an organization that works according to the Action Learning method is to first involve employees in project and working groups. In the meantime, Azora has the opportunity from the About Tomorrow program to work with WIAL on Azora's program teams, also involving the region in this approach. In addition, a number of employees will be trained as Action Learning coaches. Frank Campman: "For this we are going to coach people from a to z while they are at work. Eventually there must be enough people within the organization who can take over my role so that it continues to grow. That's how you guarantee that it continues; we're very alert to that."

How Action Learning can spread through an organization Lianne Spaan has since noticed for herself. She took it to her own team, one of whose team members then applied it in a works council meeting. She too would like to see the method spread throughout the organization. "Action Learning is also applicable in implementation to achieve behavior change. I definitely think it contributes to a learning organization and to the maturity and self-organizing and problem-solving ability of employees. This allows everyone to take personal leadership on their own job and task responsibilities. That means a positive culture change, not only for the MT, but for all employees."