This article describes the use of scenarios as a tool to assist a large distance learning library service in its strategic planning. Through a description of the scenario process from beginning to end, the authors detail the steps that the library director and the consultant took initially; their missteps; and the successful conclusion. This study…

Social capital, an important mechanism for the creation and maintenance of healthy organizational life, may be developed through initiatives such as leadership development as effective leadership development not only enhances individual effectiveness, but serves to build relationships, coordinate actions, and extend and strengthen the social…

This author contends that there are four key ingredients to a growth mindset in schools: observation, dialog, feedback, and investment. In addition, teachers and supervisors need to be jointly invested in the growth mindset of the school. The author suggests that if a school is considering a new faculty evaluation system, it is crucial that…

How can action learning be used as part of an overall approach to changing the culture of an organisation? This article describes some of the work being done by managers in South Cambridgeshire district to build a more empowered and engaged organisation following the appointment of a new chief executive tasked with raising standards in an…

This article provides a detailed description and analysis of how one Canadian institution used groups of department heads as change agents to address their most acute department head role tensions. It is demonstrated that this institution's change initiative aligned very closely to the recommendations proposed, in both the literature pertaining to…

Globalization has become a household word, permeating workplaces and communities, while internationalizing the curriculum has become common practice, not just in higher education, but also reaching into the primary grades and outward into program planning efforts in the non-formal sector. Few fields, however, can claim two international bodies…

The increasing emphasis on innovation in executive development has important implications for contemporary organizations talent professionals and strategy creators. Providing an experience that addresses individual and team development, strategic innovation, organizational alignment and the integration of values is the objective of the action…

This article presents a partnership effort among managers, trainers, and employees to spring to life performance improvement using the performance templates (P-T) approach. P-T represents a process model as well as a method of training leading to performance improvement. Not only does it add to our repertoire of training and performance management…

This paper presents an original approach to designing social media that support informal learning in the digital workplace. It adapts design-based research to take into account the embeddedness of interactions within digitally mediated work-based contexts. The approach is demonstrated through the design, implementation, and evaluation of software…

Strategic planning and innovation at Bismarck State College (BSC) found common ground in the college's goal to recruit and retain employees in an environment of low unemployment and strong competition for skilled employees. BSC's strategic plan for 2007-09 included the objective "to increase retention of employees." One of the strategies…

In a recent publication, Senge ("All systems go: the change imperative for whole system reform." Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, 2010, x) stated "at no time in history has there been a more powerful need for a new vision of the purpose of education." Increasingly citizens, academics and practitioners are calling for radical…

This article describes the use of "business-driven" action learning in a healthcare setting. It reviews and reflects on an example where action learning does not "take", identifying the likely causes of this. It also poses four questions--whether action learning is counter-cultural in some organisations; whether the…

Drawing on their experience in a Midwest healthcare system, the authors propose a model of leadership development through action learning that embraces "concentric collaboration" at its core. The present study suggests that the process of concentric collaboration can serve to strengthen the skills of the individual leader as well as…

In this article, the author shares his experience as a lecturer in Anna Hogg's Department at Sydney Teachers College, where he became involved at the very beginning of Bill Andersen's and Anna's (and Les Brown's) efforts to form what was to become Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA). The author provides a brief overview of PESA…

Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania and has strong links with its large rural hinterland. Working from the ideas and examples in "Learning Cities for a Learning Century," (Longworth, 1999) and through contact with other cities that have already implemented lifelong learning concepts, the city has, since 2001, started out on…