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PALS in Business© has been recognised for the results it has helped business-owners achieve both personally and professionally. 

In May 2007, it picked up a prestigious award at a glitzy ceremony in London from the Added Value Network (a network for leading accountants and business advisors) as an innovative way of helping business people solve problems and learn in the process.

Businesses like yours, like mine face enormous challenges in 21st Century. Technology, intense competition, changing markets, the credit-crunch and many other issues are making it tough to do business.

Businesses and business leaders need help to:

• Solve problems and challenges with truly innovative and sustaining strategies;

• Develop people and teams who continually improve their capacity to perform and adapt;

• Capture and apply valuable knowledge.

Research shows that business people prefer to listen and learn from other business leaders and peers whom they admire and respect.

Valuable knowledge and skills can be gained from solving real problems in the real world rather than from formal qualifications or the theoretical models of the academic world. 

In other words, people learn through doing in a process known as action learning.

And this involves a group of peers working on real problems and learning while they do so.

Reg Revans introduced action learning in the 1940s.  It's based on the premise that:

"There can be no learning without action and no (sober and deliberate) action without learning."

The great attraction of action learning is its unique power to simultaneously solve difficult challenges and develop people and organisations at minimal costs to the business.

What is PALS in Business^©?

PALS stands for Power of Action Learning Sets. 

PALS in Business© is a remarkably simple programme of peer-to-peer action learning that helps business people to solve problems and learn while they do so.

It has SIX key components:

• A qualified problem (project, challenge, opportunity, issue, or task) that is urgent and important to the individual or business;

• A group of peers or a team ideally composed of four to eight individuals;

• A process of insightful questioning and reflective listening;

• Action taken on the problem;

• A commitment to learning;

• A coach.

PALS in Business© is:

• An opportunity to step back and reflect on personal and professional needs with valuable input on specific problems coming from other group members;

• A powerful and effective way for people to learn from one another and to develop personally and professionally;

• A process where you support other group members and learn with and through one other;

• A way of learning from, and being supported by, a skilled coach;

• The chance to work on real problems in the real world and build individual, team and organisational capabilities simultaneously all at minimal cost to the business.

Participants in PALS in Business© programmes are expected to raise and tackle difficult questions, discuss sensitive and sometimes controversial issues, and share their learning in a supportive environment. 

Confidence and trust are critical to the programme. Time is spent building a strong rapport and bonding between group members and there is an unwritten understanding that “what is said in the room stays in the room”.

PALS in Business© programmes may be run with peers from an organisation or a mixed set where you can work with peers from different sectors and different professional backgrounds.

Typical results for participants include:

• Addressing your strategic problems so you can move the business forward;

• Sharing of real world experiences, knowledge & support from the trenches;

• A sounding board for your ideas so you get  different perspectives;

• Asking of hard questions that make your decisions easy;

• A unique opportunity to develop your strategic business & leadership skills.

How does it work?

Once you have decided to join, you will be interviewed by phone or face-to-face and your eligibility for a place on the programme will be assessed. 

And if you qualify, you’ll be placed with an appropriate PALS in Business© Programme. 

You’ll meet with a group of peers for six sessions over a six to nine month period - roughly every six weeks (to accommodate business peaks and holiday periods). Each session will usually lasts a full day.

Typically, the group will meet at a bespoke location that is geographically convenient to most group members. (The venue will be a dedicated training environment with an atmosphere that is conducive to learning and enables you to take a step back from the business and focus on developing personally and professionally.)

Group members will come from a variety of professional backgrounds and work in different sectors. What you have in common is a problem to be solved and the need for structured time to reflect and to share learning.

The power of effective action learning is that the principles work for all types - and sizes of business.

And this is how PALS in Business© works:

1. The group comes together, re-integrates and members report briefly on what has been happening;

2. Group sets the agenda and negotiates the time assigned to each member (which may vary depending on need and urgency);

3. Members take it in turns to present their problem to the group;

4. Through reflective inquiry and dialogue, the group helps each presenter come to a greater understanding of their situation so that they can reframe the problem, determine goals and develop action strategies going forward.

The presenter is required to:

5. Take action between sessions;

6. At future meetings report on the action taken and the results achieved.

Group members ask questions in preference to making statements.  Giving prescriptive advice, telling anecdotes, making judgement, or comparisons to one's own situation is often unhelpful and therefore discouraged.

In addition, part each session may be given over to training the group in some aspect of management or leadership.

At the end of each session the group reflects on the process and gives feedback to each other on what has taken place.

What does the Coach do?

Coaching is necessary for the group to focus on the important (i.e., the learning discovery, development and personal growth) as well as the urgent (i.e., resolving the problem). The coach helps the team members reflect on both what they are learning and how they are solving problems. 

The learning coach also helps the team focus on what they are achieving, what they are finding difficult, what processes they are employing, and the implications of these processes.

The coaches for PALS in Business© will be Mark P. Russell and Rick Peet.  Both have participated in and coached Action Learning Sets and have wide-ranging experience of working in many different types of businesses and industry sectors. 

So, what do others say about it?

Here's what two of participants said about the PALS in Business© programme:

Comments from participants on recent programmes include:

And how much does it cost?

Here's The Best Part - The Price of Your Investment!

What guarantees do I have?