NICK WRIGHT
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Learning review

11/11/2022

28 Comments

 
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‘Are we learning yet?’ (John Connor to the Terminator)

‘History never repeats itself. Every single historical moment is distinct from those past.’ (Angela Johnson). That said, we can and do well to learn from the past to help inform our decisions for the future. This is a core principle of Learning Reviews. Some years ago, Learning Reviews were a key part of knowledge management (KM). The idea of KM was to capture, distil and disseminate learning from projects, to save others in future from having to start from scratch or re-invent the wheel.

Things became quite complex if, say, project participants had a vested interest (e.g. for competitive advantage) in retaining, rather than sharing, what they had learned from experience; or hidden factors that had influenced success in one instance or arena were subtly different to those in a new situation. Against this backdrop, KM evolved into wisdom management (WM), where those engaged in the process would critically-evaluate insights and ideas rather than simply re-apply them.

I ran lots of Learning Reviews with international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), where I developed and practised an appreciative approach that I will share here. Imagine a grid with ‘What Went Well’ (WWW) and ‘Even Better If’ (EBI) as column headings; and ‘Why’, ‘What’, ‘How’ and ‘Who’ as separate rows. ‘Why’ focuses on purpose; ‘What’ on content; ‘How’ on methods; and ‘Who’ on people and relationships. I would give each key stakeholder a copy of the template in advance.

At the start of a Learning Review meeting, I would invite participants to decide on key questions (e.g. ‘What are the questions that, if we were to answer them, would enable us to draw out key insights?’). Then, I would facilitate the group to engage in a process of critical reflexivity, addressing blind spots (e.g. ‘What assumptions are we making that could prevent us gaining deeper insights?') and hot spots (e.g. ‘What issues may we be tempted to avoid in case they feel too difficult or painful?’).

This groundwork with a group at the outset often proved vital. It enabled participants to contract with me and with each other around issues such as trust, vulnerability, humility and courage, as foundations for the Review itself. We would then explore the Why, What, How and Who dimensions using the WWW and EBI philosophy and approach, working rigorously to identify the conditions (e.g. personal or broader contextual) that had contributed to what had been experienced.

I would end the Review by inviting participants to identify and crystallise, out of all that had been considered and discussed, the top 3-5 critical success factors for initiatives of this type. The final challenge would be to articulate and publish the resulting discoveries as tangible, transferable recommendations that would be easily understandable and accessible to other leaders and participants in future projects, along with details of who to contact if further insight is needed.

What have been your experiences of Learning Reviews? What have you learned through doing them?
28 Comments
Lee Adamson
12/11/2022 08:47:42 am

Nick, this would work if we have already done a project. What if we are running a project for the first time?

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 09:09:54 am

Hi Lee. That's a good question. Yes, what I have outlined here is sometimes called an 'after action review'. If running a new project for the first time, we could run a learning-before meeting to reflect on learning from other experiences (e.g. of running or being part of project teams) and, as in the blog, engage in a process of critical reflexivity (e.g. 'What are we assuming?') before starting the project itself.

If we are planning to move forward with a particularly complex or innovative project, or where there have been significant contextual changes so that learning from the past may not be a particularly useful guide for the future, we can adopt an alternative 'test and learn' approach. This involves, in effect, learning on route: creating periodic pause-reflect-act moments as the project progresses.

These short related pieces may be of interest?

https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/test-and-learn
https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/tactical-adaptive-leadership
https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/think
https://www.nick-wright.com/mirror-mirror.html

Reply
Anna Radmore
12/11/2022 09:16:27 am

Hi Nick. I love this! I work for an international company. Have you tried doing learning reviews with managers and staff from different cultures? Any tips? Thank you!

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 09:29:57 am

Hi Anna. Thanks for such encouraging feedback! I think that's a great and important question. Yes, I have led and facilitated learning reviews with participants from diverse cultural backgrounds and contexts. It's quite a complex area (and I haven't always got it right!). Based on my own experiences and learning to date:

*Invite people from the different cultural groups involved in the learning review beforehand to say what would make it work well for them. This helps us to take the different norms and preferences into account without having to second-guess what each may want and need.

*Be aware that different people from the same cultural group and context may, nevertheless, have different personal or sub-cultural norms and preferences. This helps us to avoid generalising or stereotyping, e.g. as if everyone from the same cultural group has the same interests and needs.

*Be particularly aware of power dynamics in groups and organisations (e.g. based on hierarchy, age, ethnicity, gender), and that an apparently innocent-neutral learning review can evoke fears of blame and shame, and therefore defensive routines, especially if conducted in a group setting.

Reply
Paul Kirchhardt
12/11/2022 09:33:38 am

Hello Nick. You make me think. We do learning reviews and ask about positives and negatives. Sometimes people don't want talk about negatives in case feel criticised. Do you agree?

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 09:37:19 am

Thank you, Paul. Yes, indeed. A learning review can feel quite exposing, especially if it is to be conducted rigorously. It can raise questions of accountability and, at times, evoke anxiety.

I like the WWW-EBI approach because it is appreciative, solutions-focused and future-orientated. The critical reflexivity stage can help to surface and address anxieties in advance.

Reply
Olivia Nutsford
12/11/2022 09:39:40 am

Hi Nick. I really like this. I'm not familiar with critical reflexivity. Can you share an example of what it could look like in practice?

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 09:52:15 am

Thank you, Olivia. A metaphor for critical reflexivity could be, say, to take a long, hard and honest look at ourselves in a mirror, perhaps with a critical friend alongside us as we do it.

An example: I was leading a Learning Review in advance of a strategy development process. The senior leader in the room, modelling a spirit of trust, vulnerability, humility and courage, confessed to the group, 'I think I have made too many assumptions about our beneficiaries. Until now, I have allowed my own assumptions to guide my thinking and decisions, rather than asking a genuinely representative sample group what they really want and need from us.'

The impact in the group was and felt incredible. Another leader then spoke up. 'Thank you for being so honest. I too have felt like the information and statistics we present in our reports are too superficial and not sufficiently evidence-based. I thought it was just me who felt that way, and I wish I had been more honest and courageous to raise this earlier.' The ensuring spirit of openness, and a willingness to invite and challenge their own fundamental assumptions, proved absolutely transformational to the strategy.

Reply
Andy Ackers
12/11/2022 10:22:53 am

Interesting article Nick. Why do you think KM fell out of fashion? Is it that organisations lost interest in learning?

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 10:35:11 am

Hi Andy. What an interesting question! To be honest, I don't know how widely KM is now used in organisations. I tend to hear more of organisations using, say, 'test and learn'. I could hypothesis that, perhaps:

*KM is now embedded in organisational practices, rather than identified as a separate process (e.g. in organisations that repeat similar projects over periods of time).

*KM processes sometimes became heavy and cumbersome, resulting in people losing interest in them - and a risk of subtractive value if the benefits don't outweigh the costs.

*In some people and cultures, people get a buzz from discovering and creating things for themselves. Reinventing a wheel can feel more exciting than using someone else's.

*In a VUCA, RUPT and BANI era, adaptive learning in response to emerging actions and events can feel more realistic and useful than drawing on wisdom from the past.

On this theme, these short related pieces may be of interest?

https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/dazed-and-confused
https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/test-and-learn
https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/tactical-adaptive-leadership

Reply
Ti Ne
12/11/2022 10:35:55 am

Super good, as always. Nobody teaches this kind of stuff.

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 10:36:36 am

Encouraging feedback, as always too, Ti Ne. Thank you! :)

Reply
Jasmin V.
12/11/2022 10:39:13 am

Mabuhay Nick! I love these insights. I pray we Filipinos will learn from our history so that we don't repeat our history.

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 10:41:41 am

Mabuhay Jasmin - and thank you. :) Yes, I know that is a very live, real and important issue in the Philippines at the moment, especially in light of this year's election results. I'm praying too.

Reply
Frank Emerson
12/11/2022 10:43:10 am

Nick, I can see so many parallels in biblical theology. Thanks for sharing.

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 10:51:22 am

Thank you, Frank - you're welcome. Yes, me too. God's exhortation to people and community to 'look back - and learn' is a recurring theme throughout the old and new testaments. One of the passages I keep returning back to is a deeply profound conversation between Jesus and his disciples:

Jesus: 'Remember the five loaves I broke for the five thousand? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up?'

Disciples: 'Twelve.'

Jesus: 'And the seven loaves for the four thousand—how many bags full of leftovers did you get?'

Disciples: 'Seven.'

Jesus: 'Do you still not get it?'

(Mark 8:19ff)

Reply
Hans Vogel
12/11/2022 10:56:08 am

You are too idealistic. It takes too long time. Nobody will do it.

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 10:58:26 am

Hi Hans. Thank you for posing that challenge. Yes, you highlight a risk of KM and Learning Reviews. On that note, you may find these pragmatic top tips/guidelines interesting and useful?

https://www.nick-wright.com/knowledge-management-tips.html

Reply
Danielle Moreau
12/11/2022 11:04:45 am

Hello Nick. I work in an NGO. We are accountable to sponsors, beneficiaries and our own staff and volunteers. We do learning reviews to improve our accountability and effectiveness. Sometimes, it feels like learning and accountability are difficult to hold together. People may hide their failures if they fear negative consequences. How can we handle the tensions?

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 11:16:07 am

Hi Danielle. Thank you for sharing such an important question. In my experience, we need to ensure that Learning Reviews have a clear and explicit purpose; and to contract well with participants to create-agree the conditions in which they will be (and feel) willing and able to contribute honestly and usefully.

I worked with Christian INGO where we faced similar issues. In order to address this tension-dynamic, we introduced a performance development system, in which evidence of learning and application of learning were regarded as evidence of and contributions to 'good performance'. That helped to create a healthy culture of learning and accountability.

On this issue more broadly, you may find this stimulating research paper interesting? 'Accountability versus learning in aid evaluation: A practice-oriented exploration of persistent dilemmas': https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13563890221100848

Reply
Sandra Porter
12/11/2022 11:26:31 am

This is so interesting Nick. We use WWW/EBI with students in schools but I hadn't thought about using it in learning reviews too. We ran learning reviews in the past but, on occasion, they surfaced legal, regulatory or ethical issues that turned the reviews into investigations. That made some teachers feel threatened and put on the spot in front of peers and now it's hard to get people to take part in them.

Reply
Nick Wright
12/11/2022 11:43:49 am

Thank you, Sandra. Yes, I first encountered WWW-EBI at a high school where teachers were using it with students. I love it! And...wow - that sounds like a very tricky issue you have raised and experienced. I find myself now wondering how to avoid and address such tensions and dilemmas arising in a Learning Review. It sounds like it could be useful (which you may have done already):

1. To acknowledge explicitly what has happened in the past, how understandably difficult it felt at the time, and how that could make some people feel anxious or reluctant to take part in reviews now.

2. To invite teachers to reflect on the purpose and potential benefits of Learning Reviews, perhaps identifying some of the beneficial results that have arisen as a result of doing them previously.

3. To discuss and agree a clear purpose, focus and boundaries of future Learning Reviews, including contracting around how any potential legal, regulatory or ethical issues that could emerge would be handled.

4. To use WWW-EBI towards the end of each subsequent Learning Review as a way of building on what went well in the Review, and what could make the biggest positive differences in future Reviews - then actioning it.

Reply
Alan Jackson
14/11/2022 12:26:11 pm

Thanks for sharing, Nick. You reminded me of peer review in academic circles.

Reply
Nick Wright
14/11/2022 12:27:21 pm

Thanks Alan. Yes - peer review is a great way of stress-testing research and, thereby, to enhance learning.

Reply
Leila Fernandez
14/11/2022 12:28:36 pm

Hi Nick. Your blogs are a kind of learning review, right?

Reply
Nick Wright
14/11/2022 12:30:10 pm

Hi Leila. That's a in interesting insight! Yes, I write blogs as a way of sharing insights and ideas, and inviting feedback that stretches, adds to and enhances my own learning in these fields.

Reply
Jean-Paul Vanier
14/11/2022 02:57:39 pm

Hello Nick. We use learning reviews during our theory of change process. It helps us test our assumptions and improve our services.

Reply
Nick Wright
14/11/2022 02:59:44 pm

Hi Jean-Paul. That sounds like a great use of Learning Reviews!

(For others who may be interested in learning about Theories of Change:

*https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/theory-of-change
*https://www.theoryofchange.org/what-is-theory-of-change/)

Reply



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    ​Nick Wright

    ​I'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? ​Get in touch!

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