Action learning and healthcare: affinities and challenges

Action learning has been used in healthcare settings to bring about changes to how services are delivered, to help individuals to develop their knowledge and skills, including leadership development, and to enable the development of collective abilities and communities of practice. It is evident that there are some positive elements in the healthcare environment that support the processes of action learning – what we might call affinities between the environment and these processes. However, those who have practised action learning in these environments also know that difficulties and disablers can arise, to derail or block the processes – what we might, perhaps optimistically, call challenges.