Mike Pedler

This book is an indispensable guide to building your management and leadership skills and abilities. It includes activities which can be undertaken alone, in a group or as part of a programme.In its seventh edition, the book is a carefully designed self-development programme aimed at helping leaders improve their performance, advance their careers and achieve their full potential. You are invited to complete a diagnostic career and life-planning activity first, before making a self-diagnosis of learning goals and priorities. Choose from 56 self-development activities covering a range of skills and competencies, including change management, coaching, collaborative working and emotional resilience. New Activities include Environmental Scanning, Using Artificial Intelligence, Mindfulness and Working Effectively with Groups. This new, updated edition reflects key changes in management and leadership practices over the last decade and is aligned to relevant professional frameworks.This book encourages people to believe in themselves and their abilities. It aims to empower you to reflect on your experiences of tackling challenges in the workplace and shows you how to move to the next level in your career, to become the best leader and manager that you can be.

This book is an indispensable guide to building your management and leadership skills and abilities. It includes activities which can be undertaken alone, in a group or as part of a programme. In its seventh edition, the book is a carefully designed self-development programme aimed at helping leaders improve their performance, advance their careers and achieve their full potential. You are invited to complete a diagnostic career and life-planning activity first, before making a self-diagnosis of learning goals and priorities. Choose from 56 self-development activities covering a range of skills and competencies, including change management, coaching, collaborative working and emotional resilience. New Activities include Environmental Scanning, Using Artificial Intelligence, Mindfulness and Working Effectively with Groups. This new, updated edition reflects key changes in management and leadership practices over the last decade and is aligned to relevant professional frameworks. This book encourages people to believe in themselves and their abilities. It aims to empower you to reflect on your experiences of tackling challenges in the workplace and shows you how to move to the next level in your career, to become the best leader and manager that you can be.

Action Learning for Managers is a clear, concise and straightforward guide to this well-established approach to problem solving and learning in groups that enables change in individuals, teams, organisations and systems. Through action learning people develop themselves and build the relationships that are the key to improving operations and bringing about innovations. With questionnaires, checklists, examples and practical advice, this little book includes everything you need to get started. Action learning is essentially a simple idea but one that requires thought, commitment and care to put into practice.

A Manager's Guide to Self-Development has become the indispensable guide for building management skillsNow in its sixth and substantially revised edition, this practical self-development guide helps new and experienced managers and leaders to improve their performance, advance their careers and realize their full potential. It provides: A complete picture of the managerial skills and competencies required from change management to coachingA flexible, self-development programme to do alone, with a colleague, or in a groupPart Two introduces a framework of 11 key managerial qualities. The diagnostic exercises help you to discover your strength and weaknesses, and identify your goals for self-development. Key features: Part Three features more than 55 practical activities, with references and follow up activities to help you develop your skills and abilities4 new activities including Planning & Decisions Making, Virtual Leadership, Critical Thinking and Reflective PracticeRadically updated 'Career/Life-Planning Activity' chapter featuring a more personal, self-developmental approachNew 'Trainer's Guide' offering guidance on how to structure sessions and use the activities with groups"Engaging, innovative and exciting to use in anyone's self development. The exercises are fun andilluminating, and the pace is fast and energising. A must read for any manager wanting to be 'the best'."Prof. Cary L. Cooper, CBE, Lancaster University Management School, UK"This book continues to be the shining light in guiding managers and leaders toward self-development."Dr Gareth Edwards, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, UK"Fads and fashions in management development come and go but this is an ever-reliable source of inspiration. This is a book that puts the power to act in the hands and heads of leaders and managers themselves."Professor Jeff Gold, Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK"Ideal for students of Business and Organisational Management at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and is equally suitable for both younger managers in the early parts of their career and experienced managers wishing to refresh their personal qualities after some years of operational experience."Barry Curnow, Head of Human Resources & Organisational Behaviour Department, University of Greenwich Business School, UK "This guide provides real support for managers to take charge of their own learning and all managers need to pay attention to making it happen."Prof Ian Cunningham, Self Managed Learning College, Brighton, UK"The changes introduced in the new edition mirror the strong focus on narrative and reflective sense-making, which are important in preparation for the positions of senior leadership our programme members aspire to."Chris Dalton, Henley Business School, UK"This book is an essential purchase for any manager who takes their development seriously."Kim Turnbull James, Professor of Executive Learning, Cranfield School of Management, UK"My introduction to the book was in 1978 and it has become a staple resource for my teaching ever since. The book recognises the fact that developing individuals is inextricably linked to developing organisations and if individuals are to be effective they need to know themselves and develop appropriate skills and attitudes. "Richard Thorpe, Professor of Management Development and Pro Dean Research, Leeds University Business School, UK

Action Learning is based on the simple idea that leaders and managers learn best by working together in a group, helping each other find solutions to real work problems through discussions. Facilitating Action Learning is a clear, concise and straightforward guide to this well-established leadership and management development technique.The role of the facilitator is to provide guidance in the action facilitation process. In this practical guide, Mike Pedler and Christine Abbott present a new threefold model of the facilitator's role - as initiator, set adviser and facilitator of organizational learning.Supported by many real life cases and practical examples, this superbly practical book shows you how - as a manager, business coach, trainer or facilitator - you can add to your repertoire of skills and abilities, and enhance your effectiveness as a leader and developer.Suitable as the course text for ILM Level 5 and 7 qualifications in Action Learning Facilitation."A 'must read' book providing a very practical method and approach for all those interested and passionate about helping people help themselves, and in optimizing Action Learning."Dr Yury Boshyk, Chairman, The Global Executive Learning Network, and the Annual Global Forum on Executive Development and Business Driven Action Learning, Canada"This book best reflects my lived experience of integrating learning and change in a large complex organisation; reading it was like coming home!"Mandy Chivers, Assistant Chief Executive, Mersey Care NHS Trust, UK"This is a superb, well-crafted book. The balance it achieves between conveying the spirit of action learning while providing concrete and practical tools is exemplary."Bob Dick, independent scholar, Australia"With this book, Christine and Mike have brought a significant maturity to the field of action learning. This book will go some way in helping action learning advisors improve their craft. An important contribution."Professor Jeff Gold, Leeds Business School, UK"Pedler and Abbott have done a masterful job in presenting and analyzing the wide array of roles and responsibilities that one can undertake in facilitating action learning groups."Michael Marquardt, President, World Institute for Action Learning, USA"Pedler and Abbot pack lifetimes of experience into this book - which shine through in the depth, breadth, and practicality of its coverage. Reflective tools accompany the reader throughout to help practitioners develop their own thinking and practice of Action Learning. This is a must-have for both practitioner and scholar resource libraries!"Victoria J. Marsick, Professor, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, USA"The authors have written a book that is engaging, inspiring and practical - a book to make you think also about learning relationships as constructionist practice; which they put forth as the correct approach and warn against action learning for power, influence and dominance."Paul Olson"This is an extremely significant contribution to understanding and developing practices in action learning. It will add value, provide direction and stimulate practitioners and academics in equal measure."Brian Milsom, University of Hull, UK

This book offers a useful and accessible guide to leadership. It encourages the reader to be pro-active and learn from experience to develop themselves, their colleagues and their organisation. Part 1 introduces the “3 C’s” model of leadership, while Part 2 develops practices that allow any leadership challenge to be overcome and Part 3 focuses on developing leadership and how best to enhance the leadership of individuals and organisations.

Action Learning for Managers is a clear, concise and straightforward guide to this well-established approach to problem solving and learning in groups that enables change in individuals, teams, organisations and systems. Through action learning people develop themselves and build the relationships that are the key to improving operations and bringing about innovations. With questionnaires, checklists, examples and practical advice, this little book includes everything you need to get started. Action learning is essentially a simple idea but one that requires thought, commitment and care to put into practice.

There is continuing government pressure on public services to 'reform' and change. Expectations of new forms and standards of delivery, joined-up practice and the re-connection of services to users are high. Unfortunately, many policy makers have become dangerously reliant on mechanistic top-down audit and inspection regimes as the means of implementation. This book sets out to redress the balance. It argues powerfully that whole systems approaches are required to lead the changes towards the demands for new service configurations, partnership working and local and neighbourhood governance. The book outlines the theory behind whole systems development and gives good practice guidance on how to effectively develop 'systems' to improve joined-up working.

This text provides tools such as a "Learning Company" questionnaire and updated "glimpses" incorporated into chapters, and offers examples to design and create an organization that is capable of adapting, changing and developing.