Jennifer Bowerman’s research while affiliated with Oxford Brookes University and other places

Provides a learner perspective on the processes and values attributed to learning at work. Relating to the challenges of senior managerial work and the possibilities for effecting improvements via the process of researching, exploring and writing a practitioner doctorate. The opportunities for “strategizing at work” are related to the author’s experiences of global doctoral set study.

Coaching networks have been implemented in some Canadian companies as a way of building personal innovation and creativity. The authors describe how such a network can be developed using just-in-time adult education principles, within an interpretive paradigm. Dialogue and conversation through coaching are used as a potential vehicle to bring about both individual and organizational transformation. Program participants value the network in terms of the opportunity both to learn new and useful skills for the workplace, and the opportunity to build self-confidence through relationships with others in the organization. Key issues for the authors include the need to build in-house expertise, ownership of the program, and the amount of structure necessary to maintain program integrity yet still permit maximum creativity on the part of participants.

Discusses an action learning program conducted in the Workers Compensation Board of Alberta. Presents five core concepts in the design and implementation of the program. Discusses the nature of the partnership which needs to exist between client and provider for an action learning intervention to be successful. Suggests further reading on action learning.

Examines a Coaching Network as a twenty-week learning program based on just in time learning principles that builds individual development and at the same time contributes to organizational learning and business success. The coaching philosophy and framework for coaching conversations to occur are described, as well as the process for implementing such a Network. Finally, ongoing challenges related to structure, ownership, and the need for more precise measurement of results are identified.