Action Learning to enable organisational change in rural businesses

Menter a Busnes (MaB), an economic development company based in Wales, UK, has been using group processes and specifically Action Learning with rural businesses since 2003. Action Learning is fundamentally a coaching process with the coachee being supported by a facilitated group of like-minded individuals who must be willing to learn and to change. The process is designed to develop management capabilities, instigate change and empower and encourage group members to create viable and sustainable businesses for the future. Action Learning is used by MaB’s management development programme for Welsh farmers and foresters, namely Agrisgôp. This paper reports the results of a longitudinal mixed-measures study designed to evaluate the impact of the Agrisgôp programme. Three different questionnaires were developed and completed by over 1,000 Agrisgôp group members pre-, mid- and post-group participation. The results indicate that Agrisgôp’s Action Learning intervention is successfully encouraging and supporting its group members to seek out, instigate and embrace change. The respondents reported increased confidence, improved communication skills, were better able to apply new information to their business, had a more positive attitude to change, and were more likely to have a long term business strategy as a consequence of the Agrisgôp group intervention. The quantitative analysis was supported by qualitative data. Some conclusions are drawn with regard to lessons learnt and possible ways forward, both for Agrisgôp and for this approach to programme evaluation.