Military Review English Edition November December 2016 | Page 49

STAFF TRAINING

faster decision making, more collaboration across lines
of responsibility, and better trust among team members.
Marquardt also describes how the Boeing Company
capitalized on action learning to develop employees’
leadership skills and attributes while focusing on core
competencies. This resulted in strong relationships, trust,

reinforced action learning as a viable methodology to
achieve change. After several discussions and coaching
sessions, the Ukrainian battalion staff began to grasp the
issues and renewed their commitment to learn and grow.
The task force’s executive officer and its headquarters
commander became the primary action-learning coaches because of
their individual
Environmental and
expertise.
Cultural Factors
While
· Centralized command and control
· Not questioning authority figures
creating the
· Language barriers
action-learning
· Ongoing combat operations
· Soviet tactics
plan, the PATT
identified the
Outputs
need to address
· North American Treaty
Inputs
Transformation System
the challenge
Organization
staff
model
· Recently formed staff
· Action learning
· Mission command
· Vague staff functions
· Andragogy model
of training
· Empower subordinates
· Limited staff analysis
· Five military decision-making process
· Capable of warfighting
adults who were
· Limited functional integration
(MDMP) practical exercises
function integration
· Fifty-five days to train
· Command-post exercise
accustomed to
· Understand MDMP
· Access to training facilities
· Battalion situational training exercise
· Produce mission orders
a rigid thought
process. The
team chose the
Monitoring and Control
andragogy mod· Action learning coaches
· Flexible classroom structure
el to address this
Reflection and insightful questioning
challenge. In the
Assessment and capturing lessons learned
1970s, Malcolm
(Graphic by authors)
Knowles popularized andragoFigure 1. Design Input and Output Model
gy as a means
of effectively
and increased shared understanding of the company’s
teaching adult learners, bringing to light fundamenvision and mission.5
tal differences between the way children and adults
Action learning concentrates on developing solulearn.7 Andragogy research, such as papers regularly
tions to real problems using collaboration. The process
published in the scholarly journal New Directions for
includes a period of reflection on the results to improve
Adult and Continuing Education, shows that adults
an organization’s problem-solving methodology. For
learn best through hands-on application in which they
Ukraine’s urgent and uniquely diverse problems in
self-direct and actively lead their learning process.8
antiterrorism operations, action learning garnered quick
Practical exercises assist in formulating new experisupport. The Ukrainian staff, while learning the new
ences that translate into learnin g. Ukrainian officers
approach, embraced the intellectual curiosity that, aceasily achieved readiness, orientation, and motivation
cording to Marquardt, facilitates both personal and team to learn because they knew they were likely to return
introspection and reflection.6
to combat operations immediately.
The Ukrainian battalion expected to return to
conducting antiterrorism operations immediately folDeveloping a Plan for Training
lowing its nine-week training exercise at the IPSC. The
The PATT initially thought a progressive, linear
swiftness of the return to the front, coupled with the
approach was best suited to reach the desired end
urgency of the Ukrainian army’s institutional problems,
state. Upon further analysis, the team adapted a spiral
MILITARY REVIEW  November-December 2016

47