We have considerable experience in the facilitation of action learning and action enquiry groups within organisations, as part of Leadership development programmes and as free standing leadership development processes. These groups are excellent forums for leaders, including Clinicians, to learn from and with each other through 'real-life' here and now experiences. It ensures that the learning can be applied immediately back in the work-place, and the responses felt. We encourage members of action learning or action enquiry groups to keep a reflective diary to deepen and extend their learning. Typically, a group of around 8 people come together, and commit to work together and to support each other's learning for a set period of time, and in a particular way. For example, the learning set might meet one day every two months for a year or overnight and a day, every three months. The important element is the commitment to each other and to the learning set.

Over the last four years, Julia has worked closely with Valerie Iles (www.reallylearning.com), in the creation and facilitation of issue-focused action learning/enquiry groups. The first focused on partnership working and resulted in a publication 'Beyond Partnership'

The second and third groups met to consider 'why it is that good people end up giving bad care'. This resulted in a publication in February 2010 See: 'Take it to the Limit Report', Valerie Iles has just completed creating a book from the work of these learning sets and that is available from www.reallylearning.com and from www.caringaboutcare.net.

We are about to start a fourth action enquiry group which will explore the issues concerned with 'One Planet Healthcare' - how the sustainability issues really impact on healthcare.

It is 'close learning' as it happens very close to the work of the team often a clinical team engaged in service innovation, and will involve contact with the team coach in a variety of different ways aimed to build up leadership and innovation effectiveness.

This is closely aligned with team coaching, and offers something in addition; the input of knowledge which is relevant to the team task/commissioning and the focus on leadership within the team and by the team within the wider system.

It is ‘close learning’ as it happens very close to the work of the team often a clinical team engaged in service innovation, and will involve contact with the team coach in a variety of different ways aimed to build up leadership and innovation effectiveness