Bringing people together for learning, action, and impact
- In today’s environment of dynamic change, continuous learning is imperative for individuals, teams, organizations, and communities.
- The challenge lies in providing learning supports that are time-efficient and directly relevant to the daily work of participants.
- What if we could bring people together for time-efficient learning that is explicitly designed to support focused action for positive impact?
- Our answer to this question is the Action Learning Network.
- The purpose of an Action Learning Network is to help a group of network members achieve their goals for learning, action, and impact.
- In a typical network experience, a group of network members with shared interests come together through a virtual hub where they build their capabilities through learning supports, coaching supports, and dialog with other members.
- Throughout this process the network members apply what they are learning by taking focused action for positive impact in their organizations and communities.
Network members can:
- Achieve their defined goals for learning, action, and impact
- Enrich and deepen their learning through dialog with other network participants
- Build collaborative relationships with other network participants
- Save substantial amounts of time and cost by engaging virtually and avoiding time and travel for in-person activities
Network sponsors can:
- Extend the reach of their support to multiple network members
- Create efficiencies for network members and their sponsoring organization
- Enable deeper learning for network members
- Enable connections and collaboration by network members
- Ensure accountability by tracking network activities and results
- Track outcomes in return for their investment in network supports
- Create a scalable platform for continuing learning and development that can be refined as needed to meet changing needs.
Creating an Action Learning Network is a surprisingly fast and easy process. Drawing on our deep experience and know-how, our CHS team can:
- Help you define the purpose and intended members of the network
- Provide the virtual learning hub for the network
- Engage the members in the virtual learning hub
- Develop and deliver topical content from open sources
- Identify and coordinate with expert presenters as needed for topical webinars
- Facilitate member webinars
- Facilitate member sharing of insights, ideas, and promising practices
- Provide as-needed coaching to help members optimize their experience
- Provide quality assurance for all members
- Help design and manage evaluation activities
We can also transfer the knowledge resources produced through the network to you at the end of the project. This step assures that valuable local knowledge stays local for future use.
At CHS we have created and supported Action Learning Networks for a variety of sponsors, members, and topics. Please contact us for a demonstration of multiple actual networks and a ‘back-office view’ of how they are designed and managed.
- Network sponsors have included:
- Associations
- Foundations
- Hospitals and Health Systems
- Public Agencies
- Research institutes and other nonprofit convening organizations
- Network members have included:
- Community organizations (food, housing, transportation, social services, education, employment, arts & culture, legal aid, literacy, and more)
- Education organizations (schools, higher education institutions)
- Health care organizations (medical care, mental health care, dental care, pharmacy care, substance use care, and more)
- Public agencies (health care, public health, social services, education, community development, parks & recreation, public safety, and more)
- Network topics have included:
- Community Collaboration for Medicaid Expansion
- Community Health Assessment and Improvement
- Chronic Care Improvement
- Collaboration and Teamwork for Health Care Teams
- Collaboration and Teamwork for Public Health Teams
- Firearm Violence Reduction
- Heart Health Promotion
- HPV Vaccination
- Integrating Health Care and Social Supports
- Leadership Development for Community Health Centers
- Leadership Development for Nursing Professionals
- Leadership Development or Physicians
- Low-Value Care Reduction
- Outreach and Access for Community Oral Health Care
- Maternal and Child Health
- Patient Centered Medical Home Certification
- Primary Care Innovation
- Quality Improvement for Asthma Care
- Quality Improvement for Cardiovascular Care
- Quality Improvement for Community Health Centers
- Quality Improvement for Diabetes and Depression
- Quality Improvement for Free and Charitable Clinics
- Substance Use Reduction
- Telehealth Strategies for Opioid Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery
- Telehealth Strategies for Rural Communities
- Telehealth Strategies for Schools
- Telling the Community Value Story for Community Behavioral Health Agencies
- Telling the Community Value Story for Community Health Centers
- Telling the Community Value Story for Free and Charitable Clinics
An Action Learning Network is a virtual space where professionals come together to pursue shared goals for learning, innovation, and impact — not just to exchange ideas, but to apply what they learn in real time to solve real-world challenges.”
