When technical expertise becomes a barrier: action learning in a high-reliability health technology organisation moving through transformation

This Account of Practice examines how selected Action Learning processes were adapted for a three-day summit involving 80 leaders in the Quality, Regulatory, Clinical & Medical Affairs function of an anonymised health technology organisation undergoing transformation. Rather than presenting the intervention as a conventional Action Learning programme, we explore what happened when disciplined questioning, reflection and collective sensemaking were concentrated within a time-bounded event. We found that these processes interrupted the rush to technical solutions, surfaced assumptions and partial perspectives, and helped leaders reframe and collectively hold adaptive transformation challenges. The summit also enabled participants to practise inquiry, listening and shared ownership as elements of the culture the transformation required. We conclude that Action Learning processes can complement established quality methods in expert, high-reliability cultures and can be purposefully adapted for other organisational settings, provided practitioners are explicit about the nature and limits of the adaptation.