Introduction:
This abstract presents a project on how action learning works as an approach to develop leadership skills in quality improvement (QI) related to a brand-new university hospital (Cho & Egan, 2010; Volz-Peacock et al., 2016). A new university hospital is an opportunity to rethinking the current leadership in QI in a complex healthcare system.
The healthcare systems approach to develop leadership skills in QI are often decontextualized from practice at formal educational institutions or expensive consulting houses. Furthermore, quality projects mainly focus on learning at the organizational level.
The project draws on the school of action learning in organizations by the american researcher in Business-Driven Action Learning Yury Boshyk (2011) based on the ground rules in action learning by Reg. Revans (2011). The project also draws on a collective approach to leadership based on Leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) through social interactions and critical reflective dialogue (Raelin 2016, 2017).
Organizational context:
The project was carried out in close collaboration with University Hospital Aalborg in Northern Region of Denmark and Danish Society of Patient Safety. New Aalborg University Hospital “NAU” is a brand-new hospital construction in Denmark and located in Northern Denmark. NAU is planned to open for the public in the end of 2023.
Aims of the project:
The overall aim of the project is to examine and discus, how action learning works as an approach to develop leadership skills in QI related to NAU. In addition, what are the strength and weaknesses of action learning as an approach to develop leadership skills in QI. The project is also a part of the preparations for creating an effective NAU with continuous learning and development of quality in practice in the entire organization.


Research question:

This project seeks to answer the following questions: How does action learning works as an approach to develop leadership skills in quality improvement in relation to the New Aalborg University Hospital? In addition: What are the strengths and weaknesses of action learning as an approach to develop leadership skills in QI?
Research methods:
The research methods are based on a case study (Flyvbjerg 2015) about action learning in NAU with a “set” or team of five young physicians and two nurses. The case study is limited to two learning sessions in a period of four weeks. Each learning session had a duration of a day facilitated by a coach. Data are collected from ethnographic observations in the two action learning sessions. The social interactions and critical reflective dialogue in the team was sound recorded. In addition, the participants wrote their reflections on their learning in a personal learning report.
Findings and conclusion:
The preliminary findings show that there is a great potential in action learning as an approach to develop leadership skills in a team based on social interactions, critical reflective dialogue, and action in relation to solving organizational quality problems. Action learning creates learning on the individual- and team level with potential to learning at the organizational level.
The developed leadership skills are all about: creating trustful social relations in a team, practice critical reflective dialogue, listen carefully to multiple perspectives and use open questions in reflective dialogue, self-reflection on own development of leadership skills, a meta perspective on routines and taken-for-granted assumptions in the organization and own leadership in practice.
Furthermore, the findings show that action learning creates a safe learning environment with real-time feedback on newly developed leadership skills supported by a facilitator or coach. Further studies are needed to examine how the leadership skills are embodied in practice in their own organizations.