A learning lab has two elements: time to practice, and a safe place devoted to learning through action. In a learning lab, you explore real-life issues and develop solutions for these issues. And you test the solutions to find out whether or not they work — all in the safety of a learning lab. There are others in the learning lab who support you by asking fresh questions that bring your assumptions to the surface. Once you've tested your solutions, you can find out which ones work better, and why. This is the way that high-performing individuals mine their experiences for outstanding results.

We're always interested in testing new theories, research, and ideas about thinking and learning in the workplace. Our best way of learning is to try out new approaches in the real world by conducting MHA Learning Labs. People who are involved in these sessions are open to the emerging qualities of these learning experiences. These people are expert learners, open to the surprises that may emerge as everyone is learning.

Because we're testing new approaches, your level of involvement in the design is very high. Everyone involved in the learning lab works closely with MHA consultants to design, test, evaluate, re-design, re-test, and re-evaluate all aspects of the learning lab process. We also gather research information for publication, as well as for the organization and people involved.

"In sports and in the performing arts, two settings where teams consistently enhance their capabilities, players move regularly between a practice field and the real game, between rehearsal and performance. It is impossible to imagine a basketball team learning without rehearsal and performance. Yet, that is exactly what we expect to occur in our organizations. We expect people to learn when the costs of failure are high, when personal threat is great, when there is no opportunity to replay an important decision, and when there is no way to simplify complexity and shorten time delays so as to better understand the consequences of actions. Is it any wonder that learning in organizations is rare?"

Peter Senge et al., The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, 1994

Currently, we're interested in testing ideas, techniques, and fieldbooks in the following areas:

• Thinking and Acting for Organizational Change Using Action Science (with accompanying Fieldbook)
• Learning-Company Fieldbook (with accompanying course)
• Managing-Performance Fieldbook (with accompanying course)
• Leadership Through Learning Program
• Leadership Development Using Action Learning Program (with accompanying Fieldbook)

Contact Us for more information.

We have a set of criteria for conducting a learning lab to make sure that it's a learning lab and not a course or program that is based on existing knowledge. To become involved in an MHA Learning Lab, you must be willing:

• To address issues and conditions that are difficult and challenging
• To apply new theory, practice, and/or research that builds the knowledge base for everyone involved
• To experiment with new ways of thinking and learning
• To commit to the entire process of design, testing, evaluating, re-design, re-testing, and so on
• To involve all of the learners equally in the process
• To share the findings of the learning lab with others in the organization
• To allow MHA Institute Inc. to gather research and publish the results for the public

Contact us for more information.