CASE STUDY:

Action Mapping Strategy Sessions

Bright yellow invite with a world map and photo of the facilitator. Text reads ACTION MAPPING STRATEGY SESSIONS. Join us to practice your skills in analysis, training design, performance improvement, and consulting in a warm & welcoming social space.

Virtual Workshops and Toolkit

The Deliverables

  • 2 interactive practice sessions facilitated on Engageli

  • Facilitator guide and toolkit with 6 guided practice activities, job aids, and resource list 

  • Anonymous feedback forms with assessment questions 

The Stakeholders

The GLDC (Global Learning & Development Community) is a virtual networking hub of experienced and emerging L&D professionals who have given me knowledge, encouragement, and fun. I wanted to give something back - so I worked with colleagues to identify a community need and plan an intervention.  

The Problem

The job market is crowded with seekers who are good at learning and design, but lack business acumen and practice in analysis, evaluation, and performance consulting. I consulted with experienced L&D colleagues and built my analysis on the question: What are some gaps between what companies and organizations need and what L&D specialists are delivering? I created an action map in Miro and designed interventions for L&D colleagues to close those gaps.

Action map lists goal in center with arrows pointing to target actions, practice activities, and minimum information needed.

Portion of the action map in Miro

The Power of Social Learning

Social learning can result in greater ROIs than web-based training - and the impacts reverberate long after when people network and continue to learn from each other. I designed interactive sessions with differentiated instruction for beginning to intermediate learners. Participants engaged in thought-provoking debates about L&D scenarios, shared insights and skills, and chose breakout rooms according on their experience level and interests for guided skills practice with the toolkit.

Paulo Freirie gazing up and smiling. He has a white beard and glasses and books in the background.

“No one educates anyone else, nor do we educate ourselves. We educate one another in communion, in the context of living in this world.”

- PAULO FREIRE

The Toolkit

I used Google Docs to create a fast, accessible MVP (minimally viable product): a digital workbook for in-session and post-session learning with practice activities, job aids, and a resource list. I gave participants a tour of key parts before each breakout, demonstrating how they might use the toolkit to guide group discussions and practice relevant skills. 

  • Activity page: Set your performance goal. Examples of measurable business goals and instructions to set your own goal.

    Activity: Write a performance-based business goal.

  • Activity guide: Create your own action map. Multi-colored mind map with boxes to fill with goal, actions, practice activities, and minimum information needed.

    Activity: Create your own action map.

  • Activity guide: Idea bank. List of potential practice activities and job aids.

    Idea Bank: Practice activities and job aids.

  • Activity guide: Can you create alluring distractors? Sample scenarios with instructions on how to revise them to encourage critical thinking opportunities.

    Activity: Revise scenarios for teachable moments that boost critical thinking

  • Job aid: Alluring Distractors Checklist: Are you crafting strong scenarios that compel learners to slow down and think? List of "too easy" and "just right" characteristics with list of tips.

    Job Aid: Checklist for "just-right" assessment questions

  • Activity: make your own job aid. Discuss when action mapping works well and when it doesn't, and fill out two columns to organize findings.

    Activity: Discuss when action mapping will and won't work

The Impact

I had minimal time and widely dispersed learners, so I limited the evaluation to Kirkpatrick Level 1 and 2 (reaction and learning).  I collected quantitative and qualitative data, including pre-and-post assessments and anonymous feedback forms with rating scales and open-ended questions. Participant success rates nearly doubled - from 37 to 70 percent. 100% of participants enjoyed the sessions, and 83% believed that this intervention would help them with their career goals.

Line graph. Participant Growth: Learning as measured by how many times participants chose the ‘best’ response, most directly focused on performance improvement & business outcomes). Green line demonstrates growth from 37% to 70% post-session.
Two pie graphs. First graph reads Participant Reaction: "I enjoyed this workshop." 66.7% Strongly Agree. 33.3% Agree. Second chart reads, Participant Reaction: "This workshop will help me with my career goals." 66.7% Strongly Agree. 16.7% Agree. 16.7

Testimonials

“I loved the Engageli platform and the way you included so much participation in the session.”

“The different possible objectives were really well thought out, making it interesting to figure out what would be the most effective [scenario].”

“I enjoyed Kate’s facilitation, and meeting and learning about the other participants.”

“The [breakout] activities to flesh out a real scenario were very helpful.”

“Very interactive and good conversation.”

Challenges

  • Several participants gave me feedback that intros ran too long. I adjusted Session 2 for shorter intros via chat and word cloud poll, and more high-quality interactions working in small groups. 

  • Some beginners felt lost in breakout groups without a sample action map. I added a worked example to the Toolkit - and I went back and brushed up on Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory.

  • It was hard to reduce cognitive load in the learning scenarios. I wanted to mirror the reality of performance consulting: we often have to sift through extraneous information as we help clients untangle complex problems and organize their priorities. In the future, I will adjust the training to give beginners more time to practice action mapping / needs analysis fundamentals, and tackle performance consulting and prioritization later on as discrete skills.

Stone carved statue of Laotzu with a beard, bun, and hand lifted in the air.

“When the true leader leads, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.”

- LAOTZU

Lessons for the Future

Social learning works! Especially when it’s driven by solid research, realistic problem-solving practice, and accessible resources - and delivered in spaces that are structured but flexible. That said, for this project, there are many things I would improve or expand upon:

  • Higher levels of evaluation (behavior change, business outcomes, ROI).

  • Rebuild the toolkit with Storyline for more robust, responsive UX/UI.

  • Cohort-based learning with more workflow training and drip training.

  • A strategic marketing campaign to attract participants and keep them invested.

So much talent already exists in our companies and organizations. With collaborative learning, we can leverage it for sustainable growth as colleagues share skills, build confidence, and boost their leadership capacities.

Zoom meeting with 16 people from diverse backgrounds and locations smiling at the camera.

Colleagues sharing skills and stories at a GLDC Networking Meetup

To learn more about Action Mapping Strategy Sessions,

visit the facilitator guide and toolkit: