Reflected action learning: A method for collective competence development

The aim of this research is to suggest a method for collective competence development among ITconsultants. IT-consultants are involved in many challenging situations. They need to manage different organisational, semantic and technical issues. Managing this complexity requires a variety of competences. Examples of competences needed are business development, project management and information systemdevelopment. The competence developed is often individually based. Due to the competition between consultancy firms it is not sufficient with an individually based consult competence; rather the IT-consultants have to carry joint work procedures of the organisation. A consultancy firm possessing a high organisational competence is selling more than working hours; they are selling a reflected development approach. The competence of the IT-consultants is decisive concerning the outcome in the clients' organisations. The reasons for suggesting a reflective and structured approach for collective competence development are: 1) many ITconsultants are exchange experiences only hastily and at random. This means an ad hoc development of joint competencies. 2) IT-consultants often collaborate with clients rather than with other IT-consultants. If the ITconsultant is the only representative from the IT-organisation the interaction with other consultants is limited. The character of the IT-consultants' work situation means that there is a risk that the competencies resides only on an individual level and that they will not be properly transferred to the collective and organisational level. We have been inspired by theories such as: experiential learning, organisational learning, knowledge-in-action andstorytelling. The method development has been based on empirical data from two IT-consultancy firms. The main message of the paper is to argue for the need of a structured collective competence development process and that it is not sufficient to rely on sporadic and occasional knowledge exchange.