What can be learned from this project?
The project is bespoke to the needs of the Black Country Consortium and partners, but represents a generic model that can be staged in other complex contexts to good effect. One essential ingredient is buy-in from the commissioning partners - in this case the Black Country Consortium - and an frontloading of support that demonstrates what the learning package might deliver. Experience suggest that without this effort, a programme may bypass skills development in the light of more pressing delivery concerns.
The Learning Lab has provided for cohesion between different agencies delivering the plans for the future of the Black Country
The use of neuro-linguistic programming – a style of working that involves taking responsibility for understanding self and others - in the action learning sets has given participants a valuable tool to complement other forms of skills development.
The Learning Lab experienced some delivery difficulties, reflecting the overall complexity of establishing Urban Park at an early stage. An important contribution to Urban Park was made, however, in terms of introducing practical approaches to partnership delivery. Valuable lessons were learnt about Learning Labs and the sustainable communities agenda.
RegenWM’s evaluation concluded that, with appropriate organisational commitment and input into project design, a Learning Lab can provide an effective introduction to embedding generic skills into an organisation as well as providing specific problem-solving benefits.
Topics associated with this project
Environmental, Partnership working, Regeneration, Skills, West Midlands