HUB RESEARCH PAPER - Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel

Process consultation revisited 21
are still using a close variant of the T-group as a first week residential workshop to build a
learning community. The aim there is reflection and consensual validation of the “here and
now”; the ongoing interactions and relationships among the participants (as in process
consultation). This level of reflection is negotiated with the participants when the common goal
is to learn about interdependence and group development towards further maturity levels
(Bouwen & Fry, 1996). The quality of interacting can enable the reflexive dialogues about
mutual feedback and social sense making. Continuously keeping an eye on the level of
authenticity, transparency and reciprocity enacted in the ongoing interactions is an important
working principle. In this kind of training and development groups, the task is the relational
work itself. Participants give feedback on each others’ being and acting in the group and
experiment with new forms of interacting that are more supporting the joint learning goals. The
being together is learning together. The essence of this process is so closely relation and context
bounded that it becomes difficult to speak in general terms about it.
During the two years, a series of residential workshops is set up, where the learning is
around the here-and-now ongoing relational practice, the jointly created role plays, simulations
of life cases and the joint practicing in the field in common organizational change projects. A
group of participants in a similar program from abroad, joins in for a week to create common
practices for cross-cultural exchange learning and multi-party collaboration experiences. The
learning context becomes also the context for meaning creation. The learning experience can
directly be connected to meaningful practice and the classical problem of transfer does not
emerge because of the richness of the learning context itself. Enacting, experiencing and
reflecting on common relational practices is the continuous learning ground for organizing
processes on all levels.