A fundamentally different model for organisations
that need
change to last.
Why WAL is not a training programme
How the model works and why it holds
Across cultures, contexts and sectors
What makes WAL structurally different — not just philosophically different
Why conventional learning fails to create lasting change
From facilitator to participant. The organisation receives a framework, not a capability.
Change behaviour taught in workshops evaporates on return to complex real-world environments.
External consultants prescribe the path. The organisation follows — without genuine ownership.
Instead, our Change programmes require the hands-on involvement by participants and embrace the following maxim.
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn" — Benjamin Franklin
Via lectures, content delivery, slides
As in standard training & workshops
Via frameworks, case studies, simulations
As in most executive education
Via real work, real problems, real change
Through the WAL change model
Participants define the problem.
Participants do
the work.
Advisors guide methodology only.
| Dimension | Framework Providers | WAL change model |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Facilitator teaches — participants attend | Participants lead — Advisor guides on methodology |
| Source of solutions | Imported framework (Kotter, ADKAR, etc.) | Generated inside the organisation via cyclical learning cycles |
| Change path | Linear, pre-defined steps | Iterative — adapts to what the organisation discovers |
| Cultural fit | Universal template applied regardless | Begins with organisation's own context — no translation needed |
| What remains after | Certificates and trained individuals | Embedded capability, documented knowledge, certified practitioners |
How the WAL change model creates change that endures
Action Research | Action Learning | Reflective Practice
Systematic cyclical inquiry — plan, act, observe, reflect, evaluate. Applied to real organisational problems, not simulations. Each AR cycle builds on the last, adapting to what the organisation discovers.
Collaborative learning through questioning and reflection on real work challenges. Managers challenge each other's assumptions while working on live departmental change projects — not case studies.
Structured critical reflection converts lived experience into permanent knowledge. The mechanism that makes learning transferable and embeds change capability into the organisation long-term.
ARAL is not sequential — it is a living cycle that adapts to what the organisation discovers at each stage.
Reflective practice on a scoped work-based project. Builds evidence-based decision-making and the foundational habit of structured inquiry.
Managers run Action Learning projects within the broader change initiative. Peer challenge and collaborative reflection multiply insight.
Insights synthesised into a validated change programme. Change becomes organisational practice — not a one-off event or project.
The organisation documents and embeds what it has learned. Permanent intellectual assets and certified practitioners that outlast the engagement.
No external advisor prescribes the solution — they guide the process only. The solution is genuinely owned by the people who have worked on it and will sustain it.
There are no case studies or simulations. Rather, every project is a real organisational problem with real consequences. The outputs are solutions to the project and embedded learning for participants.
The cyclical nature of the WAL change model adapts to what is discovered at each stage of the project. Resistance, shifting stakeholders and emergence are inputs — not obstacles.
Certified practitioners, documented knowledge and a reflective culture remain long after the advisory engagement ends.
Because WAL starts from each organisation's own reality, it works across cultures without imposing a structured template.
A model refined over 40+ years, proven across sectors, cultures and continents
WAL programme to design and implement structural reform. Cyclical AR methodology enabled government managers to own their own reform — not implement one designed elsewhere.
Senior management WAL programme to navigate the Asian financial crisis. ARAL cycles used to manage structural and operational change under extreme external pressure.
WAL-based OHS Management System. Delivered by a local Programme Advisor who completed her own doctoral research on WAL — demonstrating capability transfer, not dependency.
Credentials
Middlesex University (UK) — Work-Based Learning accreditation • Leeds Trinity University (UK) — Programme recognition • Griffith University (AU) — Action Research collaboration • University of South Australia — Research partnership • University Malaysia Sarawak — Masters completions
CAL-F
Certified Action Learning Facilitator
CWBL-P
Certified Work-Based Learning Practitioner
CWAL-P
Certified Work-Applied Learning Practitioner
CWAL-CA
Certified Work-Applied Learning Change Advisor
Co-badged with ALARA | Advanced standing toward Masters study at Australian Institute of Business
The WAL change model can also be licensed directly to corporations, associations and public sector organisations for internal delivery to their own employees and members.
Ideal Clients
Leading significant change who are not satisfied with off-the-shelf frameworks. Want managers to develop real change capability — not attend a course.
Whose change is accountable to citizens, not shareholders. Need a model that builds genuine internal capability — not a consulting dependency.
Who want a methodology built around their own organisational reality — not imported from a Western management school.
Operating across multiple cultural contexts. Need consistent methodology with locally-generated content — not a standardised programme from HQ.
Founder Emeritus Prof Selva Abraham has been developing and
refining
this model since 1979 — across sectors, cultures and
continents.