Substantiating relational reflexive practice: where the paddle meets the water

This paper is the product of a year-long process of inquiry with an opportunistically chosen group of fellow travellers in management education. We provide examples of relational reflexive practice, noticing the entanglements with art and relevant literature, as well as our own practice as educators, researchers and organisa- tional practitioners. We revive Hannah Arendt’s notion of ‘action’, (and the interaction with ‘work’), the invisible and often overlooked movement across a web of relationships by which change happens in human processes (Arendt, 1958, 2018). We use our experience of our contact with the river, amongst other imagery, to make visible this ephemeral yet vital quality of relationships and give it its right- ful place in management education. Using a deliberately emergent action research methodology, as an opportunistic and grounded practice rather than a paradigmatic distinction, we aim to substanti- ate and develop relational reflexive practice for ourselves and with our diverse community. For this reason we return to methods and choices at several points in the paper. We shy away from bold claims, insights or definitions, as this dulls reflexive practice.