Developing a Learning Organization

1
Developing a Learning Organization

• A Learning Organization is based on principles of
  Total Quality Management and the work of people
  like Peter Senge, Sue Miller Hurst, David Bohm,
  and others.

2
The Five Disciplines of a Learning Organization
(P. Senge)

• 1. Building a Shared Vision--the practice of
  unearthing shared pictures of the future that
  foster genuine commitment.
• 2. Personal Mastery--the skill of continually
  clarifying and deepening our personal vision.
• 3. Mental Models--the ability to unearth our
  internal pictures of the world, to scrutinize
  them, and to make them open to the influence of
  others.

3
The Five Disciplines (continued)

• 4. Team Learning--the capacity to think together
  which is gained by mastering the practice of
  dialogue and discussion.
• 5. Systems Thinking--the discipline that
  integrates the others, fusing them into a
  coherent body of theory and practice.
• (Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline The art
  and practice of the learning organization. New
  York Double-day.)

4
Building Blocks of a Learning Organization

• Storytelling
• Leaders must articulate the groups vision of the
  future and the purpose of the organization. This
  is done often and in many venues with all
  constituents.
• Dialogue
• This is the ability of the organizations members
  to truly communicate in small and large groups.
  New insights and learning takes place through
  Dialogue.

5
Dialogue

• The object of discussion is usually to win your
  point
• In Dialogue no one is trying to win. Everyone
  plays with one another.
• Two types generative and strategic,
  respectively, Unstructured v. Problem to solve.
• Begin by checking inby stating what you are
  thinking, feeling, or wondering at the moment.
• Guidelines sit in a circle, speak to the center,
  listen with respect, practice the disciplines
  (next slide), leaderless, create a safe container.

6
The Disciplines of Dialogue

• Active Listening non judgmental, listen deeply.
• Suspending Certainty suspend your certainly for
  the moment and open the door for learning.
• Slow Down the Inquiry wait before responding to
  think, consider and reflect upon what you heard.
• Hold the Space for Difference allow for
  differences of opinions.
• Speak from Awareness speak when you are
  compelled to from inside. Otherwise, listen.

7
The Seven Learning Disabilities

• 1. I am my position. This leads to myopic and
  non-systemic views of the organization.
• 2. The enemy is out there. Flows from above,
  especially when combined with small group
  identification. We protect ourselves and have a
  narrow sense of self-identification. Others
  screw up and we have to protect ourselves.

8
The Seven Learning Disabilities (continued)

• 3. The illusion of taking charge. Too often
  proactive orientation means fighting the
  enemies to get what we want. True proactive
  orientation comes from seeing how our own
  actions contribute to problems.
• 4. Fixation on events. We see events as having
  one or two causes rather than seeing most
  problems as coming from slow, gradual processes.

9
The Seven Learning Disabilities (continued)

• 5. The parable of the Boiled Frog. We react to
  sudden threats, but we are poor at reacting to
  gradual threats.
• 6. The delusion of learning from experience. We
  learn from experience, but critical decisions
  (changes) have systemwide consequences that
  stretch over years.

10
The Seven Learning Disabilities (continued)

• 7. The myth of the management team. Most teams
  operate below the level of the lowest IQ in the
  group. The result is skilled incompetence--teams
  of people who are proficient at keeping
  themselves from learning, which should be
  accomplished through Dialogue.
• (Senge, p. 17-26)

11
TQM Tidbits

• Drive out fear, so that everyone may work
  effectively for the organization.--W. Edwards
  Deming
• Trust cannot be mandated. Yet it is the cheapest,
  most sensible, and for us, most radical means for
  reform of the system that can be recommended.
  --Ted Sizer
• We can and should shape our future because if we
  dont somebody else will. --Joel Barker

12
TQM Tidbits (continued)

• The best way to predict the future is to create
  it. --Peter Drucker
• Even if you are on the right track, if you just
  sit there you will get run over. --Will Rogers
• Four things are needed to change any
  organization trustworthiness, trust,
  empowerment, and alignment of goals. --Stephen
  Covey
• Anytime we think the problem is out there, that
  is the problem. --Stephen Covey

13
TQM Tidbits (continued)

• 4 important questions to keep us on track toward
  quality
• Who are my (our) customers?
• What are their needs?
• How am I (we) doing?
• What can I (we) do better? --Jim Leonard
• What gets measured gets done. --Tom Peters
• You wont get anywhere if you dont have a goal.
  --Ben Franklin

14
TQM Tidbits (continued)

• The person who figures out how to harness the
  collective genius of the people in his or her
  organization is going to blow the competition
  away. --Walter Wristen (former Citibank CEO)
• The world we have created is a product of our
  thinking, it cannot be changed without changing
  our thinking. --Albert Einstein
• Transformation begins with the individual. --W.
  Edwards Deming

15
Final Thoughts

• Everyone doing his or her best isnt the answer.
  The first step in transformation is to learn how
  to change. --W. Edwards Deming
• Organizations seriously committed to quality
  management are uniquely prepared to study the
  learning disciplines and to be life long learners
  on a never ending developmental path as
  individuals and organizations. --Peter Senge
• ltthe endgt