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Make
the Commitment to Be a Learning Organization
by Ken Blanchard
from LEVERAGE, No. 9
Copyright
© 1998 Pegasus Communications, Inc. (www.pegasuscom.com).
All rights reserved. No part of this article may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, without written permission from Pegasus Communications,
Inc. If you wish to distribute copies of this article,
please contact our Permissions Department at 781-398-9700
or permissions@pegasuscom.com.
There is a lot of talk today about the learning organization.
To me, this talk is quite refreshing. It suggests that
the classroom and the workplace have at long last merged,
and that business is quickly moving from being a place
of rules and regulations to one that focuses on personal
and collective growth and improvement.
Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline,
defines learning as "the expansion of one's capacity
to produce results." On an individual level, people
gain new insights and modify their behaviors, actions,
and perspectives about the world as a result. The same
is true for a group of individuals who collectively
build upon their shared knowledge.
There are many aspects that contribute to an effective
learning environment. To me, three of the most important
are openness, recall, and objectivity.
Openness
Probably the key to establishing an effective learning
environment is to have an institutionalized acceptance
of "openness," in which bringing up questions is encouraged.
When the environment is truly open, an individual can
express concerns without fear of retribution; hidden
agendas do not exist; and people say the same things
in a business meeting that they would after work. At
a different level, managers also need to encourage and
pick up on suggestions made by employees—often
championing other people's ideas through to completion.
Recall
In order to learn constantly, you have to have good
recall of what you already know and can build upon.
This "memory" is harder to achieve in an organization
than in an individual. When addressing a new issue,
problem, or decision, we try to start by collectively
remembering what we know about the issue at hand or
about related issues from our past experience. In our
company, we've found that we have to systemically capture
learning situations as they occur and then document
them as widely as is necessary. Thus, when we come to
a consensus on an issue in a meeting, we record it in
the minutes with its relevant rationale. Anyone not
at the meeting gets a copy of those decisions, which
are often also summarized in the company's newsletter
if they pertain to the entire organization.
Objectivity
Just as important as being open and having good recall
is trying to be objective; that is, seeking the best
answer to a question based on available data, logic,
and pre-established criteria. In our company, we seek
objectivity by first clarifying our purpose and then
imagining what a good solution would look like. Then,
especially on important or emotional decisions, we systematically
ask a set of questions about the issue or decision,
including:
• What are we excited about?
• What are we nervous about?
• What is likely to go wrong?
• How could we make it work? We find that these
specific questions allow the group to better focus on
the overall best solution to the problem.
One of our five core, explicitly stated values is "learning."
We view ourselves as a learning laboratory and, as a
result, constantly have experiments in progress. This
value, for us, has three operational parts: constantly
thriving to innovate, continually refining our products
and services, and applying knowledge in new ways to
develop people and organizations.
This article first appeared in Convene
magazine (September 1997) and is reprinted with
permission. (www.pcma.org)
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