Peter Senge is often credited with popularising the notion of the 'learning organisation' in his book The Fifth Discipline (1990), but the work does not extend to details and mechanics. In addition, it's hard to find exemplar 'learning organisations' so difficult to derive such principles from observation.
That said the phrase 'learning organisation' does continue to crop up in conversation, so I thought it worth proposing some mechanisms that would need to be in place, based on my experience, for a learning organisation to flourish*
Hire contributors: I reckon about 80% of the challenge is in the hiring. Often there is a marked disconnect between people's educational accomplishments and their appetite for learning; but where people have demonstrated a passion for learning this increasingly shows up as contribution. Hiring active learners is merely a good start, to really build a learning organisation you need to hire active contributors - the select group of people who are so passionate about development that they contribute to collective knowledge.
Engineer bottom-up communication: someone somewhere in your organisation has already solved the big problems that are keeping your CEO awake at night. You just don't know about it. Start by assuming your staff are smart. Some of them have been tackling your organisational challenges for twenty or more years. CEOs, by contrast, generally only last a few. The inability to harness collective wisdom is what kills most large organisations in the long run. Sure, there are challenges in engineering bottom-up communication, but the biggest obstacle is mindset.
Measure stuff: I have yet to find an organisation who really knew who their good leaders were - how would they, after all? They have no means to measure them. The performance review process is at worst a test of people's ability to build a relationship with their reviewer. At best a blunt instrument. Why are 'weak signals' weak? Who has something worth learning from? How are you going to know? How will you find the 'bright spots' from which everyone can learn? Today your learning organisation is probably dispensing more bad advice than good. Data, more data and statistics will sort the wheat from the chaff, the capable from the merely confident.
Erase the 'L' word: sadly the term 'Learning' needs to be expunged - all the associations are poisonous: the 'sit and listen', the 'teacher knows best' the 'failure equals shame' associations. A learning organisation is an entrepreneurial organisation, one where everybody is an innovator, where everyone is curious, creative, and interested in new perspectives. Where controlled play and safe experimentation is practised daily. I am sure there are organisations where this is not yet required, but the balance is shifting.
Give people ownership: passion and pride go hand in hand. If people take pride in their work, if they are passionate about what they do, then they will develop tirelessly. Believing in what you do and that much depends on how you do it - that's a starting point. Pride is what links personal objectives to organisational ones.
Enhance diversity: sameness is a short-term strategy in evolutionary terms. Consensus boils the frog. Embrace diversity & create an inclusive environment. Nokia has been cited as an organisation whose strategy suffered through lack of diversity at the top. ( http://management.fortune.
Encourage people to share their passions: increase the intensity and number of connections between individuals. Encourage people to share their discoveries, their interests, their work-in-progress. Learning organisations happen in the free exchange of ideas. People value kudos more than financial reward, so incentivising learning financially can do more harm than good - instead creating a route to earn the respect of peers and senior staff through their contributions, is more promising.
Support stuff that's working: 'here's a system where we want you to share' doesn't work as an approach. Instead take a close look at what people have already adopted - what is already working - and figure out how you can support them.
Collaborate with the customer: the people who know the most about your business are your customers. They have already surpassed your wildest expectations in the way that they use your products. Be part of their conversation: listen and get involved, most of your learning is going to come from them, free of charge. There is a growing awareness of the value of this kind of Jugaad approach ( http://www.theguardian.com/
Lead by example: there are still plenty of top-down, hierarchical organisations where executive behaviour sets the tone. Do CEOs model the right learning behaviour? In fact the good ones will often spend much time travelling around the organisation, listening and learning as they go: 'last week I was our X office, talking to the team who work on Y...' they write. But are these same opportunities available to staff at all levels of the organisation? What if a CEO were to write 'yesterday I was on Yammer, chatting to Marie in our operations team...'?
Create space for growth: spaces for experimentation and conversation should have a fractal structure - visible in the tone of conversations, in ad hoc lunch & learn sessions and in the widespread practice of secondments & placements.
I don't doubt this list is both aspirational and incomplete - please let me know what I've missed.
* These are consistent with, but go beyond Kerka's 1995 recommendations.
It's alluded to but I'm missing a focus on teams learning together, especially top teams. That process of learning, reflecting and supporting each other is we know valued and important for the team & its individuals. I think it's also incredibly important role modelling for "how teams succeed in our organisation" which is the opportunity for the top team(s). It sets a cultural tone in the organisation. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteActually, I'd argue that there is TOO much emphasis on teams learning together these days. It's a delicate balance that needs to be struck between supporting an individuals ability to learn on their own, in their own way, at their own pace, and then coming together to reflect and get feedback on the output from a team of peers.
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