Learning Organization

An authentic and slightly irreverent blog on the applied dimensions of leadership & change...

• My Crap

• Your Crap

• Our Crap

• Everybody’s Crap.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash @antenna

How many of you feel that the individual learning you engage in is not utilized, acknowledged, or valued by your organization? Do you have opportunities to use the knowledge acquired and share it with others so they can also use it or benefit from it? Are there built-in feedback loops in your processes, policies, and procedures? For those who answer yes, you may work for a ”learning organization”. For those who said no, well, you don’t. A learning organization has a culture that views every activity as an opportunity to learn something new and uncover blindspots. But first, you have to acknowledge that others have knowledge you don’t and value perspectives that you don’t have. A learning organization is not about education and training programs, it is about learning from each other in everything we do. It is evident in how we listen, solve problems, and in our organization’s processes, policies, and procedures. What is another way to describe a learning organization? A changing one. Oh crap!

Why can’t or don’t organizations care so much about all of your skills and useful interests enough to consistently query, develop, and tap everyone’s individual and collective potential and the insights their knowledge and experience can provide? Let’s take a look…

We all want to be recognized, useful, valued, and to contribute to the success of the organization. Of course, we also want to feel secure and safe in the process. The personal rub comes when the former interferes with the latter. In other words…when change happens! If learning means changing then how can I be sure to be successful? I want to be recognized, but not for failing! How can I be useful if I upset everyone with new and different ideas? How can I contribute if everyone is afraid of change and therefore of me?

Accepting your own crap is the first step to cutting it out. Understand also that if you are feeling this way, chances are your boss, colleagues, and employees are too. How does this help? All learning begins with being honest with yourself about what you don’t know and that others may have ideas just as good or possibly even better ones than you do. If you can admit that to yourself, you’ll be in a better position to demonstrate what learning looks like so others feel more secure that they are in a safe environment for change and growth.

A culture of learning also means you take the time to learn about the other people you work with, for, and who work for you. Synergistic efforts are the cornerstone of a learning organization and this starts with knowing others. It is time well invested and its dividends will continue to multiply over time. Never under estimate the value of good relationships with others and never believe that a good relationship means a “pleasing” one. The best relationships are those where differences are valued.

Valuing the insight and learning of others isn’t just about you and me, but also about all of us together. Listening patiently and compassionately to the ideas, issues, and needs of other groups and sharing and integrating those of your own group is part of daily life in a learning organization. This is not about striving for consensus or pitching issues to committees; it’s about knowing, appreciating, and working together through daily learning. The crap we need to cut here and everywhere is the armor of territoriality that our egos put up in response to our fear of losing control over our success and the “comfort” of the known ways to achieve it. This is our individual crap, our group crap, and our community crap.

We do not live in a bubble as individuals, groups, or organizations. We live in a community, a country, and in this interconnected world. We benefit so greatly when we freely allow the learning potential of this rich environment into our thinking and our actions. Co-creation of products, services, and solutions is the true demonstration of a learning organization. This does not mean by consensus or committees, as may bear repeating, but by learning and understanding what the priority of needs actually are to deliver value that satisfies needs over wants. Learning is listening, to our community, our customers, and to each other. Learning is integrating ideas, not compromising them. Let go of the attachment to knowing and grab hold of the possibilities in learning. This is your “all hands on deck” effort.

© 2019 Stacie L L Morgan. All rights reserved.

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