Management
Tips
Tips
for Developing a Learning Organisation
In
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Peter Senge describes a learning
organization as one that is engaged in "the continuous testing
of experience, and the transformation of that experience
into knowledge that is accessible to the whole organisation
and relevant to its core purpose".
In
other words, an organisation where experience matters and
feeds into a genuine commitment towards improving how the
organisation delivers its core business. It is an organisation
where learning from mistakes is used constructively to inform
future work practice. In a learning organisation the culture
is less about blame and more about understanding and improving.
The
following tips will help you to develop your organisation
as a learning organization
-
Do you continuously test and challenge the way your organisation
does things?
-
Are
you increasing the capacity of the organisation to respond
to change and developing current knowledge and skills
sufficiently?
-
Is
the learning relevant to your organisation's business?
-
Is
new knowledge accessible and do staff know where to look
for it?
Encourage
staff to reflect on their work practice. It helps people
to avoid unthinking and uncritical routines. By reflecting
on experiences and current knowledge, people will begin
to develop 'tailor made' solutions to problems rather than
repeating old and less successful patterns of behaviour.
It can be done in number of different ways:
-
Read
- as much as you can around your subject area
-
Think - take a thoughtful approach to your work
-
Feel - understand your emotional responses
-
Watch
- be sensitive to what is happening around you
-
Talk
- to others about aspects of your work
-
Ask - other people about their practice
Consider
using the concept of an 'Angel Advocate' . When a creative
idea is proposed the person who speaks next must take the
role of an Angel's
Advocate and offer support. This protects or insulates innovative
thinking against immediate criticism. The fragile idea has
a better chance of survival for further exploration.
In
learning organisations managers recognise the need to role
model behaviours that will encourage people to be open,
receptive and responsive to learning and new experiences.
This requires the following behaviours from the manager:
-
Build
trust
-
Accentuate
the positive
-
Praise
progress
-
When mistakes occur, redirect the behaviour and reinforce
with praise
-
Provide
appropriate timely support
Enhance
effectiveness by encouraging constructive feedback. The
following guidelines will help you to significantly improve
the effectiveness of your feedback
-
Use
the 'I' word - own what you say
-
Leave
the recipient with a choice
-
Start with the positive
-
Give
specific examples of positive and negative points
-
Get a response to your feedback
-
Ask
for suggestions to bring about the desired change
-
What does the feedback says about YOU!
People
in learning organisations are prepared to listen to others
and ask for constructive feedback. These tips will help
you get the best from feedback.
-
Listen
to the feedback rather than immediately rejecting or arguing
with it
-
Be clear about what is being said. Listen and summarise
'So what your saying is…'
-
Don't
just concentrate on the negative
-
Ask
for examples of both strong and weak areas of performance
-
Accept
praise gracefully when it is given
-
Respond
assertively where you think the feedback is incorrect
-
Decide what you will do as a result of the feedback
People
can improve their competitive capacity by engaging in a
process of continuous learning through
-
Risk taking: Willingness to push oneself out of a comfort
zone
-
Self reflection: Honest self reflection about successes
and failures, particularly the latter
-
Seeking opinions of others: Actively seeking views of
others
-
Careful listening: Propensity to listen to others
-
Openness to new ideas: Willingness to view life with an
open mind
Sharing
learning - Use a simple idea to encourage staff to share
experiences, learning and successes in meetings
-
Beg a favour
-
Brag about a success
-
What if…explore an idea
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