I recently finished reading a great book “The fifth Discipline”, by Peter Senge. I think this book is a must read for managers at all levels and for leaders of organizations. The book is primarily concerned about building a ‘learning organization’, an organization where people are constantly learning. An essential element for any organization to be successful.
According to Senge, a learning organization is one that is dedicated to decentralizing the role of leadership so as to enhance the capacity of people to work productively towards a common goal. It is one where people are continually learning to see the whole [organization] together. In my opinion this is missing in many organizations. Today employees, ranging from bottom of the pyramid to those in higher echelons, are so consumed by day to day grind, challenges and short-term focus that they barely seek the bigger picture- how to keep the company successful and competitive in the long run by using its most priced asset- employees.
Senge talks about following ‘Learning Disabilities’ that cause organizations to fail.
1)I am my position: Employees are unable to differentiate themselves from their role (their work) in the organization. Their definition of self based on what they do. This leads to a silo mentality, eventually resulting in little to no learning and eventually an organizations’ possible slow death.
2)The enemy is out there: This is when people play the ‘blame game’. Often the thought or attitude that someone else and not themselves is responsible for a problem is the cause for many corporates to fail. If you are reading this and you have worked in any organization, you know how prevalent this is in today’s work culture.
3)The illusion of taking charge: You think you are in control, but you are not. One fails to consider the entire organization in their thought process- meaning various interdependencies that exist that you may be unaware of or choose to ignore. But the truth is that these interdependencies will eventually result in your success or failure. This illusion also includes the failure to see how we contribute to our own problems.
4)The fixation on events: We tend to see life as series of disconnected events. Again, if you have experience in an organization you can relate to this. This is the failure to be able to link various events that have resulted in a certain outcome. It is looking at the events and looking for reasons and explanations about those events, without the ability or desire to look at the bigger picture. Always looking at short-term gains while forgetting long-term objectives.
5)The parable of the boiling frog: Often proven to be the cause of corporate failures. We only look at sudden changes and react to them, often unaware or unwilling to focus on subtle changes that could boil us to death. Here Senge gives the example of a frog. If a frog is placed in a pot of boiling water, its immediate reaction is to attempt to jump out of the pot. But if the frog is placed in a pot with water at normal temperature, it will be comfortable and stay there. Now slowly warm the water. The frog will get used to the heat and will continue to stay in it, till the water starts boiling and it is killed. How many times have we not witnessed this in our work life? There is a great example of Beer game in the book, which highlights this sudden reaction organization and employees have- panic driven actions that many managers and leaders take.
6)The delusion of learning from experience: While we learn from experience, we never really experience the consequences of our most important decisions. This is a classic situation where we fail to see the future results of our current actions. In many corporates the consequences of our decision today reflect only in years and possibly decades to come. Inability to see that can result in a firms failure.
Senge suggests that for leaders to build a learning organization, they should look at an Organization as a “Living System”. Not just a ‘money making machine’. The book also discusses eight strategies that are useful for leaders to build a learning organization.
1)Integrating learning with working: Too often leaders and organizations consider learning and working as separate from each other. But in reality they should be combined for an organization to succeed as a learning organization.
2)Starting where you are and with whoever is there: If you want to create a learning organization, you need to get started. Do not wait for this awesome piece of information to come your way- IT WILL NOT. Focus on pressing needs of people and make sure YOUR PEOPLE are on board. Else it will be a solo ride.
3)Become bicultural: Adapt a culture of ‘learning team / learning organization’ + ‘traditional’ culture- i.e. a company is there to make money. So it is important to encourage and motivate people to learn while they work, else the organization will stagnate and loose its competitive edge.
4)Creating Practice Fields: Avoid ‘passive learning’, i.e. make sure your employees learn in an active environment where they learn by doing.
5)Connect with the core of the business: Start by identifying ‘who you are’ and figuring out what your vision is. Once you do that see if that aligns with the organization’s. If these two do not align, how can the organization become a learning organization and grow? It can not.
6)Build learning communities: Within your organization encourage collaborative and team environment where employees learn.
7)Work with “the other”: Get out of your comfort zone and reach out across gender, race and other boundaries. Embrace diversity. If required, partner with other organizations in your industry.
8)Develop a learning infrastructure: A true and proven infrastructure that has defined management roles.
As Senge puts it, leaders are like designers of a ocean liner:. They are the ones who build and shape an organization that people (employees) will use/ work in. If people are forgotten while designing this marvelous masterpiece of yours it will not go far. Unfortunately, a true with many failed firms.
