Developing a Learning

Organization
A Learning Organization is based on
principles of Total Quality
Management and the work of people
like Peter Senge, Sue Miller Hurst,
David Bohm, and others.

The Five Disciplines of a

Learning Organization (P. Senge)
1. Building a Shared Vision--the practice of
unearthing shared pictures of the future that
foster genuine commitment.
2. Personal Mastery--the skill of continually
clarifying and deepening our personal vision.
3. Mental Models--the ability to unearth our
internal pictures of the world, to scrutinize
them, and to make them open to the influence
of others.

The Five Disciplines (continued)

4. Team Learning--the capacity to think together
which is gained by mastering the practice of
dialogue and discussion.
5. Systems Thinking--the discipline that
integrates the others, fusing them into a
coherent body of theory and practice.
(Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the
learning organization. New York: Double-day.)

Building Blocks of a Learning

Organization
Storytelling

Leaders must articulate the groups vision of the

future and the purpose of the organization. This is
done often and in many venues with all constituents.
Dialogue

This is the ability of the organizations members to

truly communicate in small and large groups. New
insights and learning takes place through
Dialogue.

Dialogue
The

object of discussion is usually to win your point

In Dialogue no one is trying to win. Everyone plays with
one another.
Two types: generative and strategic, respectively,
Unstructured v. Problem to solve.
Begin by checking inby stating what you are thinking,
feeling, or wondering at the moment.
Guidelines: sit in a circle, speak to the center, listen with
respect, practice the disciplines (next slide), leaderless,
create a safe container.

The Disciplines of Dialogue

Active

Listening: non judgmental, listen deeply.

Suspending Certainty: suspend your certainly for the
moment and open the door for learning.
Slow Down the Inquiry: wait before responding to
think, consider and reflect upon what you heard.
Hold the Space for Difference: allow for differences of
opinions.
Speak from Awareness: speak when you are
compelled to from inside. Otherwise, listen.

The Seven Learning Disabilities

1. I am my position. This leads to myopic and
non-systemic views of the organization.
2. The enemy is out there. Flows from above,
especially when combined with small group
identification. We protect ourselves and have
a narrow sense of self-identification. Others
screw up and we have to protect
ourselves.

The Seven Learning Disabilities

(continued)
3. The illusion of taking charge. Too often proactive
orientation means fighting the enemies to get
what we want. True proactive orientation comes
from seeing how our own actions contribute to
problems.
4. Fixation on events. We see events as having one or
two causes rather than seeing most problems as
coming from slow, gradual processes.

The Seven Learning Disabilities

(continued)
5. The parable of the Boiled Frog. We react
to sudden threats, but we are poor at
reacting to gradual threats.
6. The delusion of learning from experience.
We learn from experience, but critical
decisions (changes) have systemwide
consequences that stretch over years.

The Seven Learning Disabilities

(continued)
7. The myth of the management team. Most
teams operate below the level of the
lowest IQ in the group. The result is
skilled incompetence--teams of
people who are proficient at keeping
themselves from learning, which should
be accomplished through Dialogue.
(Senge, p. 17-26)

TQM Tidbits
Drive

out fear, so that everyone may work

effectively for the organization.--W. Edwards
Deming
Trust cannot be mandated. Yet it is the
cheapest, most sensible, and for us, most
radical means for reform of the system that
can be recommended. --Ted Sizer
We can and should shape our future; because
if we dont somebody else will. --Joel Barker

TQM Tidbits (continued)

The

best way to predict the future is to create it.

--Peter Drucker
Even if you are on the right track, if you just sit
there you will get run over. --Will Rogers
Four things are needed to change any
organization: trustworthiness, trust, empowerment,
and alignment of goals. --Stephen Covey
Anytime we think the problem is out there, that is
the problem. --Stephen Covey

TQM Tidbits (continued)

4

important questions to keep us on track

toward quality:

Who are my (our) customers?

What are their needs?
How am I (we) doing?
What can I (we) do better? --Jim Leonard

What

gets measured gets done. --Tom Peters

You wont get anywhere if you dont have a
goal. --Ben Franklin

TQM Tidbits (continued)

The

person who figures out how to harness

the collective genius of the people in his or her
organization is going to blow the competition
away. --Walter Wristen (former Citibank CEO)
The world we have created is a product of our
thinking, it cannot be changed without
changing our thinking. --Albert Einstein
Transformation begins with the individual. --W.
Edwards Deming

Final Thoughts
Everyone

doing his or her best isnt the answer. The

first step in transformation is to learn how to change.
--W. Edwards Deming
Organizations seriously committed to quality
management are uniquely prepared to study the
learning disciplines and to be life long learners on a
never ending developmental path as individuals and
organizations. --Peter Senge
<the end>