We are staying with this most powerful dimensional shift in business practice for this, and the next issue. The reason is that our future depends on our ability to adopt the vital changes that the Learning Organization will introduce. They are imperative to corporate survival and success.

In this issue we will focus on the role of the organization's leaders. If you wish to create an effective Learning Organization you need to stop looking at the world as a manager and start seeing it through the eyes of a leader. Managers are concerned with implementation, a 'present' focus, consistency, stability and conformity – in short with HOW things are accomplished. Leaders, on the other hand, are focused on setting goals, defining strategies, communicating ideas and reconfiguring results – a focus on WHAT things are accomplished.

While both roles are essential to corporate health, it's the leaders who champion both change and learning. It could be argued that Entrepreneurs 'do it best', yet they can rarely sustain it over time for most are too focused on achievement to want to truly reinvest in people development. Leaders need to focus, communicate, teach and demonstrate new perspectives and behaviors at both intellectual and emotional levels. They must lead learning.

Through the three basic stages of the learning process (see last issue) leaders will ensure that there is effective data collection, with sufficient dialogue to create learning opportunities prior to decisions being made. This is achieved through paying attention to process as well as structure and content. In short, it is attained by emphasizing the use of questions rather than driving towards answers, and by encouraging diversity in viewpoints versus conformity. It's investing as well as spending your resources.

Let's look at the specific roles of the leader, two in this issue, the third in our next Touching Base.

The premise for the leader's role is that learning is itself a goal, as important as any other corporate goal or objective. The strategies to achieve this particular goal will include the creation of learning practices, establishing the right climate and adopting open communication styles throughout the organization.

One good learning practice is the use of learning forums which are used to assess / evaluate information and design applications, and are best comprised of a 'diagonal slice' of involved interest groups. The process is geared to resolving a specific organizational objective, and the approach might be through a system audit or review of current processes, setting benchmarks, or broadening process familiarization. To be successful, learning goals must be established, decisions may need to be deferred, and the focus has to be on sharing insights / understanding among participants. Essentially, it's an equal balance between 'performance' and 'learning' orientations.

Another useful practice is the use of exploratory assignments. In issues where ambiguity is a major factor there's a shared responsibility for outcomes, so the need is to project and understand future scenarios before detailed planning commences (Jack Welch used this approach in his celebrated 'Work-outs'). A third is 'shared experiences' in which issues are cascaded from the inside-out using a 'Head – Heart – Hands' stratagem, resulting in a distilled process as the issue moves through successive levels. These too, are learning forums – variations on a theme.

Establishing the right climate likewise has several dimensions. The first of these is to set up a climate of challenge, healthy skepticism and doubt – to stir people to want to ask questions. This can be accomplished by ensuring the topic is issue / outcome is focused by using such devices as “complete the picture”, “'why not' scenarios”, and “contrarian approaches”. The essential question is not “Do you have the answers?”, but rather, “How did you arrive at this position?”

Creating a safe environment has its challenges as well. In conventional organizations each new idea is like a skeet shoot – someone yells “Pull!”, there's a deafening blast and the idea ends up in pieces on the ground. Edward deBono has a superior approach in his “Six Thinking Hats”. Whatever, we need a learning 'safety net' which will make 'failure' a productive experience, not a personal humiliation. This is the leader's role.

In the next issue we'll look at the subject of open communication. As any military General will tell you, winning battles is impossible without effective communications – and it is a battle out there!

See the Andros Website / Staying in Touch Archives for The Learning Organization - Stages