Replying to LO28108 --
Additions to LO28067 and LO 28090
Hello LOsers, teachers and taughters,
The HRD-discussion goes right to the hearth of these issues: "i love to
learn, but i hate being taught". The issue is related to the paradoxes of
Speaking:
1. It has relations with regression ("what manager would like to go back
to kinder garten?" Kindergarten is one of the aspect of working with
hexagons and drawings too),
2. and acceptance ("will i still be accepted when is show that there are
things i do not master yet),
3. and authority ("how can somebody from the outside teach me something
without me losing my authority?" this is also the source of the shifting
of the burden),
4. Dependency ("Will i not become dependent on the teaching of the
other?" or "how can i know that i'll be taught something worthwhile?').
5. Creativity ("in order to learn something i have to unlearn somethings
too?
How can it be that i learned things that were not true?").
Most, some, there are HRD-people who somehow sense these problems but do
not know how to handle them effectively - they have never learned this and
hate being taught (!) to do so AND they have a big acceptance problem
themselves - which in normal for staff in an organisation, but is more
painful for HRD who wants to be accepted, have authority, act
independently and be creative . So they'll cover up and pretend they don't
cover up (cover up of the cover up).
Jan
Jan Lelie wrote:
> Years ago, years before the 5th Discipline, when i studied for my MBA, i
> was struck by a sentence from Chris Argyris on Organizational Learning:
> "Learning in order to control behaviour inhibits learning", and I thought:
> "What's new?". I didn't realize that this paradox haunts organizations.
> Organizations are about controlling behavior, because that seems to be the
> only way (or the safest, or indeed the only "rule based") to implement
> responsibility. The notion (idea, culture, meaning) that one can be held
> responsible for all of ones behavior (and actions and learning and
> choices) regardless the origin, the need and the reasons, is still very
> weak developed. Perhaps, this thought occurred as i write, perhaps that is
> the reason we long for a purpose of the universe. If there were a purpose,
> we might excused for not feeling responsible for our (in)actions. Again
> there are at least two ways to show responsibility and ask for it. Back to
> the main subject.
>
> The paradox is, that a teacher (mentor, coach, manager, hrd-er) wants to
> teach something: to change the behavior of the pupil and at the same time,
> he can not change the behavior by trying to control it. He - or she - will
> have to wait for the pupil to be ready. People, in my opinion, must choose
> to change, to learn, to take responsibility themselves. Funny enough, they
> have to learn this first.
--With kind regards - met vriendelijke groeten,
Jan Lelie
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