I've followed on with this thread, interested to see that it's more about
measures of the progress of a learning organization initiative than
whether or not it actually works. Thanks to those of you who responded to
my invitation to see what life inside our learning organization is like.
Every 'movement' in management thinking has had this issue -- how do we
know it works? MBO, SPC, TQM have all had this problem. In information
technology we ask if CASE, client-server computing and now intranets
'work?'
I believe that these questions arise because of the way these things enter
the organization: through an initiative created by someone or a group of
people who see the potential of something and want to spread it through an
organization. Invariably, they run into this magic question: how do we
know it works/has worked/will work?
Many firms have seen these movements come and go. It's too bad, really,
because each had a contribution. I believe that LO initiatives, because
they come into most firms this same way, will fade the same way.
We don't need metrics. We need to work with cross-sections of people
(including front-line people) on real organizational issues using systems
thinking methods to show that they help in identifying leveraged actions
that result in sustained improvements to issues. Many of those leveraged
actions will point to further application of learning organization
principles.
Sure, management cares about its stock price. It also cares about its
ability to attract talent. More than that, it has a lot of complex issues
in this information age that traditional linear problem-solving approaches
can't solve.
I routinely take management teams through an exploration of issues using
causal loop diagrams. The benefit of the effort to them is staggering. I
don't need a metric to convince them of the need to transfer this, and
associated skills and processes elsewhere in the organization. They
usually come up with that themselves.
Consider the frame used in introducing LO. Great initiatives have a habit
of failing. Resolving issues never seems to go out of style.
----------
Jason Smith
jsmith@quantumsolutions.on.ca (work)
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." - Yogi Berra
--"Jason Smith" <jsmith@quantumsolutions.on.ca>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>