Dear William, your questions about implementing a learning organizations
are at the heart of orgl learning and systems thinking. Implementing,
i.e., developing a learning environment requires in itself a "systems
thinking & feeling" approach.
Though I don't know the issues and variables that affect your academic
organization, I will share with you some of my thoughts.
In my opinion, whenever we are involved in a learning experience (such as
yours), we get excited about the possibilities of change. And if this
excitement is met with an equal desire to help others, we "feel" we have
to do something and project our inner landscape onto the world "out
there." Unfortunately, other people (and/or organizations) may not feel
the same, may not be experiencing the same intensity, and may actually be
skeptical (and even afraid) of the changes we want to make. In short, we
need to feel and analyze our environments far more than the usual cause
and effect processes do. We need to learn that, if we become "experts" at
organizational learning and systems thinking, that that in itself is only
one reality among many and can contribute as well as hinder.
With this mental note, let me offer some tips that have worked for me. As
the initiator of change:
1. Know and understand your motives for desiring a learning
organization.
2. Assume that others see it differently (besides, change tends to be
pleasant for the initiator and upsetting to the recipient).
3. Be authentic to yourself and others.
4. Have empathy and share your thoughts and feelings.
5. Continuously analyze the environment and identify strategic moments
for change (I define strategic moments as leverage points where forces are
at work that will require the least amount effort to gain the greatest
amount of change).
6. Recognize that others are "living" the systems as they know "best."
Few of us deliberately live in pain or misery.
7. Establish some personal criteria (values) that will guide you through
the process. If a (male) instructor humiliates you, know when to engage
in a critical conversation (with the belief that the other person will/can
change their behavior), know when to use existing resources (e.g.,
complain to higher authorities, share it with others), or know when to
leave (it's too unhealthy and too unlikely for you do something).
In other words, we may not have "control" over what others do and say
(event), but we can "control" how we respond to such circumstances (our
belief), and therefore affect the result (consequences).
Have I offered advise on how to put theories into working practice? I
don't know. We tend to theorize everyday, sometimes every moment about
our lives, the world, and the larger universe -- and strangely enough, we
often implement to varying degrees portions of these theories. So, maybe
the question is "how can I implement the theories I hold dearly and have
others accept them?" This question may not be fairly stated (and is a
biased interpretation), but I feel that the issues of power and power
relationships are lurking somewhere in this matter.
William, my response deliberately avoided discussing specific tools (team
approach, facilitation of change, leadership, and many of the excellent
techniques that exist currently) that can facilitate change and make
theories "real." Instead I wanted to touch on the complexity of our
"inner landscape" as a source for "positive" as well as "negative" change
(hence I used quotations to indicate possible different meanings of the
words and concepts used).
Good luck...and enjoy the learning. Michael.
--Michael T. Schumacher, Ph.D., MPA mailto:mts@inxpress.net
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>