rbacal@escape.ca wrote:
> But as food for thought, and to think about addressing this stuff,
> consider what might be the result if posts were limited to 200
> words each...or posters restricted themselves to two posts a week.
I'm glad Robert spoke up, but I do not favor his recommendation. I'm as
sure as I can be that this concept is antithetical to a learning
organization, which is (after all) our common interest and purpose for
coming together on this list. Limit??? Restrict discussion??? These are
the concepts and human urges I battle daily in my practice as an
organization development consultant.
Too many organizations, and the people in them, are tied to seeing things
done "thier way," and disdain alternate approaches. It is especially
poisonous to a learning organization when this mental model exists at the
top of an organization..."my way or the highway." (Forgive me for being
colloquial, but this is a VERY popular American expression to describe how
managers bully employees into conforming. It means do as I say or get
out. I don't know if this expression is commonly known and understood by
people outside the U.S., which is why I've explained it here.)
We know from our own experience and from years of educational and
psychological research that real learning is often precipitated by serious
cognitive pain and stress. What are the most life-altering lessons you
have learned? How did you learn them? I cannot be alone in that my
answers to these questions are linked to painful life events that made me
question my certainties.
Nothing in life makes me learn more than having my assuredness slapped
right out of its seat. Moving beyond that, during reflection, is when I
really learn. I explore new ways of looking at what I thought I
understood. I open my mind to other possibilities. If I am lucky, I can
laugh at myself when it is all over. The point here is to never assume
that we have the answers.
The ideal of a learning organization, to me, is that we do not have to
wait for some cataclysmic event to knock us off our feet to open up our
minds to alternate ways of seeing and doing things.
As for posts of any type on any list that do not interest me....I have a
delete button. As for posts on this list that I do not understand (and
frankly there are quite a few), I need to make a more earnest effort to
speak up and ask for clarification. I'm not stupid, but would hate to
appear so on this list. I'm sure that is why I have hesitated to ask for
clarification in the past. It would be a wonderful courtesy if posters
would think twice before using new jargon that may not be understood by
everyone on our list. Even so, terminology is bound to creep into posts
along with cultural and translation differences (not everyone on our list
speaks English as a first language, and yet they post eloquently in a
foreign tounge. I wish I could do likewise). If the reader does not
understand, it is the reader's responsibility to say so, and ask for
clarification.
Personally, I'm glad this can of worms was opened. It made me think twice
about my own behavior and (gasp!) I've learned something. Thank you all.
kindest regards,
Vana Prewitt
Praxis Learning Systems
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
--Vana Prewitt <vana@PraxisLearning.org>
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