Content and Practices for this list LO22262

Malcolm Burson (mburson@mint.net)
Sun, 18 Jul 1999 17:18:19 -0500

Replying to LO22242 --

On 16 Jul 99, at 12:33, Terry Priebe wrote:
(snip)

>I suggest that this dialogue offers a potentially tremendous look into core
> issues of a learning organization - issues, looked at (how would you say)
> more "objectively", may benefit our reason for being here in the first
> place.

Rick Karash has cogently summarized, and suggested, in LO22246, that this
conversation may be drawing to an end, at least with regard to the value
of talking about list behavior (as compared with the 'outside' world).
But I want briefly to take up Terry's point, using our recent experience
as a mirror, and direct it toward the world of action and practice.

As many responders have witnessed, organizations and their people display
a wide range of learning styles, approaches, preferences, etc. But how do
we, as practitioners of a learning-org approach, bring our skills to bear
when we encounter this issue? To put it another way, is there an "LO"
approach to helping those whose preference is discursive and/or
encyclopedic and/or "philosophical" listen to, and learn from, those who
value brief, "to the point" exchanges, and vice-versa? We can recognize
these and other differences through the use of NLP, MBTI, etc., but what
then?

Let me venture a modest beginning. It seems to me that combining tools
and perceptions from the Team Learning and Mental Models disciplines
offers a way in. Thus, wouldn't helping people learn and use "skillful
discussion" templates, etc., instead of just listening to them complain
about why long (or short) presentations turn them off, begin to break the
log jam?

Or am I missing something?

Malcolm Burson

-- 

Malcolm C. Burson Management Solutions--An ODi Affiliate and Leapfrog Innovations partner Orono, Maine (207) 866-0019 mburson@mint.net

"The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained." --- David Bohm

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>