The insights below come from Peter Senge's best-selling classic, The Fifth Discipline. Do they make sense to you?
1.
If
a learning organization were an engineering innovation such as the airplane or
the personal computer, the components would be called technologies.
2.
For
an innovation in human behavior, the components need to be seen as disciplines.
By "discipline" I do not mean "an enforced order" or
"means of punishment," but a body of theory and technique that must
be studied and mastered to be put into practice.
3.
A
discipline is a developmental path for acquiring certain skills or
competencies.
4.
As
with any discipline, from playing the piano to electrical engineering, some
people have an innate "gift" but anyone can develop proficiency
through practice.
5.
To
practice a discipline is to be a lifelong learner. You "never
arrive" as life is spent mastering disciplines. You can never say,
"We are a learning organization," any more than you can say, "I
am an enlightened person".
6.
The
more you learn, the more acutely aware you become of your ignorance. Thus an
organization cannot be "excellent" in the sense of having arrived at
a permanent excellence; it is always in the state of practicing the disciplines
of learning, of becoming better or worse.
7.
These
disciplines of how we think, what we truly want, how we interact and learn from
one another are more artistic disciplines than traditional management
disciplines.
Senge’s concluding thoughts
Practicing
a discipline is different from emulating "a model". All too often,
new management innovations are described in terms of "best practices"
of the so-called leading organizations. While interesting, I believe such
descriptions can often do more harm than good leading to piecemeal copying and
playing catch-up.
I do not believe great organizations have ever
been built by trying to emulate another, any more than individual greatness is
achieved by trying to copy another "great person".
© Bredholt & Co.
