Senge's learning organisation characteristics

In a previous post (here), I mentioned Senge’s five elements of learning organisations: those of systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision, and team learning (2006). In learning organisations, those who lead are kaitiaki and teachers, not those who impose or tell. They accompany the troops, not dictate. They are are the sweeper on the curling rink, allowing the team to continually develop themselves to better understand the complexity of a unified systems model, to clarify organisational vision, to create shared mental understandings, and to create something that is larger than the sum of the individual parts.

So lets walk through what these elements are, in more detail:

• Systems thinking: this is the most important element of a learning organisation - the "fifth discipline" of Senge's seminal book (1990, 2006). It is thought that management may try overly hard to simplify what are very complex systems, seeing the organisation as parts and not as a whole: the organisation is thus not seen as one dynamic system. Taking a higher-level and longer-term view would enable us to more clearly see the impact of our actions - because we are often measured on a short time-scale and on specifics, not systems. While "We [may] learn best from our experience, [...] we [may not...] directly experience the consequences of many of our most important decisions" (Senge, 1990, p. 23). We are likely to remain blind to the ramifications of what we set in motion. We need to think about the interconnectedness of all things.
  
  
• Personal mastery: This is our personal proficiency, our expertise; our vocation or calling. Our professional drive to master the unmasterable; our focus which keeps us in a continual learning mode. And because we are so driven to master our profession, our organisation learns through us. "Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs" (Senge, 1990, p. 139).
  
  
• Mental models: These are "deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures and images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action" (Senge, 1990, p. 8). I have written about mental models before (here), what Daft calls “theories people hold about specific systems in the world and their expected behavior” (2008, p. 133). They are the routine ways of thinking we develop through experience and education, our repertoire (Schon, 1983) and Schon is a good person to draw on here: we need to be reflective to be able to see what happens when our mental models - often our 'sacred cows' - are slaughtered in front of us. Read more on mental models here. 
  
  
• Shared vision: Senge begins with is a simple idea about leadership; that we need to have "the capacity to hold a shared picture of the future we seek to create" (1990, p. 9), or be able to create that capacity as we move forward together. That shared vision is the critical piece of kit that allows us to stay synchronised; in step, in harmony, aligned. It focuses all our efforts on the one key place we are all working towards. Everyone buys in, and the goals are legitimate. Two elements implicit in this shared vision are: a sense of purpose, of agency, that collectively we can do this work; and a longer-term view, that time is less important than the goal being achieved. Senge relates "Once the vision of the product and how they would develop it began to crystallize [...] the team began to work in an extraordinary way. The energy and enthusiasm were palpable. Each individual felt a genuine sense of responsibility for how the team as a whole functioned, not just for 'doing [their] part'" (1990, p. 314-15).
  
  
• Team learning: This is somewhat aligned to the humility of Level 5 leaders (Collins, 2001), and mindset (Dweck, 2006), in that the openness to learning, and mistakes being a part of learning, are key attributes of the organisation and the staff actually learning from 'throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks'. This learning is "the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire" (Senge, 1990, p. 236), where what is learned builds on personal mastery, but it fits with the shared vision, and the team can see how it will speed progress. Team learning begins with true, open conversation, or "'dialogue,' the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine "thinking together." To the Greeks dia-logos meant a free-flowing of meaning through a group, allowing the group to discover insights not attainable individually" (Senge, 1990, p. 12). Senge reminds us that "Dialogue differs from the more common 'discussion,' which has its roots with 'percussion' and 'concussion,' literally a heaving of ideas back and forth in a winner takes-all competition" (1990, p. 12). And while I take his point, I think that is semantics. I don't think of winner takes all in discussion: I focus more on disussion being a collaborative conversation.

However, it is easy to see that if a team, an organisation, or a nation delivers on these five elements, it will be very productive indeed.

Sam

References:

Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap... and others don’t. HarperCollins Publishers.

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Baltimore Books.

Schon, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books.

Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Currency Doubleday.

Senge, P. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (2nd ed.). Currency Doubleday.

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The Learning Organisation

I cannot believe that I have not previously compared two nearly 20 year old organisational models: those of efficient performance and the learning organisation (Daft, 2007). Why should we think about this? Because organisations designed for efficient performance are different to those designed for continuous learning, and we can see how by looking at Senge's five elements of learning organisations:

In a previous post (here), I mentioned Senge’s five elements of learning organisations: those of systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision, and team learning (1990).

The efficient performance organisation is based on a hard, rational model, characterised by a vertical structure, formalised systems, routine tasks, competitive strategy, and a rigid culture (Daft, 2007); whereas the learning organisation emerges from a soft, intuitive perspective of organisations. Structures are more horizontal and employees are empowered to act independently and creatively. Strategy emerges from collaborative links within and among organisations, and the culture encourages experimentation and adaptability (Daft, 2007; Semler, 2015).

When environments are stable, leaders can effectively use rational management to maintain organisational control and stability. But because we live in a globalised environment where change is expected, designing organisations strictly for efficient performance is generally not effective (Daft, 2007). Consider the crises experienced by South America through the latter part of the 20th century, and the founder "learning organisation" of Semco (read more here) which weathered some pretty significant financial, governmental, and production storms. And survived. They learned to be a learning organisation by jettisoning all that weighed them down. They focused on what would keep them afloat, and largely, that was flexibility (Semler, 1993).

Knowledge, information, analysis and insight are probably more important than production machinery. Forward thinking firms are being reconfigured as learning organisations, where all staff are problem-solvers. The learning organisation is skilled in acquiring, transferring, and building knowledge that enables the organisation to continuously experiment, improve, and increase its capability. The learning organisation is based on equality, shared information, little hierarchy, and a shared culture that encourages adaptability and enables the organisation to seize opportunities and handle crises (Daft, 2007; Semler, 2015).

Many organisations become victims of their own success, clinging to outdated values and behaviours because of rigid cultures that do not encourage adaptability and change. But a learning organisation has a strong, adaptive culture which includes the following values (Daft, 2007; Semler, 2015):

• The whole is more important than the part, and boundaries between parts are minimized. People are aware of the whole system, how everything fits together, and the relationships among various organisational parts
• Everyone considers how their actions affect other elements of the organisation
• Equality is a primary value. The culture of a learning organisation creates a sense of community, compassion, and caring for one another
• Each person is valued, and the organisation becomes a place for creating a web of relationships that allow people to develop their full potential
• The culture encourages change, risk-taking, and improvement. A basic value is to question the status quo, the current way of doing things
• Constant questioning of assumptions opens the gates to creativity and improvement.

It is not an easy organisation to work in. We have to give up trying to control the process, be flexible, and fluid. That takes a certain kind of person.

But the rewards are great.

Sam

References:

Daft, R (2007). The Leadership Experience (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Semler, R. (1993). Maverick!: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace. Warner Books.

Semler, R. (2015). TEDx Rio de Janeiro: Radical wisdom for a company, a school, a life [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/k4vzhweOefs

Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Currency Doubleday.

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Setting up floor plans

If you have ever tried to lay out the floor plan of an office, or plan a workspace, an easy tool to do that would be very helpful... particularly if we are going to be renting a space and cannot go back to check before our contract is signed. 

And we are in luck! All we need to get started is to take accurate room, door and window measurements.  Go armed to any viewings with a measuring app on our phone (or a laser tool, or go old school with a tape measure), note down those key elements, and then go online at our leisure. Head over to this great online site, at https://floorplanner.com/. 

Set up a free account, and then we can set up our future office, choose from the site's furniture and place it in the space to get an idea of fit, traffic flows, and potential problems. We can even use the built in cameras and angles to give us a walk through! 

Go to https://floorplanner.com/demo to check out the demo residential home to see how it works (so easy to move a wall!).

Very handy :-)

Sam 

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Office hacks

I have a collection of office hacks that crossed my desk all within a few days, so have finally grouped them all together! 

While most of these are to get rid of smells - those hacks which put right oversights such as someone having left their Thai curry doggy bag in the fridge over Christmas, or the persistent rancid mayo stink from the hors d'oeuvres dropped on the carpet in front of that really sunny window in the boardroom and WILL NOT go - other hacks help us in different ways at work.

• Removing marker pen. If we have got marker pen - aka Vivid, Sharpie, meths marker - on a surface it shouldn't be on, write over it with marker pen again, and wipe off immediately. Whiteboard marker, hand sanitiser, or brake cleaner will also do the same job (Furze, 2023)
• Cleaning whiteboards. "Brake cleaner works great for cleaning whiteboards", as well as removing marker pen (Furze, 2023)
• Marking a straight line down a cardboard tube. When we "need to draw a straight line on a tube use your door frame [as a straight edge]. Just hold the tube up against the inside of your door frame", and mark where you want the line (Furze, 2023)
• Finding a circle's centre. No compass, or only a small compass? All we need to do is to find the centre of our circle is to "draw a line that's easily divided by two let's say 28. [Draw a tangent] line and of course the middle of that is 14. get yourself a square straight edge put that along and against it at your mark at 14. Draw a line [there and] repeat a few times around the perimeter there's the center of your circle" where the lines intersect (Furze, 2023, 4:37)
• Emergency shelving. Buy two bathroom caddies and intersect at the desired height - or heights -  with a lightweight plank or two (Nixon, 2023; see image illustrating this post). Be judicious about weight of items on the shelf, though
• Clean a computer screen. Swipe an old "damp teabag" out of the bin in the tearoom "to clean a smudged or dusty computer screen. Dip the bag in a cup of cold water (or redip a used one from your morning brew), rub it all over the screen and then polish with a clean, dry cloth or paper towel" (Seal, 2023)
• Stinky microwave. Bring in some lemons from home for cleaning the work microwave. Just "Squeeze a lemon into a microwave-safe bowl", add some hot water to the bowl, along with the outer halves of the lemon, and place in the microwave. "Zap for five minutes, leave to stand, door closed, for 10 minutes, and then open and wipe down" (Seal, 2023)
• Stinky carpet. Baking soda, or "Bicarbonate of soda is an excellent neutraliser", which can be sprinkled "generously all over whatever needs refreshing, leave for four hours or overnight, and then vacuum off" (Seal, 2023)
• Stinky fridges or bins. Clean a smelly work fridge with a mix of "distilled white vinegar 50:50 with water. Add a few drops of essential oil or vanilla extract if the smell of vinegar offends you (it fades quickly), and spritz then wipe everywhere inside the fridge [or in smelly] food-waste bins" (Seal, 2023)
• Hack the hand cleaner. Grimy hands from ink cartridge changing? Add a teaspoon of sugar to the normal hand-soap to remove printer ink, grease, or any other stubborn muck (Furze, 2023)
• Plant watering. Keep the office plants alive when staff are off on leave, by "Tak[ing] a discarded plastic bottle, pierce the cap with the tip of a sharp knife and stick a cotton bud through the hole. Fill the bottle with water, replace the lid, tape a skewer or small bamboo cane [stake] to the side of the bottle so it extends about 20cm beyond the lid, and turn the whole thing upside down (a hole in the base of the bottle will help the water flow). Poke the skewer [or stake] into the soil at the base of a potted plant and the water will slowly drip down the cotton bud, keeping your plant babies going until you get back" (Seal, 2023).

These are quite fun!

Sam

References:

Furze, C. (2023, August 18). 18 GENIUS Workshop TIPS (that actually work) [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/kxmmE-y-S-A

Nixon, K. K. (2023, August 17). Renter's hack creates clever kitchen storage. The Tasman Leader. p. 8

Seal, R. (2023, August 18). The microwave lemon trick – and 10 other household hacks that actually work. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/18/experts-share-household-hacks-that-actually-work

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Watching the tide go out

I have a 'soft' rule that each new thing coming into the house needs to have two things going out so there is a net decrease on possessions. I am not making this a revolution, but an evolution; as and when I feel ready.

To do that, I try to go through one 'space' each week in the house. That 'space' might be a single drawer some weeks, or half a room in another. This also applies to the office.

When parting with things, I am not rushing into divorce. Instead, I put the items into 'the waiting room', which is an intermediary space for me to think about it until I am happy that I have disconnected from them emotionally (my 'waiting room' is the spare room). Then I can decide objectively what the next best place for those things to go is.

Where things go to from the waiting room is varied. I pass things which I am not using to friends, volunteer groups or charity shops. I will try to sell some items if, (a) they have resale value, and (b) I have time. That is where the waiting room comes in handy: if I hear that someone needs something, while I am thinking about when and how to part with an item in the waiting room, I can give that thing to meet a specific need. This is the most rewarding aspect of purging possessions.

Additionally, I am trying to purchase as much as possible myself from second-hand sources. This is shifting my mindset to 'renting' items, as opposed to owning them. If we rent them, we know it is temporary. When we own them, we have a much more permanent mental hold on them.

My aim is to end up with fewer possessions, as naturally as the tide turns, over time. To have some empty spaces, and to not feel a need to rush in and fill those spaces with stuff. To break with unnecessary buying.

It is quite liberating, knowing that the high-tide mark is a millimetre further out each week.


Sam

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Ricardo Semler: Radical wisdom for a company, a school, a life

Most businesses are based on the efficient performance model, going back to Weber (1949) and the Gilbreths (1916). This is a hierarchical, somewhat rigid and rational structure, with many routine tasks, formal communication, and often internally competitive strategies (Daft, 2008).

However, this is not the only game in town, if you take a leaf out of Ricardo Semler's book. Brazilian company, Semco, adopts a learning organisation model, which is far more fluid, intuitive, informal, flexible, and empowering. People who work at Semco are given a clear philosophical framework to make decisions within, and so are able to be innovative, creative and independent (Bock, 2003; Daft, 2008).

The internal competitive nature of companies is not apparent in learning organisations: instead it thrives on internal and external team collaboration. Organisational culture breeds adaptability, experimentation and internal entrepreneurship (Daft, 2008).

But what happens when an organisation like this turns its attention to the development of their talent pipeline? Watch the clip, and find out.




Sam

References:

• Bock, W. (2003). Lessons from Semco on Structure, Growth and Change. Monday Memo. Retrieved 21 August 2007 from http://www.mondaymemo.net/030512feature.htm
• Daft, R. L. (2008). The Leadership Experience (4th ed.). Thomson-South Western.
• Gilbreth, F. W. & Gilbreth, L. M. (1916). Fatigue Study: The Elimination of Humanity's Greatest Unnecessary Waste. Sturgis & Walton
• Weber, M. (1949). The Methodology of the Social Sciences (Translated & edited by Edward A. Shils and Henry A. Finch). The Free Press.
• Semler, R. (2015). TEDx Rio de Janeiro: Radical wisdom for a company, a school, a life. Retrieved 11 November 2015 from https://youtu.be/k4vzhweOefs

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Organising my Study

I recently completed a University of Auckland/FutureLearn MOOC on Academic Integrity.

In the course there was a question on how I managed my study time, and it made me really stop and think about the tools I used, so that I could share my tips and tricks with the group.

I use a combo of new tech and old tech.

Mostly I use Outlook, loading regular reminders into either calendar or tasks (PC/phone sync using IQTell), with links to any relevant documents that relate to each. I use Evernote for projects like semester planning, study and voluntary work which I can also access on PC, laptop or phone.

For daily detail planning I recycle the back of old lecture ppt note pages, printed with a "to do" list outline, which I keep on my desk and fill in for those things that crop up during particularly busy days, and take great delight in crossing them off, then binning when their job is done.

I also have just added two new tools: Quoll Writer and Qiqqa.

Qiqqa (pron: quicker) was developed by James Jardine in 2009 while doing his PhD at Cambridge because there wasn't a piece of referencing software that met his requirements. I am trialing the freeware version of this instead of Mendeley to see how it works.

I have just started experimenting with Quoll Writer, to see if it will work with mapping out the range of materials and so forth that I will need for planning and writing my PhD. Not quite sure yet, but it is fun to play with :-)


Sam

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3M Command Hooks

I was reading Lifehacker today - always a great source of making life easier in the 21st Century - when I came across a little act of leadership. A tip on how 3M Command hooks an make your life easier.

Funnily enough, I have used command hooks of various kinds for years, from hanging up the glass scraper in the shower to hanging up my connector cables & memory sticks under my desk (see photo).

Like the Lifehacker article, I use what are known here in Kiwiland as 'bulldog' clips to hold cable coils in order to hang them on a hook (aka US binder clips).

They do make life easier, make things come to hand more quickly, and so help me to be better organised.

Little things like this smooth out the wrinkles in today's busy-busy world :-D

• Reference: Pinola, Melanie (20 September 2013). 15 Brilliant Things You Can Do with Command Hooks. USA: Lifehacker. Retrieved 29 September 2013 from http://lifehacker.com/15-brilliant-things-you-can-do-with-command-hooks-1355369802

Sam

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The Brazilian Maverick

In Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1982, twenty four year old Ricardo Semler takes control of his father's struggling industrial equipment company, Semco. A not insignificant company, with a turnover of $6.8 million. In a radical approach to traditional management practice, Semler immediately sacked 66% of his top management team, and insisted that workers took responsibility for their own jobs, set their own wages and their own production targets.

From that moment on, Semler made financial data available to all employees, published all staff wages and let them choose and evaluate their own managers. Meetings and paperwork were kept to a minimum, with the focus on getting the job done.

Amazingly, despite Brazil's rollercoaster and volatile economy, Semco flourished, growing at between 30 and 40 percent a year. Today, company turnover is $273 million a year and employs more than 3000 people.

It is thought that Semler enjoyed success with his management style because it tapped into what we already know about people: that they are motivated and creative and self-disciplined when given the chance to contribute and be involved in decision-making; that they will take more and more responsibility when they are part of a team which maximises opportunities for self-fulfilment.

Letting go control is a leap of faith few CEOs are prepared to take - but over the past 20 years Ricardo Semler has proved it works.

Semco doesn't have a mission statement, headquarters, an HR department, organisational plans further out than six months, an organisation chart, a rulebook or any written policies. At Semco, all employees share in the company’s profits, so freeloaders at any level are unwelcome. Company units decide every six months how many people they will need, what business opportunities they will pursue, and how they will work. Teams are formed and reformed as needed and employees must continually prove their worth to the team in order to be sure of being part of future teams. The resulting high level of worker engagement - and a staff turnover below one percent - is something more traditional companies yearn for - along with their growth rates.

As part of Semco's constant attempts to unsettle the conventional order and unleash more flexibility and creativity, the firm's headquarters have been disbanded in favour of satellite "airport lounge" offices dotted around Sao Paulo. Staff no longer have fixed offices, or even fixed desks. Says Semler: "If you don't even know where your people are, you can't possibly keep an eye on them. All that's left to judge on is performance."

However, few companies have adopted Semco's democratic workplace design. The prevailing organisational system apparently has nothing to assist people make that leap of faith and give up control. Yet just consider - $100,000 invested in this barmy firm 20 years ago would now be worth a cool $5m.

Sam

References:

• Semler, R. (1993). Maverick!: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace. Warner Books.

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