By Dr. Sam Saker

1. The making of the Learning Organization By Dr. Sam Saker

2. O u r Le a r n i n g O b j e c t i v e s T o d a y • What “Learning Organization” means? • The five disciplines (brief overview) • What are the main Characteristics of the Learning Organization? • Why become a “Learning Organization”? • How can we evolve into a “Learning Organization”? • Its building blocks • Example of success • First (baby) steps

3. Senge -1990 Garvin -1993 • What does “Learning Organization” mean? A learning organization is "an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future" "an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.”

4. Peter Senge [1994] proposed the framework of the learning organization: • Personal mastery(learning individual). • Mental models(learning individual). • Shared vision(learning team). • Team learning(learning team). • Systems thinking (learningorganization).

5. Personal Mastery • Individual learning as prerequisite to OL • True individual learner never arrives – Life-long! • It is a process – one can never possess it as an end! • Personal mastery people are aware of their ignorance, their competence, their growth areas. • They are deeply self-confident!

6. Creative Tension Back

7. Mental Models • Assumptions, generalizations, pictures and images that influence how we see the world an take actions. • We are often unaware of their impact. • To do, we need to look inward Discover our mental models, bring them to surface, and question them. • Ability to hold meaningful conversations with others exposing own thinking effectively to others’ influence • Free of internal politics & ‘games’  fostering openness.

8. Building Shared Vision • Genuine vision results in people excelling and learning because they want to. • The lack exists in failure to translate vision into shared vision. • How? By unearthing shared ‘Pictures of the future’ causing genuine commitment and enrolment rather than compliance. • Dictating a vision is counter-productive.

9. Team Learning • The process of aligning and developing the capacities of team to create the results its members truly desire’ • It builds on personal mastery and shared vision. • Also needs people to act together (learning together  growing together  rapid organizational success) • It starts with ‘dialogue’  Suspended assumptions  entering into thinking together  results not attainable individually! • Learning how not to interact in teams (avoiding the negative)

10. Systems thinking • The cornerstone of the learning organization • Organizations must be viewed as complex systems. • We must see organizations as dynamic processes • Result in more appropriate actions • Cause and effect are far apart – Long range… • Resist focusing on close solutions (usually having near relief but long range costs) • System blindness  ‘cycles of blaming and self-defense’

11. The Laws of the Fifth Discipline • Today’s problems come from yesterday’s “solutions” • The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back • Behavior grows better before it grows worse • The easy way out usually leads back in • The cure can be worse than the disease • Faster is slower

12. The Laws of the Fifth Discipline • Cause & effect are not closely related in time and space • Small changes can produce big results – but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious • You can have your cake and eat it too – but not at once • Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants • There is no blame

13. What are some characteristics of • a true “Learning Organization”? • It has a culture where the company regards changing as learning and learning as the cornerstone • It’s actions are proactive rather than reactive or adaptive • Learning is integrated with business objectives and strategies • Learning is regarded as an ongoing process

14. What are some characteristics of • a true “Learning Organization”? • Learning focuses values and competencies development through risk taking & shared experience while maintaining damage limitation through developmental support systems (individuals are encouraged to take risks and learn what they themselves find necessary for achieving organization’s goals while being trusted and made responsible) • Experience is regarded as the ultimate stage of learning • Learning utilizes the idea of "The Learning Wheel"

15. Understand & Question • What is the “Learning Wheel” concept?

16. Replicate • Follow the Formula • Mass Production • Fulfill shared vision of Organization mission in a community like environment Bureaucracy Learning Org Super-ordinate Goals • Create profits • Rising Share Value (For investors) Strategy • Innovate for Customer Satisfaction Bureaucracy Learning Org • Hierarchy-Vertical • Chain of Command • Big Picture at Top The 7-Points Difference Bureaucracy • Versatile • Cross-trained Skills Structure Learning Org • Network-Horizontal • Many Project Teams • Big Picture with All Learning Org Bureaucracy • Narrowly specialized Staff Systems Learning Org Bureaucracy • Flexible Job Boundaries • Passion about their work • Standardized • Coordinated by Rules • Standard OPs Style Bureaucracy • Role clarity • Dispassionate Learning Org Learning Org Bureaucracy • Informal • Coordinated by Mutual • Adjustments • Creativity - Learning • Participation dialogue • Politics: priorities/strategies • Conformity • Please the boss • Everything is in Place

17. Why become a Learning Organization?

18. For superior performance and competitive advantage • For enhancing customer relations • To avoid decline • To improve quality • To understand risks and diversity more deeply • For innovation • For our personal and spiritual well being Why become A Learning Organization

19. To increase our ability to manage change • For understanding • For energized committed work force • To expand boundaries • To engage in community • For awareness of the critical nature of interdependence • Because the times demand it Why become A Learning Organization

20. “The real competitive advantage for organizations is their ability to learn faster than the competition, to generate and share knowledge and to continuously improve.” • -Peter Senge

21. How can we become a true “Learning Organization?”

22. Leaders set the necessary conditions for developing an effective learning capability. • Leaders take strategic action and make specific interventions to ensure that learning can occur. It starts with leaders

23. How • They develop a widely shared vision supported by employees to influence the learning capability of the organization. • They introduce and maintain mechanisms to facilitate the transfer of knowledge between work teams…

24. What are the Building Blocks of a true “Learning Organization”?

25. 1. CLARITY AND SUPPORT FOR MISSION AND VISION GE and Motorola are good examples of companies where senior managers and the CEO spend considerable time articulating a vision and creating employee commitment to achieving it.

26. 2. SHARED LEADERSHIP AND INVOLVEMENT Nortel has frequent training sessions and workshops that include all employees, where some seniors and a manager are always part of.

27. 3. A CULTURE THAT ENCOURAGES EXPERIMENTATION At 3M, experimentation is built into work activities!!! At Hewlett-Packard  time-activated obsolescence !!!

28. 4. ABILITY TO TRANSFER KNOWLEDGE ACROSS ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIES Xerox and AT&T have programs that benchmark the managerial practices of the best companies in an industry and their competitors!!!

29. 5. TEAMWORK AND COOPERATION Honda is the best example of a learning company with a strong focus on teamwork and cooperation.

30. SUPPORTING FOUNDATIONS EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN EMPLOYEE SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

31. Case Study • A Detroit (USA) luxury car manufacturer embarked on a new car program, Epsilon – 3-years tight deadline. • Challenges: • Meeting many quality standards • Staying within Budget • Delivering before deadline

32. Case Study • The Journey of Success - Teamed up with a consulting-research team from MIT. • A "core learning team" was formed with ten Epsilon managers and several staff from MIT • Began learning and practicing the basic concepts and tools of learning organization • Leadership group first engaged themselves in some very serious learning and change

33. Case Study Journey of Success • Began to teach and coach the rest of the Epsilon staff with the help of internal consultants • Training agenda and content wad developed by the Core Learning Team. • Investigate the biggest challenges and strengths! • Main focus • “Why are our parts always late?”

34. Case Study Journey of Success • Began to teach and coach the rest of the Epsilon staff with the help of internal consultants • Working together  system map (casual loops)  Root Cause & Point of Leverage were discovered!!! • Root cause/leverage point • Engineers not reporting problems until very late  causing other dependent elements delays  compounding the problem!!!

35. Journey of Success Case Study Why this happened consistently? • "engineering culture" (don't report any problem until you know the solution)… plus … • “company culture” (reporting problems would be held against persons)

36. Journey of Success Case Study • Repairing the Root Cause • Establishing greater trust "bearing bad tidings is safe". • No one has all the answers (even managers). • The good of the whole program was more important than some individuals fears • Chief Aim: Create a culture very different from the one they have experienced many years at their company!

37. Journey of Success Case Study • Repairing the Root Cause • Engineers make their own decisions  cross-functional collaboration was expected and rewarded. • These insights were developed first among the core learning team, over eight months of regular meetings. • “Learning labs” were held, firstly involving one quarter of entire staff, with many briefings and discussions held with all of them. (focusing on changing the norm of communication)!!!

38. Journey of Success Case Study • Repairing the Root Cause • The learning labs included various experiential methods. • Employees saw senior Epsilon managers actually change their own behavior Less authoritarian, more open to other view points, and collaborating on solutions instead of punishing against reported serious problems and punishing honesty)

39. SUCCESS !!! Case Study • SUCCESS • Launch of the new model went smoothly, on-time (as intended) instead of the usual last-minute panic and pandemonium • The project was also well under budget, saving some $60 million in re-tooling costs • Customer reaction and various quality measures on the new vehicle were also well above previous levels.

40. “It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.” • --John Steinbeck

41. Strategic Planning Attitudes Shift of focus towards ongoing learning Commitment Begin to move learning up on agenda Eliminate barriers that impede learning Slow Management Processes Benefits First Steps Environment Reflect Symposiums Current Conditions Study Missions Analyze Learning 1-Foster Learning due to knew knowledge 2- Wisdom of Implications Int. Benchmarking Forums No Boundaries Employees Systems Audits New Products Strategic Reviews No Rush Conferences Learning Time Cross- Organizational Or Customers & Suppliers Meetings Productivity Training Project Teams Brainstorming Fresh Ideas Problem Solving Evaluating

42. " Organization-wide learning involves change in culture and change in the most basic managerial practices, not just within a company, but within a whole system of management. ... I guarantee that when you start to create a learning environment, people will not feel as though they are in control." • --Peter Senge

43. A one time improvement does not equal Learning Organization…

44. Shell Oil planning director Arie de Geus, says that over the long run, superior performance depends on superior learning.

45. “The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of the people in his or her organization is going to blow the competition away.” • Walter Wriston -- Citibank CEO

46. “The most successful corporation of the 1990s will be something called a learning organization, a consummately (perfectly)adaptiveenterprise.” • Fortune Magazine

48. The Learning Organization By Dr. Sam Saker Thank you very much