Experience of a Learning Organization: How To Grow Beyond Blame

1. Experience of a Learning Organization: How To Grow Beyond Blame

2. Agenda • Learning Organization Philosophy • The 5 Disciplines Overview • Double-Loop Quality Process Overview • The Discipline of Mental Models • Direct Communication Standard • Productive Conversation Framework • Double-Loop Quality Process Re-visited • Discussion

3. What's a Learning Culture? • … a place in which people seek to learn rather than know. They admit that their pictures of the world are incomplete and therefore they need to learn from each other in order to fully understand the whole system. They do this through a process of respectful inquiry into each other’s world views.

4. Learning Culture • “The way organizations are is a product of how we think and how we interact; they cannot change in any fundamental way unless we can change our basic patterns of thinking and interacting”. • Peter Senge

5. The Learning Organization Philosophy • Based on the book The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge • 5 Disciplines • Personal Mastery • Shared Vision • Team Learning • Mental Models • Systems Thinking

6. 1st - Personal Mastery • Have you ever wondered… • about the purpose of your life? • why you aren’t more effective in what you do? • when you were finally going to achieve your life-long goal? • Wouldn’t it be great if… • you understood exactly how to achieve your goals? • you were in your ideal job, doing work you loved and were good at.

7. 1st - Personal Mastery • What is the discipline of Personal Mastery? • Developing... mycommitment to my future. • Expanding my personal capacity to create the results I really care about in my life. • How do you do Personal Mastery work? • Develop a creative tension between who you are and who you want to be.

8. 2nd - Shared Vision • Have you ever wondered… • why people just seem to be doing their own thing without regard to the impact on others? • why the organization seemed to be spinning its wheels without going anywhere? • Wouldn’t it be great if… • the organization was poised to reach its full potential? • All employees are very clear on what the purpose and vision of the organization is?

9. 2nd - Shared Vision • What is the discipline of Shared Vision? • Developing… ourcommitment to our future. • Developing shared images of the future we seek to create together. • How do you do Shared Vision work? • Create a shared image of “our future” by sharing individual visions.

10. 3rd - Mental Models • Have you ever wondered… • why that other person “just doesn’t get it”? • what it would be like to have really powerful conversations with your co-workers? • Wouldn’t it be great if… • every conversation you had increased, rather than decreased, mutual understanding? • you never had to worry about the other person “taking things the wrong way”?

11. 3rd - Mental Models • What is the discipline of Mental Models? • Seeing… How I think. • Becoming more aware of the sources of our thinking; increasing mutual understanding. • How do you do Mental Models work? • Reflect on your own thoughts and actions and discuss them with others.

12. 4th - Team Learning • Have you ever wondered… • why people seem to get stuck in the same roles in every meeting? • why we sometimes dread meetings? • Wouldn’t it be great if… • we could have meetings that really meant something? • you felt like a vital member of a very special team?

13. 4th - Team Learning • What is the discipline of Team Learning? • Developing… How smart weare. • Transforming our skills of collective thinkingthrough discussion and dialogue. • How do you do Team Learning work? • Practice talking and thinking together to generate collective insight.

14. 5th - Systems Thinking • Have you ever wondered… • why things seem to get worse, when you are trying to make them better? • why solving a problem in one area causes a new problem for another area? • Wouldn’t it be great if… • we understood why “shift happens”? • we could always take actions that were high leverage?

15. 5th - Systems Thinking • What is the discipline of Systems Thinking? • Seeing... how things are connected. • Understanding the forces and inter-relationships that shape the behavior of systems. • How do you do Systems Thinking work? • Study interconnections between factors that impact your results.

16. How the 5 Disciplines Work Together • Five Discipline Matrix

17. What if One’s Missing?

18. What if One’s Missing?

19. Everything Hangs on These 5 Hooks

20. Double-Loop Quality Process • Why do we want this outcome in the first place? Is it the right outcome? • Why did we think the previous action strategy would work anyway? What assumptions are we making?

21. Mental Models

22. Why Do We Need a “Direct Communication Standard”? • Meeting-after-the-meeting • Telephone game • Rumors

23. Direct Communication Standard 1stDiscuss your differences directly with the other person, one on one. 2ndIf not resolved, both persons meet with a mutually agreed-upon Conversation Coach to continue the discussion. 3rdIf still not resolved, bring the situation to the next level of authority for a resolution. Only listen to discussions about the “other person” if you are re-directing someone to go back and have a direct conversation. Encourage every effort to be made in the 1st and 2nd stages to avoid the 3rd stage.

24. When do I use the Direct Communication Standard? • When its about relationships and communication, and has an impact on performance. • Examples • Differences of opinion • Confronting gossip • Not if its an issue of authority • Examples • About policies • About evaluation

25. Conversation Coach Program • Purpose: To increase mutual understanding between associates by facilitating productive conversations. • Conversation Coaching Method • Confidentiality. • Facilitate people outside their own department; Advise people from any department. • Authority vs. relationship/communication issues.

26. Two Roles of Conversation Coaches

27. The Plan • I’m going to try and convince you of three things: • ONE: Our thinking (our Left-hand Column) has animpact on the results of our conversations. • TWO: We create our own Left-hand Column, and therefore we are often our own worst enemy. • THREE: Our Left-hand Column can be changed (using the Ladder of Inference).

28. The Plan • I’m going to try and convince you of three things: • ONE: Our thinking (our Left-hand Column) has animpact on the results of our conversations. • TWO: We create our own Left-hand Column, and therefore we are often our own worst enemy. • THREE: Our Left-hand Column can be changed (using the Ladder of Inference).

29. Hidden Structure (Left-Hand Column) • “Inner voice” • “Self talk”

30. The Structure of Conversations Did you find this to be true?

31. The Structure of Conversations Did you try this strategy?

32. The Structure of Conversations Did you try this strategy?

33. The Plan • I’m going to try and convince you of three things: • ONE: Our thinking (our Left-hand Column) has an impact on the results of our conversations. • TWO: We create our own Left-hand Column, and therefore we are often our own worst enemy. • THREE: Our Left-hand Column can be changed (using the Ladder of Inference).

34. The Structure of Conversations

35. Ladder of Inference

36. We Create Our Own LHC Name the conclusion. Recall how you interpreted what you observed. Remember what you actually observed.

37. The Plan • I’m going to try and convince you of three things: • ONE: Our thinking (our Left-hand Column) has an impact on the results of our conversations. • TWO: We create our own Left-hand Column, and therefore we are often our own worst enemy. • THREE: Our Left-hand Column can be changed (using the Ladder of Inference).

38. How Do We Change Our LHC? • Assume the other person is acting with integrity, given their situation. • Move our conversations as low on the ladder as possible.

39. Get Down To Data • WHENEVER POSSIBLE, “get down to data”, when the issue is contentious or difficult. • When you talk about what actually happened, rather than your interpretations or conclusions about what happened: • Feelings are diffused • Less defensiveness

40. Advocacy and Inquiry • Advocacy • Walking up the Ladder of Inference • Revealing your own thinking • “Disclosure” • Inquiry • Walking down the Ladder of Inference • Asking questions to reveal their thinking • “Curiosity”

41. Reveal Your Thinking ADVOCACY Offer your conclusion. Share how you interpreted what you observed. Restate what you actually observed.

42. Get Curious About Their Thinking INQUIRY Imagine their conclusion (and test it with them). Ask how they interpreted what they observed. Ask for a description of what they actually observed (an example).

43. Moving Up and Down the Ladder INQUIRY ADVOCACY Offer your conclusion. Share how you interpreted what you observed. Restate what you actually observed. Imagine their conclusion (and test it with them). Ask how they interpreted what they observed. Ask for a description of what they actually observed (an example).

44. Double-Loop Quality Process • Why do we want this outcome in the first place? Is it the right outcome? • Is there a better outcome to pursue? • Why did we think the previous action strategy would work anyway? What assumptions are we making? • Can we make any new assumptions about possible successful action?

45. Thank You!