Experiential Learning from 3-day program on "Organizational Learning"

This article is a set of observations and personal learning from a 3-day program on "Foundation to Organizational Learning" facilitated and conducted by Ms Julia Sager to a group of 22 participants from the same corporation.

The skillfulness of Ms Julia Sager as a facilitator, trainer and speaker are demonstrated by the many observations I am going to share, with me as a observer and participant in the 3 day program.

It is observed that many participants experience a deep awareness of their own being and presence in this universe and try to connect and make sense of what they are doing daily, whether in their own personal life, family, organization, community or society. As organizational members, in which we are all an integral part, we are constantly face with many difficulties, challenges, issues, problems, conflicts to resolve. These present a set of current reality they have to comprehend and deal with. Some of these difficulties or challenges may get into the way of their personal goals in life, or meaningfulness or lack of it in the activities that have to be engaged, or act as catalyst to propel them further, or, blur their personal vision, floating aimlessly to external stimuli or pressures, loosing the ability and capacity to create a future that they truely desire and care about.

Some participants expressed pain when they contemplated on the vast gap between their personal vision and the current reality or environment they are in. This program (with many workshops, thus much interaction and meaningful conversation with each other), help in the awakening of this realization of the gap, thereby creating a strong tension between the personal vision and their perception of the current reality. This calls for one of the 5 disciplines, [Personal Mastery]: mastery of one's own destiny and future.

As the participants are from the same corporation, it is especially felt and realized that we are all engaging in numerous human transactions. Our action, behavior and thinking are interrelated and interdependent, thereby producing the results or non-result we face daily. The driving force is our [mental model], our own perception of the world around us. With these, more often than not, flawed or incomplete worldviews, [mental model], we act, react, behave and produce many unintended consequences (positive or negative) that contribute to the current reality that we experience. If at all there is a perceived problem, we begin to realize that the problem is not outside us, but we are very much contributors to the problems that we face - e.g. productivity, teamwork, safety, quality etc.

On the personal level, there is this vast gaps between personal aspiration and current reality (thus the need for creative tension to pull us towards the vision that we desire), and the great possibilities of flawed assumptions [mental models] that cause us to behave in certain way, producing many unintended consequences. With such constraints in each of us, the participants also realize the enormous difficulties to create [shared vision] among team members. As demonstrated by the exercises in the workshops, participants were to articulate their personal vision to partner and group, and to seek empathy, interest, resonance before we talk of buy-in from others. The matter of the fact is, sometimes even among close colleagues, there may not be shared vision on some endeavor to be jointly undertaken. We then hear story that successful organizations do not impose management perceived vision onto their organizational members (e.g. just by road show, rhetoric, slogan, briefing etc.), but deeply interested in the personal visions of the individuals so as to cause alignment, resonance and produce synergistic result with that of the organizational goals.

The participants also learn that we lack basic ability to carry out meaningful and insightful conversation, even among colleagues or close friends. We were exposed to the theory and tools in [team learning]: the art of communication to be clear between "dialogue" and "discussion", in which we all tend to be specialists in the later - discussion, or debate with underlying intention to win (other lose), or to advocate, to prove that our ideas, proposal, explanation are right (others less right). The lack of the discipline and skills in deep inquiry of other view points, in suspending our own assumptions, is a revelation to us of the missing puzzle pieces in team dynamic, with less than productive conversation, or worse, dysfunctional teams which often occur in our day to day life.

From the earlier part of the program, participants were asked to list critical / chronic business issues : e.g. declining revenue, projects that never get completed on time, quality and safety, productivity problem, resistance to change, never ending initiatives, meetings etc. Groups were formed to tackle the important issues. Participants were taught the System thinking concept and tools. The nature and complexity of the issues are made easier to comprehend. The interacting forces of the multi-variables having impact on the outcome of the issues are better illustrated for deeper understanding and not taken for granted or ignored. The various assumptions / [mental models] prevailing as the driving force that contributes or escalates the problem level act as mirror to review our distortion of the current reality. The wise words of Albert Einstein becomes clearer now : "Our present problem cannot be solved at the same level of thinking at which they were created." As we were taught to probe deeper the underlying structures that give rise to the surface symptoms, we see the need of using creativity thinking for intervention and changing new structures to cause new behavior and phenomena.

The 3-days program on "Foundations for Organizational Learning" deals on the 5 key disciplines : [Personal Mastery] [Shared Vision] [Mental Model] [Team Learning] [System thinking], to be better understood and practiced. I begin to appreciate better the opening remark by Dr. Peter Senge in his book "The Fifth Discipline" - "Give me a lever long enough ... and single-handed I can move the world". This is not a statement of arrogance or boostfulness. It is a statement of deep insights of us the human race and the faith in the human being to develop greater capacity to learn.

This program is not the conventional management program of giving solutions, nor promises - but a set of disciplines for stakeholders to practice with beliefs, so as to understand themselves and the world they interact with better. Any solution or profound change to desired outcome is dependent and emerging from one own deep commitment to comprehend issues and take action they care and dare to create for a brighter futrue.

The success of this program in creating high degree of self and group awareness among participants, in my opinion, is contributed by the following three factors:

• A profound theory on Organizational Learning
• Skillful and competent facilitator, trainer and speaker, Ms Julia Sager
• The ready state of minds of the participants

If you are curious about this program, please contact undersigned as there are many more new programs as sequel to the above designed and developed and conducted.

The above article is personal view of undersigned. It does not represent the view of any other entities. It is meant for sharing of experiences.