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Satori System®The Learning Culture
7/16/2006 Effective leaders know that employee learning is the key to rapid improvement within an organization. They understand the importance of creating a learning culture that fully engages the hearts and minds of everyone within the enterprise. Effective leaders see continuous learning as a requirement in today's competitive environment and view it as their responsibility to design such empowering work environments. The term Learning Culture has its roots in W. Edward Deming's concept of "Profound Knowledge." Peter Senge further advanced our understanding of the learning organization with The Fifth Discipline and subsequent works. Possibly the most renowned leadership example of the Learning Culture is Jack Welch's work during his tenure as CEO of General Electric. Still, many find it difficult to grasp the importance of continuous learning in our organizations. They wonder, "what does it mean to be a leader within a Learning Culture? How can we tell if an organization has Learning Culture? And, why should we bother with it at all?" One way to address these questions is to contrast the differences
between organizations that possess a Learning Culture
with those that don't. My Organizational Learning Continuum
offers a means for drawing those distinctions. The Continuum
consists of three types: Crisis-Centered, Problem-Centered,
and Learning-Centered. Organizations are categorized
as one of these types based upon the following characteristics. 2) Problem-Centered - organizations that learn through problem detection. Problem-Centered organizations are effective at detecting difficulties after they occur. In contrast to the Crisis-Centered type, Problem-Centered organizations seek to find problems to correct. Much effort is expended in the establishment of mechanisms to identify aberrations. The goal is to catch the problem early so that it can be fixed before it causes significant harm. Problem-Centered organizations attempt to expose problems rather than cover them up. While the Problem-Centered organization is superior to the Crisis-Centered, in terms of organizational improvement, Problem-Centered organizations are still reactive entities. It is the presence the problem that stimulates improvement. 3) Learning-Centered - organizations that learn proactively. They distinguish themselves from the Problem-Centered type by seeking improvements to processes even in the absence of obvious or detectable errors. Learning-Centered organizations do not subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. These organizations are the least hierarchical in structure. They rely on vision and purpose to drive motivation, not fear and intimidation. Since the focus is on improving processes, and processes almost always involve several people, Learning-Centered organizations are inherently team-based and self-managed. Leaders within this type of organization know that fear is the greatest nemesis to building a Learning-Centered organization. Consequently, they strive to provide liberating environments that are open, team oriented, and stimulating for their employees. The Organizational Learning Continuum presents the three types distinctly, which might imply that leaders make conscious choices for one approach over the other. This is likely the case for some, but I believe that many leaders operate out of their comfort zone. They do what comes naturally to them without fully understanding the consequences. Some leaders just don't feel like they are doing their job if they are not implicitly or explicitly instilling fear in employees. Learning-Centered leaders, on the other hand, want employees to find joy and greater purpose in their work. They know that a fully engaged workforce is a tremendous competitive advantage.
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