42.The characteristics of a learning organization

If organizational development is an active ambition of management, then it is important to have a concrete idea of ​​the organization that one wishes to develop. The thinking exercise that is required for this is often referred to as the "mission - vision" exercise. The fact that mission is the all- determining approach is beyond doubt. The social mission of the organization must determine what characteristics the organization must have to fulfill this mission. The word "vision" is used a little unfortunately in this case, but the essence is that we need an answer to the question "what should be the characteristics of the organization we need?" Here we describe the basic characteristics of a learning organization (1), one that is able to focus on the mission and is able to improve itself continuously. It fits in with the idea of ​​Artificial Intelligence, a built-in intelligence that constantly improves the system.

The functioning of a learning organization can be summarized in seven important characteristics:

1.                      A collective learning attitude

People learn something when they have a learning attitude. This has been described in detail elsewhere (2). It is clearly insufficient for an organization if only the management has a learning attitude. The entire organization should be in a learning mode. This means that the three phases in a learning attitude work on a collective level: wanting, trying, evaluating.

Specifically, "wanting together" is a matter of agreeing on the mission (a firm and explicit mental contract of all employees), but also on the strategic plan based on it. In phase 2, "trying together" becomes a matter of participation in decision-making, sound internal communication and calculated autonomy of functions and teams. In phase 3, it is evaluated whether the results achieved meet the objectives and what can be learned from the attempts that were made. Adjustment closes the circle. It is important for the proper functioning of the circle, that the evaluation is primarily done by those who have tried something. The management monitors the quality of the evaluation and gives appropriate feedback.

2.                      Constructive relationships

In human cooperation, the relationship always comes first, then the content. With a bad relationship, cooperation cannot be made productive. In concrete terms, this means that the conclusions of the Transactional Analysis (3) are realized in practice. This means that everyone enters the 'adult' mode, and that 'parenting' and ' childing ' are virtually non-existent. If they do occur, they will be taken care of by a strong culture and sound leadership (see below).

3.                      A "liberating" structure

Structure determines how areas of responsibility and authority are defined. The narrower these are, and the less 'room to maneuver' there is available for employees and teams, the more sub-optimization occurs, and the harder it is to motivate people. Processes are too often parceled out over many different people and teams, and few or no people have an overview of the entire process, let alone the ability to optimize it. Autonomous teams that not only manage their own operational functioning, but also monitor the quality of teamwork, fit into this vision. Designing a structure in this sense means that employees are 'liberated', that they are given the space to develop constructive behavior. But creating space is not enough, as many failures in the introduction of self-managing teams demonstrated.

4.                      A strong and supportive culture

The culture in an organization is the whole of unwritten rules that determine what behavior can be expected in practice, or is tolerated. This culture can be weak, and then a lot is possible and there is a weak sense for norms. This makes individual performance very difficult to synchronize into clear results. This creates a kind of "chaos-feel", which is very demoralizing. The culture must therefore be strong, but it must also support the mission. The values ​​that are necessary for the fulfillment of the mission must be well-chosen and explicitly present . This is only possible if they have been translated into concrete principles. These allow behavior to be adjusted and provide a sense of norm that results in spontaneous discipline, not enforced, but supported.

5.                   Participation in decision making

When making decisions, making all the choices that are important for the functioning of the organization, a adult - adult relationship must be realized. This is about both business decisions and about determining principles for the desired culture. A careful method of decision-making must therefore explicitly be part of the culture (translated into principles) and used as a kind of guarantee for cooperation. They are tangible alternatives for 'top-down', unilateral decisions and other traditional styles. What needs to be developed is, among other things, funnel techniques, ‘sociocratic’  decision-making, transparent communication, etc. A lot of additions to Kotter's well-known methodology for managing changes will be needed. Reverse decision making (pure bottom up) is no longer a danger, because "public participation without insight leads to judgments without perspective"!

6.                   Strong leadership

A strong leadership is not the same as a dominant leadership. It is one that is present to 'keep the entire organization up to date'. Elsewhere the characteristics of professional and contemporary leadership are described. It must fit into an ‘adult – adult’ relationship, where agreements replace obedience, where vision is present, and where all elements of this 'learning organization' are realized in a transparent manner.(5) To develop a learning organization, management vision (as a whole) will be essential, but also an active (uniform) role of 'culture creator. The practical 'business' side may then mainly be developed by employees.

7.                   Mature people

Without mature people (6) a mature organization is not possible. If the employees, the management in particular, demonstrate a lot of self-centered behavior and short-term focus, then a focus on the mission, focus on long term and on agreements will become difficult. But it needs to be said: working with mature people is easy. In that case, self-management becomes natural and productive. In practice, there will always be a mix of maturity levels. But a certain predominance of quite high maturity is necessary in this context. The leadership and the culture will ensure that the less mature people do feel good, constructive contributions and even grow in maturity. What certainly should not happen is that the low- mature people start to set the pace! This is a risk that is highly present in highly polarized organizations due to a leadership that is strongly 'parenting' (authoritarian) and a negative but strong union effect that results from this. That is the opposite of the learning organization.

The fish

"The fish starts rotting at the head" is a saying in several cultures around the world. It means that an organization's performance is strongly determined by the quality of leadership. Fortunately, it also means that with good management, organizations become strong, without compromising the well-being of employees, clearly the opposite. In a learning organization, the development of people and the development of the organization synergistically reinforce each other.

The management must ensure that all the features described here develop in the practice of the organization, in collaboration.

Hugo Der Kinderen

January 2019

   

      (1)   The term " learning." organization 'was launched by Peter Senge (The fifth discipline; the art and practice of the learning organization, Double Currency Day, New York, 1990). The characteristics described here are my own interpretation, which can be seen as an alternative and more practical approach. 

      (2)     A detailed description of the learning process with adult people can be found at “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”.

      (3)     A short description of the dynamics of Transactional Analysis can be found at “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”. This vision is quite different from many common approaches in the sense that more attention is given to the effects that behavior has on behavior. 

      (4)     Some fundamental additions to Kotter's methodology (Leading change, Harvard Business Review Press, 2012) can be found at “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”.

      (5)     Multiple approaches to leadership can be found at “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”

      (6)     A brief description of the maturity development of people can be found on “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”.