Replying to LO25713 --
Peg,
I am continually fascinated by my gut feeling that there's a scheme behind
the way in which I choose to read the postings on this list. What a gem
yours is! Asking, it seems, about the "thing in itself," what Saint
Francis spoke about when he said that humans look for what is looking.
You ask if there's something you're missing!! But no, Peggy, not at all,
not at all! You are alert, vigilant perhaps, sensing, inquiring,
considerate. You add spice and substance to the LO pot-au-feu, for whose
recipe you search like the rest of us, .
For several years I have been asking myself and others about this sort of
thing. It's one thing to take a small start-up company into the realm of
continuous learning, deepening shared knowledge, and practical application
of individual and group tools for anything from consensus making to
financial analysis to Voice of The Customer collection.
And it's something altogether different to promote shared, mutual
learning, actively and effectively, in older organizations, some with many
thousands of people. Causal loop diagrams grow complex, as they should.
Points of support, intervention, facilitation, recognition and reward,
behavior modeling, and many others, lose structure and focus within the
noise. Learning organizations develop great tumult sometimes, and exacting
the signal from the noise may be difficult. And so leveraging desired
behaviors in any way possible also seems a daunting task.
And yet you described the many noises so well! So what, exactly, are we
trying to do -- here in this list, or out where we work and play? Are we
looking for formulations? Seems we've created those. Are we sharing
knowledge which can, through practice and translation, become practical
skill? Yes. As every sharer adds to the pot, the pot actually grows in
size; there's enough room for everyone around its perimeter. Sure smells
good.
I'm having more fun now in my life than ever before using causal loop
diagrams, the Enterprise Model, Sense and Respond, Affinity diagramming,
and much more to soften and manage the complexity in the business and
academic environments. At least in businesses which provide services
and/or products, the need to identify the essence of a learning
organization grows and grows. I sometimes think that trying to find it is
like trying to find where the "city" is in a city. Taller buildings, you
say? No. What's the "city?" Lots of people, vehicles, ideas, arts, sewage,
airports, rats, streets, bureaucrats? Well, they're IN the city, but what,
exactly, is the CITY? Anyway, I think I've made the silly point. Onward
with our dialogs.
Best regards,
Barry
--Barry Mallis <theorgtrainer@earthlink.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.