Experience. Interesting thoughts.
Eugene Taurman talked in LO14577 of "Experience is a multi edged sword."
He added:
>Successful experience closes my mind to new ideas. The more successful I
>become the more new ideas I set aside. Successful experiences may give me
>the confidence to try more new ventures.
>Unsuccessful experience may open my mind to new ideas but may destroy my
>will to try.
Good ideas. But success is a paradox, methinks.
My model of the world is a bit different in that most people don't
actually cut themselves with their sword of experience; it is a duller and
more mundane process.
It sometimes has me pushing the wagon and experiencing a repetitiveness of
life, a monotony that can become almost comfortable. The Thump Thump of
my Square Wheels is the signal that progress is being made, a measurement
system.
If that remains my reality, I can resist the changes since I can become
comfortable with that role and know what is expected of me. Stopping to
step back and look around? Sorry, no time; I've got things to do and
places to go.
Thump Thump. Success carries us blindly forward.
And sometimes my experience has me at the front, looking forward and
pulling ahead. But the very rope also serves to cushion me from the sharp
reality. And, let's face it, I've been rewarded in the past for being a
good wagon puller. Heck, I know how to do that job well and beat last
years marks every time.
My support system (the team at the back) is undoubtedly highly motivated
and must understand the goals; I've explained the changes to them by memo.
And they know their jobs -- we have very little turnover of employees (and
training them is pretty simple).
Maybe the paradox of experience is that we are good at doing things
because we have done them before (and not done too well when the
situation, policies, practices, and skills are undergoing change). We
don't have time to objectively evaluate. So even though we know much
about what we do and where we've been, we must remain conscious of the
shifts around us and link our past experiences with possibility thinking
about potential new ones.
So, Don't Just DO Something, Stand There. Evaluate. Link. Generate.
Perspective is essential so that we can adapt our past experiences to
potential new frameworks and vehicles. The round wheels are already in
the wagon; it's just that some don't have rims (yet).
((If you want a FREE transparency of my Square Wheels One illustration,
I'd be most pleased to send one along by snail mail with a Tip Sheet on
how you might use it to generate discussion - just sent me your address.
And I hope to actually shake hands with some of you at the Pegasus
Conference)),
-- For the FUN of It!Scott Simmerman Performance Management Company 3 Old Oak Drive, Taylors, SC 29687 (USA) 864-292-8700 fax 292-6222 SquareWheels@compuserve.com
visit The Lost Dutchman at http://www.clicknow.com/stagedright/dutchman/
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>