To add to the discussion of how people can do their jobs and engage in
organizational learning.....
In my coaching of teams engaged in learning labs (time "away from work"
allotted to learning and applying LO principles) I have never seen a team
not "working." If you didn't know it was "training" you would think they
were having a business meeting.
Here is some "evidence" of this:
1) "Too many meetings" was offered as a barrier to their vision by a
particular team and, because their manager was part of their learning team,
they stopped their "training" session and mapped out their meetings,
eliminated any not considered critical, shuffled responsibilities for
attendance -- and saved about 5 hours a month per team member. That time
saved was far more than the time spent in the learning lab.
2) One research team reversed their decision regarding a $35,000 proposal
following the dialogue that resulted as part of their learning lab. They,
for the first time, realized that they had never fully understood the
intent behind the proposal.
3) While mapping some of their systemic problems, one shop-floor team was
able to identify and implement a simple solution to the mistrust and
miscommunication between shifts - they added a 5-minute overlap between
shift changes.
I guess I am always amazed when people think transformation won't involve
time and commitment...
I coached a plant management team that went through a 2-day learning lab
that was quite emotional and exhausting because they began to talk about
and deal with issues that they had been avoiding. Several watershed
moments occured... During the check-in at the end, there were incredible
comments about how much this experience meant to them, the growth as a mgt
team they felt they had gone through, etc.. Talking to the plant manager
later though, this was his comment, "That was all great...but couldn't we
have done that in a couple of hours?"
BTW, as a team learning coach, one thing I have discovered is that teams
are so involved in the moment that they don't really recognize the "work"
that they are doing. I find ways to help a team realize the value of
their experience. I take notes on ideas, suggestions, problems, "ahas,"
and other outcomes the team came up with and later remind them of these.
Most often they will be surprised about how productive they actually were.
Teams often will generate a lot and not even recognize it or remember them
at the end of a session. That's one of the values of a coach (someone who
is not a part of the learning team).
Fun stuff, Claire
Claire McCarty Kilian, Ph.D.
MR Communication Consultants
16700 County Hwy UN
Chippewa Falls, WI 54729
715-726-0561 (phone) 715-726-0563 (fax) ClaireKil@aol.com
Offering "The Team Learning Lab"...a practical program to improve results
through systems thinking, mental models, and shared vision.
Check out our website: www.mrcomm.com
--Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>