Question on The Fifth Discipline LO20822

Dr. Peter A. Hubbard (peter@will2win.com.au)
Sun, 07 Mar 1999 11:43:48 +0000

Replying to LO20805 --

In reading Scott's
response to Bill Bray (Replying to LO20779 --), two things happened.

1. I suddenly felt guilty for all the Roman War Chariots I had
inflicted on the world, and

2. I suddenly realized that in reading all the contributions from the
LO's over these past months, very little seems to have been raised
about ENVIRONMENT!

Would I be universally pillared if is suggested the following :
- A "pure systems environment" is Personality interdependent.
- Personality can (and does) hijack process and systems intellect.
- The LO needs the "fire in the belly" and the intellect of the

Personality, with the "smoothing" of integrated systems thinking, and
righteous systems approach.

Why?

People only learn what they want to lean. And they only learn it when
they want to.

Ergo, the whole concept of LO must be centered around creating an
environment conducive to learning.

Too simple?

Consider this.
Scott mentioned that, "Others here will be much more able to post
about Senge's thinking but my model of the world would suggest that
the "gap" between self-perception of current state and some perception
of "desired state" will generally cause motivation toward closing the
gap. It is somewhat aligned with Festinger's model of Cognitive
Dissonance."

Positive motivation will occur when the gap is not too great.
Frustration can occur if the end state is perceived to be unreachable.
And self-perception may not be accurate or even in awareness unless is
facilitated in some manner (often through coaching or analysis using
the tools of systems thinking or discussion).

We know that a primary cause of self-induced stress is the observation
or realization of the difference between perception and reality.
Scott's "gap". We also know that if the environment is conducive to
learning, stress is minimized, and performance is enhanced.
What are the precursors of a the "ideal" LO environment? When we look
for levers (to promote learning) are we in fact challenging an
indifferent environment? What could change this? Is the environment
argument being neglected in our approach to LO?

Just curious, and looking forward to any response.

Business is about managing change.
Success is optional.

Visit us at www.will2win.com.au

-- 

"Dr. Peter A. Hubbard" <peter@will2win.com.au>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>