John Dicus challenged us with a metaphor that caught my attention -- the
notion of an organization as an organism led him to wonder what it would
mean for that org. to "move more air with each breath."
I've heard organizational learning referred to (metaphorically) as if it
were food and drink for the org. -- but I always found that unfruitful in
my own thinking. Now I understand why.
How many times have we heard (or said) that a new idea brought "a breath
of fresh air" to the organization? Maybe it is ideas/information that is
the air, "learning" is what we do with the air once we take it in, and
getting more air to move through an org. requires both exposing ourselves
to more new ideas/information and getting more learning out of that
exposure.
Waddya think?
--"John Gunkler" <jgunkler@sprintmail.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>