A weakness of the current Organizition Learning movement is reflected in
the ongoing "What is Leadership?" thread. Almost all comments are focused
on the individual level of the system, either the attributes of the
individual leaders or their relationship with the individual followers --
almost as if Leadership is one-on-one relationships writ large.
>From an earlier post I offered (February - Democracy & the learning
organisation LO20641):
When we look at Democracy to inform and expand our thinking about the
Learning Organization, I think we miss the point as long as we stay at the
individual level of the system. The important issues for Democracy and
Learning Organizations are the organizational governance mechanisms at
play. For example, Do we try to identify, select and develop future
leaders of the business? or Do we want to build organizations with the
capacity to embrace "good" leadership, resist "bad" leadership, and "know"
the difference?
In "The Fifth Discipline" Senge briefly discussed "Leader as Designer".
Unfortunately Senge focused the Designer's efforts on the individual level
of the system: "In essence, the leaders' task is designing the learning
processes whereby people throughout the organization can deal productively
with the critical issues they face, and develop their mastery in the
learning disciplines."
Maybe we need different language to help clarify the focus on the "Leaders
of Organizations" (e.g., General George C. Marshall - WWII and Marshall
Plan, General Robert Wood - Sears, T. Vail - Bell System, A. Sloan -
General Motors) in addition to discussing the "Leaders of People" in
organizations.
In another earlier post I offered "... a strategic organizational learning
question for senior leaders. If they are really committed to being "The
Founding Parents" of a sustained Learning Organization, what could they
initiate that would transcend the duration of their leadership. Of
course, as long as the LO community is focused on learning at the
individual level of the system, the senior leaders will have to look
elsewhere for help...." and, the Learning Organization movement becomes
another HR/OD management fad.
--Doug Merchant dougm@eclipse.net
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>