Stealth Change

We had a meeting of our family support group last night. I was grumpy and inarticulate, and therefore did not contribute much. Russ and Mika were on the call for the first half, and then Cheryl joined a little later.

Mika was helpful to me in simply stating that it was difficult to communicate the idea of a learning organization. She said that it had taken almost a year of activity before her management finally "got it."

Russ coined a new term: subversive positive deviance. I like that! Maybe we'll write a book by that title someday.

Still Focusing

Spent about 30 minutes talking to JP yesterday about this project. He has good instincts and ideas, and with an MBA he's already been down this path and understands the process and the need for a bottomline deliverable!

One thing that emerged for me from the discussion was solidification of a core concept - that to have organizational learning you have to have individuals who learn. It seems obvious, but sometimes the obvious needs to be made explicit before one can progress.

So what are the behaviors that individuals must exhibit in order to create a learning organization? That seems to be the core question.

JP came up with a really cool idea of working with B and his directs. Using the LSI and Appreciative Inquiry, we could attempt to build Brad's team as a learning organization, which would then cascade out through the rest of the division.

I really like this idea, but it isn't what B and I discussed last week. I wonder if he would be open to a shift in focus like this?

Meeting with a Remarkable Man

I talked to Eric today about my so-called "learning organization" project. He gave me some questions to think about:

How will it take the company forward?
How would it benefit the individuals involved?
How could I mobilize support for it?
What would make it successful?

It's starting to feel like something that could actually have some form to it.

Terrapin Station

The division's Learning Organization project is the center of gravity right now, so I'm starting this blog with a post on that.

Reading Senge's The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook is like reading a prayerbook. He makes creating a learning organization sound like a spiritual aspiration, and I think that it is.

But exactly what is a learning organization? Is it a journey or a destination? I believe it is a never-ending journey, which makes it hard to build a structured "project" around it . . . what are the milestones? What are the deliverables? How will I know if we've been "successful?"

I need to talk to Eric before I set off on such a journey.

It is an activity that excites me, though. What if through this experience I got a chance to take it to another organization . . . and another . . . and another? I could be a part of human transformation in a way that makes my heart beat faster. Wow - to engage in joyful, meaningful work every day - what a concept!