“Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together” (Peter Senge, 1990).

The quote above is a definition of a Learning Organisation taken from Senge’s influential book The Fifth Discipline in which Senge proposed a number of ideas on what constitutes, and how a company many become, a Learning Organisation. Learning Organisations go back much further than Senge, however. As far back as the 1970s, Arie de Geus described learning as the only sustainable competitive advantage for one company over another.

Theories surrounding Learning Organisation are a response to unpredictable and hypercompetitive business environments and are intended to make companies more durable and progressive. In the current economic climate, any method that can help make a company stronger is surely worth considering.

Systemic Thinking

Peter Senge’s theories of the Learning Organisations are based on Systemic Thinking. The importance of Systemic Thinking lies in the fact that by its nature it involves the ability to comprehend and address the whole. In order to understand and integrate other aspects of Learning Organisation theory, Systemic Thinking is first required.

Systemic Thinking allows people to look beyond their immediate context, to appreciate how their individual areas of responsibility impact and influence upon others and how these impact the whole. Crucially, understanding the system of a company ensures that individuals understand the feedback systems and therefore should feel like they know how to make their feelings clear. Systemic thinking is a key leadership skill and failure to embrace it is often one of the reasons why successful managers fail to make the transition into becoming effective leaders.

So far so good, but one of the problems of integrating Systemic Thinking into a business environment is that many companies have extremely complex organisational structures. For Systemic Thinking to be truly effective, a company should not oversimplify its structure. Rather, it should  make it possible for each worker to understand the full complexity of the structure. Particularly with the enormous complexity of many modern companies this can be difficult, and, some would argue, impractical.

Other Disciplines

Senge identified four other disciplines which individuals must embrace in order for a company to become a Learning Organisation. In practical terms they represent the method through which a learning culture can be established in a company. Whilst there may be other ways of describing such processes, Senge’s disciplines provide a good starting point.

The first of Senge’s disciplines is “personal mastery”. This is best characterised by an awareness of an individua’ls own strengths and weaknesses, a deep self-confidence and being continually open to learning. It, perhaps, could also be defined as the pursuit of greater self-awareness; a knowledge of company systems coupled with a knowledge of the role that an individual is expected to play and their ability to meet that role. Personal mastery is vital for the development of a company and also for the development of the individuals within that company.

The second of Senge’s disciplines is the idea of “mental models”. Mental models are deeply ingrained, entrenched, ideas that individuals have of the world and of their roles within the company. For the company to succeed it is vital that people must bring these models to the surface and scrutinise them intensely in order to ascertain whether they are suitable within the context of the company. Entrenchment in these mental models can foil the development of the company as a whole. Mental models rely heavily on two simple elements that are vital to the success of any company: confidence and openness. Senge’s proposition of a mental model that facilitates development is simple: all it requires is an individual being open regarding their own views and aims, and having enough confidence in themselves to articulate those views, and enough confidence in their managements to feel that their views will be taken into account. Simple in principle, challenging to achieve.

The third of Senge’s models is “building shared vision”. This is vital for the success of any team, whether it be a company or a sports team. If all members of the team share a common vision, one that they have faith in and “buy into” then the team can work together more effectively as they will all know the objective. As this objective comes closer to realisation, greater dialogue regarding the objective leads to greater clarification of the goal and the benefits that it will bring. This increases enthusiasm in the shared vision and makes the elements of the team work even harder in order to attain it. Importantly, a shared vision can make individuals look towards the longterm, which is vital in the realisation of a Learning Organisation.

The fourth of Senge’s models is “team learning”. Team learning builds on a shared vision and personal mastery with the aim of creating a sum that is more than the parts. The process of learning and developing as a team is vital for the success of a company, which is effectively a team of individuals. Team learning can also increase the rate at which individuals develop, as they will be more enthusiastic about learning new skills if they feel those skills will be valued and appreciated by their colleagues. Teams are of vital importance to a Learning Organisation, because a well run team fosters shared mental models, shared vision, whilst also making individuals aware of their own roles and the importance of those roles, thus incorporating the ideas of personal mastery and systemic thinking.

The Problems of Leadership

The idea of the Learning Organisation is a compelling one, but it is rife with difficulties. First of all the leadership in a Learning Organisation have to lead the development of the organisation along the lines mentioned above. Whilst this might not be difficult when it comes to small or new businesses, or even setting up a business as a Learning Organisation, when it comes to large, complex, established companies, it can be much more difficult. Leaders in the organisation may already have mental models that are entrenched and must be overcome in order to foster the openness and confidence required. Learning Organisations require leaders to be open to challenges about their vision and behaviour, and to be prepared to change when necessary.

A second major difficulty with leadership in relationship to Learning Organisations is that Learning Organisations require a Socratic, questioning approach that is contradictory to the cultural expectations of both leaders and the majority of organisations. Most leaders are promoted to their level because of their expetise at the previous level, they then fall into the ‘Expert Trap’, telling people what to do, as they have experienced success at that level, and this does little to develop those people, and little to develop original thinking  and find new ways of dealing with old problems.

Further Problems

Learning Organisations must have a long-term vision, and be focused on the learning and development of their workers in order to achieve development of the whole. In reality, very few organisations have the combination of characteristics that are identified with the Learning Organisation. This requires many to make large changes and in a results driven, time pressured, business environment, the decision to look longterm is a hard one to take. As far back as 1995 Will Hutton was arguing that British companies’ priorities are overwhelmingly financial. This has barely changed in the last decade and a half.

What is more, the training and development required to move towards being a Learning Organisation takes a lot of time that companies may not be able or willing to spend at the moment.

Conclusion

Learning Organisation theory is one that is meant to be applied to businesses and companies. Therefore, whilst it may be difficult to adapt in its entirety, it is a goal towards which a company should work, and partial realisation of this goal will still yield success. Learning Organisation theory is largely about acknowledging what constitutes a perfect team and breaking it down to the individual level.

Learning Organisations rely heavily on good leadership, leaders that have already mastered, as far as is possible, the Learning Organisation disciplines, and these are difficult to find. They also have to have a good knowledge of their company’s existing systems, which can be difficult to attain in a company that does not already have a Systemic thinking approach. They also (and perhaps most importantly) have to have the courage to try and drive the development of a Learning Organisation approach.

Phrases like ‘Systems Thinking’ and ‘Personal Mastery’ put names to basic principles of teamworking and practical examples of how to pursue them. For an individual to work well in a team he must be aware of his own role, and his own strengths and weaknesses, and also know how the team works in relation to others, how he works in relation to others and crucially where the team is going and how that can be achieved. Learning Organisation theory offers a path through which a better business team can be developed, but ultimately it is the team that is important and not the theory.