According to Peter Senge, most of us have experienced being part of a great team – a group of people who:
- function together in an extraordinary way
- trust and complement each other
- have common goals that are larger than individual goals
- produce extraordinary results.
Great teams like this have learned how to work together to produce extraordinary results.
See your business in a new way
Building a learning organisation requires a shift in the way you see your business. Traditionally, organisations are managed through departments or divisions that do not always communicate well or work together towards a common vision.
While most problems can be dealt with by breaking them down into smaller components and finding solutions for each, a learning organisation always considers the impact of each decision on the whole organisation.
Commit for the long term
Becoming a learning organisation requires a long term commitment.
It may take twelve months to introduce the five interrelated disciplines of Peter Senge’s learning culture model to a business – starting with ‘system thinking’ and then progressing to the other four disciplines, as follows:
- system thinking
- personal mastery
- mental models
- shared vision
- team learning.
Recommended reading
The Fifth Discipline, The Art & Practice of the Learning Organisation. Peter M. Senge. Random House 1992.
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Peter M. Senge, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross, Bryan J. Smith, Art Kleiner. Nicholas Brealey Publishing 1994.
