Take a look at yourself
Bernard Ross explains how to create a learning culture...or how to stop your normally smart organisation doing some catatonically stupid things
As a consultant I sometimes feel like a morbid ambulance chaser. I make a career from working with organisations with serious problems. Now some problems I don’t mind – we all make mistakes. But some organisations seem trapped in a Sysiphian1 cycle of not just making mistakes, but repeating the same mistakes again and again.
- they make and have to undo poor senior appointments;
- they embark on quixotic, ill-thought out campaigns; and
- they set themselves unachievable and un-credible service goals.
It’s difficult working with these organisations. They seem dispirited and are frankly dispiriting to work with. Yet other organisations can make mistakes, even lots of mistakes, and still produce outstanding results. I call these organisations ‘learning organisations’ and it’s a pleasure to work with them – there’s a sense of progress every time.
It’s the way you do it
You’ve probably heard the term ‘learning organisation’ before. But what does it actually mean? For Peter Senge, who coined the phrase ‘learning organisation’, it means something very specific. He talks about ‘the continuous testing of experience, and the transformation of that experience into knowledge – accessible to the whole organisation, and relevant to its core purpose.’2
There are some key and challenging ideas present in that definition. It’s about constantly trying new approaches even when things seem to work, and turning that experience into something that everyone can use, with a very specific purpose – to deliver on the mission.So ‘learning organisations’ are not about having cool, fun offices, or lots of training for staff, or policies for everything… and it’s never about having an online knowledge management system. My own view is that the last item can bring an organisation to its knees financially and intellectually – somehow IT and learning hardly ever seem to match up in real life.
Learning organisations are about cultures and a way of doing things. And leaders can help create them.
Becoming a learning organisation – questions to ask
So how do you work at becoming a learning organisation? Here’s my checklist of characteristics drawing on Senge and my own thinking and experience. And some examples of real charities working at becoming learning organisations.
Do you continuously test your experiences? Specifically are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows – not just during crises – but also in good times? What kinds of structures have you designed for this testing? When people raise potentially negative information, is there a tendency to ‘shoot the messenger’? To succeed in learning you have to be prepared to test out every aspect of your operation – and that can feel very uncomfortable.
With Amnesty International’s board and senior leadership team I ran the world’s first Sacred Cow Barbecue. This was literally a meal in the middle of a planning workshop. The deal was the participants only got something to eat if they listed on a Post-It some fundamental aspect of Amnesty’s strategy that they were prepared to review after lunch. They had to hand it over to the chef – me – to get any food. At first some people thought it was a joke. But driven by the smell of cooking – and an organised absence of any other nutrition participants gradually came forward with ‘fundamental principles‘ they were prepared to at least challenge. As part of the process Amnesty re-examined its strategy of not taking money from governments, of not allowing sections to work on domestic human rights issues etc. And changes were made as well as principles re-confirmed. I’d recommend a Sacred Cow meeting once a year at least.
Do you review? It’s sometimes easier to review BIG issues. But a key factor in organisational learning is the ability to review all action in a systematic way that produces positive change for the next time – a virtuous cycle. This involves the ability to analyse events and activities without seeking to attribute blame or praise. Especially important, if you create a ‘blame-free’ analysis, is that individuals are more inclined to ‘confess’ to mistakes rather than defend themselves and their action.
When working with the British Red Cross on fundraising during the London 7/7 bombings in 2005 I came to understand the value of their wonderful ‘after action review’ process. It involves three simple questions being asked after any activity.
The Red Cross questions are set out in figure 1 overleaf. Notice the focus on facts rather than opinion. And notice especially the absence of a ‘blame’ question! ‘Why’ is a much more powerful interrogative than ‘who’ when you’re trying to create learning.
UNICEF uses a similar technique of asking ‘why’ five times to get to a root cause. Try it with something as simple as: ‘Why was our meeting so disorganised?’ Then, whatever your answer, ask ‘why’ was that? And so on.
Are you producing knowledge? Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for turning data into effective action. This can involve turning implicit knowledge – in people’s heads – to explicit knowledge – out there as a system. Do you feel as if what you know is qualitatively different – ‘ value-added’– from the data you took in?
It also involves consciously creating new capabilities. A good question to ask yourself is does your organisation show capabilities and competencies it didn't have three years ago? Let’s be honest if you’re not producing knowledge then you’re probably relying on that honorary old stand-by of the lazy ‘best practice.’ Usually ‘best practice’ means ‘what’s safe and used to work.’ It’s like trying to drive by looking in the rear view mirror – noticing where you’ve been and what the traffic was like. Some of the best knowledge creation involves taking ideas and experience from one setting and applying it elsewhere for a completely different use.
Sightsavers International, one of my favourite innovative INGOs, worked with McDonalds in India to help make its eye operations faster, more efficient and more quality standardised. It took knowledge from a completely unrelated field and turned it to its advantage.
Is the knowledge shared? Producing knowledge is great but it’s not enough. So a further key challenge is whether the learning is accessible to all staff. Here’s a test. Do you hear people walking around saying, ‘You know, I could have sworn we put out a report on this subject three years ago’? Are there manuals for elegant but unimplemented project management processes lying untouched? Does the central drive for your IT network have hundreds or maybe thousands of files – some important, some not- with impenetrable names like ‘finalreport.doc’? If you do maybe you could try some different ways to share knowledge.
Could you use storytelling as a way to share knowledge? One of my colleagues, Angela Cluff, is working with UNICEF – internationally, helping it produce its global case for philanthropic support. UNICEF is, not unreasonably, an organisation committed to accuracy and transparency. However instead of the usual dry and schematic document explaining how worthy UNICEF and its work is they’re using stories and storytelling as a core technique to share ideas and principles. (Note also how well this approach fits with UNICEF’s child-centric culture.)
Is the learning relevant? Charities aren’t universities. They’re not there to create learning simply for the sake of learning and that’s not a bad thing! In some organisations training and development is almost seen as a perk – a way to reward and motivate staff. In my view that’s not enough. Equally don't simply screen out new ideas or simply judge everything on a short-term utilitarian basis. Ask yourself is this learning aimed at developing or defining how people can contribute to organisation's core purpose? Can people make use of it if not now then in the long term?
RNLI spends huge sums of money on training and development. Its learning centre in Poole is one of the best purpose-built educational settings I know. it has an enormous pool and wave machine in which it can literally create hurricanes to practice rescues in the most extreme conditions imaginable. That’s good. But what’s even better is that much of this training is directed not just at full-time staff but at volunteers whose contribution sits at the centre of RNLI’s ethos. It’s the commitment to volunteers at the highest level that distinguishes them as an outstanding learning organisation.3
‘If the horse is dead you should dismount’
The above is an example of ancient tribal wisdom from the Dakota plains peoples in what is now called the USA. I love it. It’s simple, straightforward, patently true, and eminently sensible. When I first heard it I had a playful moment composing how a charity might respond to this piece of wisdom thinking it was too simple or too challenging. Below is my ironic, but maybe close to the truth, take on how a charity might respond. It’s extracted from my book Breakthrough Thinking.4 If the horse is dead…
1) Buy a stronger whip to see if we can improve performance.
2) Change riders to get a better match of styles.
3) Declare as a core value ‘This is the way we have always ridden this horse and it fits with our culture.’
4) Appoint consultants to study the horse and come up with creative uses for it.
5) Arrange to visit other charities or, better still, private sector organisations to see how they ride dead horses.
6) Rewrite the performance standards to incorporate riding dead horses.
7) Create a training programme to help people ride dead horses.
8) Alter the staff handbook to outlaw the use of the phrase ‘dead horse’ as oppressive and judgmental.
9) Form project team to find uses for dead horses.
10) Promote the dead horse to a management position or create a special project role for it.
The learning leader – what do you do in a crisis?
Challenging times, especially crises, are a great acid test for ‘learning leadership’. You can model a learning culture under pressure. When things go wrong and are at least partly out of your control then great leaders can show how quickly and flexibly they learn and help their organisation to do so… or not. Below are four bits of learning on four mistakes leaders sometimes make especially in a crisis or under pressure.
1) Pressure to act fast negates values. Sometimes leaders feel that they have to act quickly. The recent BP oil spill is an example. But if you don’t consider alternatives then what’s meant to be decisiveness can look like ignoring long-espoused values about participation and engagement. The result is credibility vanishes and the negative effects are felt long past the crisis. The ‘cynics’ are seen to have been proved right. Learning: Avoid the instant bounce back– even if you think you know the answer. Let others help solve the challenge if you can. Or at least be seen to seek their opinion. You’ll look smarter – and so will they.
2) War room fever. Sometimes in a crisis the CEO’s office feels like a bunker or war room. People come and go. They sit outside waiting for a chance to report. The CEO watches for texts and emails with one eye while looking out of the corner of another at you in the meeting. In a crisis sometimes everything else freezes up outside the CEO’s office. There’s a collective holding of breath since it’s deemed unwise to do anything without sanction. Learning: Find manageable tasks that give others the chance to deliver quick wins. Make it clear there are areas still in their control. Pay attention to the world outside the war room.
3) Communication chaos. In fast-moving situations, leaders can confuse thinking with sharing. They literally assume others know their decision processes. So they forget the importance of communicating regularly and systematically. The result is people make up information to fill the communication void. For employees it’s not clear what’s definite data and what’s random rumour. The result is confusion and unhappiness even when nobody is trying to unsettle things. Learning: Create a regular channel – even a simple intranet page – where people can find out stuff – and ask questions. Reply to any question within 24 hours. With information people can make good choices. Without information they feel panicked.
4) Don’t just respond to the ringing phone. When things are super busy it's easy to pay attention to the loudest noise. So you as a learning leader may be surrounded by the Casualties and the Cassandras. Casualties may be those who see their reputations or role being undermined – and they want to complain loudly and often. Cassandras are those who are only too happy to explain how much worse the situation will get. They want to share their doom-laden ideas with you. Neither is a good focus for you. You need to look out at the wider organisation. Learning: Identify the key internal and external relationships you need to pay attention to and manage. Decide the ones that you must look after – and then delegate contact with the others to someone else. Better still get then to talk to each other in a closed room.As a ‘learning leader’ you can model the behaviour you want and need best in a crisis. Or you can demonstrate that it’s really just a nice idea.
1. Sysphus was a king in Greek and Roman mythology who was punished by having to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this through eternity.
2. The Fifth Discipline: the art and practice of the learning organisation (Doubleday, 1990).
3. See also Mark Freeman’s article ‘Unpaid, but not untrained’. On page 21 of this supplement
4. Breakthrough Thinking, Bernard Ross, John Wiley, San Francisco, 2002.
Author: Bernard Ross
Bernard Ross is a director of the Management Centre (=mc),specialising in strategic thinking, organisational change and personal effectiveness.
He works internationally in Europe, USA, Africa and South America.
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