The pace of change in today’s world is ever increasing. In most all knowledge-based fields today, one is either learning, or becoming obsolete. Yet despite an awareness of this fact at various levels of most organizations, learning is often a passive byproduct of activity, rather than an integral part of the creative or production process.
As part of my theory of practice, for both individuals and organizations, I look carefully at the role of learning. Are people making a deliberate effort to increase their own knowledge and skills? Is there an appropriate mix of capacity, will, and opportunity? Does the organization expect and support learning, or merely pay it lip-service? At the end of project cycles when there may be sessions to review “lessons learned” — does it lead to a change in behavior along with personal accountability, or is it merely a form of debriefing prior activities?
As it relates to the rest of my model, is learning used as a tool to further develop relationships, and to increase the creation of value within the organization? Is there a clear process, structure, or practice by which learning within one part of a organization is coupled with teaching in another?
If you are willing to step up to learning as a way of being within your organization, please contact Primary Goals and we’ll look at what changes would support your efforts.