Five Disciplines for Building
High Performing Learning
Organizations
Presented
Campus Norrköping
Linköping Universitet, Sweden
September 24-25, 1998
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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A High Performing
Organization is …
“… a group of people who are continually
enhancing their capacity to create the results they
want. This statement has two parts to it: One, you
have to know what you want to create, so you are
continually reflecting on your sense of purpose,
vision. And secondly, you have to be continually
developing the capability to move in that
direction.”
Peter Senge, 1990
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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The Laws of the
Fifth Discipline
Today’s problems come from yesterday’s
“solutions.”
 The harder you push, the harder the system
pushes back
 Behavior grows better before it grows
worse.
 The cure can be worse than the disease.

© Lapides UM-D
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The Laws of the
Fifth Discipline (continued)
Faster is slower
 Cause and effect are not closely related in
time and space.
 You can have your cake and eat it too--but
not at once.
 Dividing the elephant in half does not
produce two small elephants
 There is no blame. (Senge (1990) pp.. 57-67)

© Lapides UM-D
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Organization Learning
Disabilities
“I am my position”
 “The enemy is out there”
 The illusion of taking charge
 The fixation on events
 The parable of the boiled frog
 The delusion of learning from experience
 The myth of the management team (18-24)

© Lapides UM-D
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Antidote to Learning Disabilities
Aspiration:
Individual & Collective
Understanding
Complexity and Change
Collaboration
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Systems Thinking

Is a language for learning and acting.
Helps us see how we create our reality

Points to higher leverage solutions to problems.

Helps us understand and describe complex
issues.
 Integrates the other disciplines.

© Lapides UM-D
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Events, Patterns and
Structure
Structure is harder to see
Events
Trends and Patterns
Increase leverage
and opportunity for
learning
Like an iceberg
the big important
structure is hidden
Structure
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Levels of Structure
Business structures
Organizational Structures
Interpersonal Structures
Individual Structures
(Mental Models)
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Business Structures
Market Positioning
 Customer Interface
 Product Strategy
 Distribution Strategy

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Organizational Structures
Management structure/hierarchy
 Strategic planning process.........
 Reward system
 Information system
 Cultural norms
 Written rules

© Lapides UM-D
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Interpersonal Structures
Relational skills
 Roles and role flexibility
 Ability to recognize & capitalize on
diversity
 Problem solving and decision making
 Unwritten rules

© Lapides UM-D
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Individual Structures
(Mental Models)
How I think
 How I view myself and my role
 My beliefs and assumptions

© Lapides UM-D
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Systems Thinking

Is a discipline for seeing structures(the
patterns and connections underlying
seemingly diverse personal, organizational
and societal issues.
© Lapides UM-D
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Disciplines of Highly Performing
Learning Organizations
Systems thinking
 Personal mastery
 Mental models
 Shared vision
 Team learning

© Lapides UM-D
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Systems Thinking
An appreciation of how our actions shape
our reality.
 An appreciation that ones actions impinge
all the members of the work unit.
 Focus on interrelationships and not things
 Think in circles, not in lines.
 Moving beyond blame.

© Lapides UM-D
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Systems Thinking (Cont.)
Systems Thinking shows that is no outside-that you and the cause of the problems are
part of a single system.
 The language of systems thinking is “links”
and “loops.”

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Systems Thinking (Cont...)
Seeing interrelationships rather than linear
cause-effect chains.
 Seeing circles of causality.
 Seeing processes of change rather than
snapshots.
 The practice of systems thinking starts with
understanding the concept called
“feedback.”

© Lapides UM-D
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Levels of Perspective
Vision
 Mental Models
 Systemic Structures
 Patterns
 Events

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If we were 99.9% free of
defects in our life





Eighteen planes would crash every day.
The Postal Service would lose 17,660 pieces of
mail every day.
More than 3,700 prescriptions would be filled
incorrectly every day.
Ten new born babies would be dropped during
delivery everyday.
Banks would deduct $24.8 million from the wrong
accounts every hour
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Personal Mastery
Based on personal vision.
 Facing current reality.
 Holding creative tension--the gap between
reality and the vision we hold is creative
tension.
 Commitment to the truth.
 Using subconscious, or, “you don’t really
need to figure it all out.

© Lapides UM-D
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Stages of Personal Mastery
Adopting a creative orientation toward life.
 Articulating a personal vision and seeing
current reality.
 Choosing to commit to creating the results
you want.
 Balancing work and home life.

© Lapides UM-D
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Personal Mastery
Is the emotional intelligence-capacity to use
our intelligence (smarts) to the fullest
extent.
 Organizations learn only through
individuals who learn.

© Lapides UM-D
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Personal Mastery Capacity
Our capacity is limited by 5 Demons:
 Fear of not being good enough [you have
untapped capacities within yourself]
 Fear of losing control [letting go makes new
things happen]
 its a cruel world out there--life is always a
struggle [there is generosity all around, all
you have to do is ask]
© Lapides UM-D
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Personal Mastery
I am in this all alone, I can’t count on
anyone but myself [there is help
everywhere]
 Fear of losses to great to bear, fear of our
own mortality [leaving something behind
creates space for something new]

Source: Personal communication Judy Brown, Ph.D.
© Lapides UM-D
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Mental Models
Are the images, assumptions, and stories
which we carry in our minds of ourselves,
other people, institutions, and every aspect
of the world.
 Are like a pane of glass framing and subtly
distorting our vision.
 They determine what we see.

© Lapides UM-D
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Mental Models

They are our cognitive maps of the world
people hold in their long-term memory and
short-term perceptions which people build
up as part of their everyday reasoning
processes.

According to some cognitive theorists, changes in
short-term every day mental models, accumulating
over time, will gradually be reflected in changes
in long-term deep-seated beliefs.
© Lapides UM-D
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Mental Models
Are powerful in affecting what we do
because they affect what we see.
 The tools needed to practice this discipline
are Reflection and Inquiry.

© Lapides UM-D
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Skills for working & practicing the
discipline on Mental Models
Reflection--slowing down our thinking
processes to become aware of how we form
our mental models.
 Inquiry--holding conversations where we
openly share views and develop knowledge
about each other’s assumptions.

© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Skills for working & practicing the
discipline on Mental Models
Single-loop learning

People respond to changes
in their organizational
environment by detecting
errors and correcting them
to maintain the current
desired status. No
reflection or inquiry that
leads to reframing the
situation.
© Lapides UM-D
Double-loop Learning
 Involves surfacing and
challenging deeprooted assumptions
and norms of an
organization that may
lead to a a
reformulation of the
problem.
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Ladder of Inference:
A tool for examining your “mental
models”
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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I take
Actions
(based on my beliefs)
I adopt
Beliefs
(about the world)
I draw
Conclusions
(based on assumptions)
I make
Assumptions
(based on meaning)
I add
Meaning
(cultural & personal)
I select
Our beliefs
affect what
data we
select the
next time
Data
(from what I observe)
Observable
data/experiences
All that is knowable
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Climbing the Ladder
“I’d better consider
bringing someone else
in on this project.”
“He’s not going to be
there when crunch
time hits.”
“He’s not very
interested in helping
me with this
project.”
“Paul is late for my
meeting.”
“Paul arrives after
the meeting started.”
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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ADVOCACY
--Moves you up the ladder of inference
High
Low
Testing
Dictating
Asserting
Explaining
Dialogue
Skillful
Discussion
Bystanding
Sensing
Withdrawing
Interrogating
Clarifying
Interviewing
INQUIRY
High
-- makes your thinking process visible
--Ask questions from genuine “not knowing”
-- Moves you down the ladder of inference
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Benefits of the Ladder
Helps you check your assumptions
 Helps you become more aware of your own
thinking and reasoning
 Prompts you to make your reasoning clear
to others
 Helps you inquire into the thinking and
reasoning of others

© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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When to Use the Ladder
When we notice ourselves jumping to
conclusions
 When you hear someone advocating a
position without making their reasoning
clear
 When you fear that “group-think” may be
occurring in the team’s conversation

© Lapides UM-D
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“Left-hand Column” Analysis

What is it?
– A way of checking our assumptions
– A method of checking out what we’re thinking
but not saying
– A method to remind us to use the ladder of
inference if necessary
– A method of mutual inquiry
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Tools for working & practicing
understanding mental models
Left-hand Column Exercise
On a sheet of paper folded in half
 Think of a conversation you had about a
problem or issue that was hard to resolve
 In the right-hand column write down what
was actually said.
 In the left-hand column write what you
were thinking and feeling and not saying
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Example of “Left-hand Column”
What I was thinking
What we were saying
He doesn’t believe in my
proposal.
Mgr.: “This is an interesting
proposal but I see some practical
difficulties.”
He’s ready to reject before
he understands.
Me: “What kind of difficulties?”
He’s protecting his turf.
Mgr.: “I’m concerned about the
board’s reaction to this many
people working on non-revenue
work.”
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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“Left-hand Column” Analysis
MESSAGE: Make your left-hand column
explicit
 From example, try this…

– “What I hear you saying is that we should move
ahead with the project. I want to share a concern
that I’ve been thinking but not saying. I am worried
about the current staffing…”
– “I want to share a conclusion I formed from our last
conversation, and check how it fits with your
thinking.”
© Lapides UM-D
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How to use the “Left-hand Column”

First, practice on paper…
– Write the actual conversation on the right
– In the left-hand column, write what you were
thinking but not saying

Then use it as a tool for “reflection-in-action”
– Examine your thinking while you are in a
conversation
– Look for opportunities to share your thinking with
others, and inquire into others’ thinking
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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5 warning Signs of ASSUMPTIONS
In
Reality…
The truth is...
Everybody
knows...
As a matter
of fact...
Research
states that...
© Lapides UM-D
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The “Competency Trap”
Too often when confronted with a problem we
“speed listen” and assume this problem is the
same as one we encountered before. This
leads to a limited range of possible solutions!
 Try asking, “What assumptions am I making
about this situation that may limit my deeper
understanding of the problem?”

© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Be aware of you own
reasoning

Ladder of Inference helps prevent jumping
to conclusions by:
– reviewing the logic that produces conclusions
– revealing gaps in reasoning
© Lapides UM-D
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Make Your Reasoning Clear to Others
 Ladder
provides a tool to ask questions
without embarrassment
© Lapides UM-D
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Seek to Understand Others’ Reasoning

Ladder is a tool that permits mutual inquiry
into each others’ thinking without being
rude. For example, you can ask,
– “Can you lead me through the steps which led
you to that conclusion?”
– Rather than rudely asking, “Are you sure you
know what you’re talking about?”
© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Shared Vision
Shared visions emerge from personal
visions.
 Personal mastery is the bedrock for
developing shared vision. Commitment to
the truth and creative tension can generate
levels of energy that go beyond individual
abilities.

© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Shared Vision
Leaders intent on building shared visions
must be willing to continually share their
personal visions. They must also be
prepared to ask, “Will you follow me?”
 Vision creates a sense of commonality that
binds people together for a greater good.
 A shared vision must be co-created.

© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Team Learning
Team Learning is the process of aligning
and developing the capacity of a team to
create the results the members truly desire.
 Team learning is a team skill.

© Lapides UM-D
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Team Learning:
Tools of Team Learning are Dialogue and
Conversation
 A flow of thoughts and meaning
 No results or decisions
 No stripes
 Open and honest talk
 Awareness of one’s assumptions, discovery
of the assumptions of others.
© Lapides UM-D
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Learning Organization
The Learning Organization is an
organization that has woven a continuos and
enhanced capacity to learn, adapt and
change its processes and culture. Its values,
policies, practices, systems and structures
support and accelerate learning for all who
work in it.
 Generative and adaptive learning are the
norm

© Lapides UM-D
3/23/2016
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Learning Organization
(A definition)

A learning organization is one in which
people at all levels, individually and
collectively, are continually increasing their
capacity to produce results they really care
about.
© Lapides UM-D
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Producing Business Results
Engine for Success
Quality of
Relationship
Quality of
Results
R
Quality of
Thinking
Quality of
Action
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