Developing a Learning
Organization
A Learning Organization is based on
principles of Total Quality
Management and the work of people
like Peter Senge, Sue Miller Hurst,
David Bohm, and others.
The Five Disciplines of a
Learning Organization (P. Senge)
1. Building a Shared Vision--the practice of
unearthing shared “pictures of the
future” that foster genuine commitment.
2. Personal Mastery--the skill of continually
clarifying and deepening our personal
vision.
3. Mental Models--the ability to unearth our
internal pictures of the world, to
scrutinize them, and to make them open
to the influence of others.
The Five Disciplines (continued)
4. Team Learning--the capacity to think
together which is gained by mastering the
practice of dialogue and discussion.
5. Systems Thinking--the discipline that
integrates the others, fusing them into a
coherent body of theory and practice.
(Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of
the learning organization. New York: Double-day.)
Building Blocks of a Learning
Organization
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Storytelling
– Leaders must articulate the group’s vision of
the future and the purpose of the
organization. This is done often and in many
venues with all constituents.

Dialogue
– This is the ability of the organization’s
members to truly communicate in small and
large groups. New insights and learning
takes place through “Dialogue”.
Dialogue
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The object of discussion is usually “to win your
point”
In Dialogue no one is trying to win. Everyone plays
with one another.
Two types: generative and strategic, respectively,
Unstructured v. Problem to solve.
Begin by “checking in”by stating what you are
thinking, feeling, or wondering at the moment.
Guidelines: sit in a circle, speak to the center,
listen with respect, practice the disciplines (next
slide), leaderless, create a safe container.
The Disciplines of Dialogue
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Active Listening: non judgmental, listen deeply.
Suspending Certainty: suspend your certainly for
the moment and open the door for learning.
Slow Down the Inquiry: wait before responding to
think, consider and reflect upon what you heard.
Hold the Space for Difference: allow for differences
of opinions.
Speak from Awareness: speak when you are
compelled to from inside. Otherwise, listen.
The Seven Learning Disabilities
1. I am my position. This leads to myopic and
non-systemic views of the organization.
2. The enemy is out there. Flows from above,
especially when combined with small group
identification. We protect ourselves and
have a narrow sense of self-identification.
Others “screw up” and we have to protect
ourselves.
The Seven Learning Disabilities
(continued)
3. The illusion of taking charge. Too often “proactive
orientation” means “fighting the enemies” to get
what we want. True “proactive orientation” comes
from seeing how our own actions contribute to
problems.
4. Fixation on events. We see events as having one or
two causes rather than seeing most problems as
coming from slow, gradual processes.
The Seven Learning Disabilities
(continued)
5. The parable of the Boiled Frog. We react
to sudden threats, but we are poor at
reacting to gradual threats.
6. The delusion of learning from experience.
We learn from experience, but critical
decisions (changes) have systemwide
consequences that stretch over years.
The Seven Learning Disabilities
(continued)
7. The myth of the management team.
Most teams operate below the level
of the lowest IQ in the group. The
result is “skilled incompetence”-teams of people who are proficient at
keeping themselves from learning,
which should be accomplished
through “Dialogue”.
(Senge, p. 17-26)
TQM Tidbits

Drive out fear, so that everyone may work
effectively for the organization.--W.
Edwards Deming
 Trust cannot be mandated. Yet it is the
cheapest, most sensible, and for us, most
radical means for reform of the system
that can be recommended. --Ted Sizer
 We can and should shape our future;
because if we don’t somebody else will. -Joel Barker
TQM Tidbits (continued)

The best way to predict the future is to create
it. --Peter Drucker
 Even if you are on the right track, if you just sit
there you will get run over. --Will Rogers
 Four things are needed to change any
organization: trustworthiness, trust,
empowerment, and alignment of goals. -Stephen Covey
 Anytime we think the problem is “out there”,
that is the problem. --Stephen Covey
TQM Tidbits (continued)
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4 important questions to keep us on track
toward “quality”:
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Who are my (our) customers?
What are their needs?
How am I (we) doing?
What can I (we) do better? --Jim Leonard
What gets measured gets done. --Tom
Peters
 You won’t get anywhere if you don’t have
a goal. --Ben Franklin
TQM Tidbits (continued)

The person who figures out how to
harness the collective genius of the
people in his or her organization is going
to blow the competition away. --Walter
Wristen (former Citibank CEO)
 The world we have created is a product of
our thinking, it cannot be changed without
changing our thinking. --Albert Einstein
 Transformation begins with the individual.
--W. Edwards Deming
Final Thoughts
Everyone doing his or her best isn’t the answer.
The first step in transformation is to learn how to
change. --W. Edwards Deming
 Organizations seriously committed to quality
management are uniquely prepared to study the
learning disciplines and to be life long learners
on a never ending developmental path as
individuals and organizations. --Peter Senge
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<the end>