Developing "The Learning Organization"
VANCOUVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
February, 2000

Essential Management Concepts
JONNIE MARTIN


Often times, corporate owners and managers devalue activities other than those that are production-oriented. They resist the expenditure of resources for training, planning, thinking, or collaborating, claiming that there are no quantitative measures that prove their value. I have heard business owners say “what if I invest money in this employee and they go away,” to which I have replied “what if you don’t invest the money in training, and they stay.” I do not recall where I stole that quote, but the truth of it is evident. Most people know intuitively that there is a difference in the work product of a trained versus untrained worker.

A few years ago, a video-conference speaker at a Vancouver Chamber seminar challenged the audience with this thought: “How would your company perform if everyone in it knew their job and knew it well, understood its connection to the whole of the business plan, and knew how to think like a business owner?” A murmur reverberated through the crowd as they absorbed the thought — the vision — of such a powerful group of people.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the room clearly understood that such a vision is attainable, or at least approachable, through the learning process. Senior-level managers often forget the steps to their own educational development, believing that they were always this knowledgeable and capable and wise. Because they forget the stages of their own journey, they lack faith that others can also grow and mature, and they overlook the business opportunity before them. Humans have enormous capacity to learn and to change, and the most successful businesses are able to tap into that human potential. They invest in training, brainstorming, retreats, seminars and other learning opportunities.

Several years ago a Portland businessman spoke before the Human Resource Association of Clark County and shared his experience regarding the learning process. He described that familiar angst shared by many business owners and leaders, his frustration that others in his organization fell so short of the mark. He said he would often pace up and down his office, saying to himself “why…why can’t my employees perform properly…why can’t they think properly…why can’t they think like me.”

Suddenly the answer came to him. “I realized that there was no way for my employees to think like I do because they didn’t have the same life experiences that I had. I was the one taking classes in business college, not them. I was the one reading the business newspapers and journals, not them. I was the one taking the seminars and talking with my peers. They were expected to keep their shoulders to the wheel, while I was getting smarter as a business person every day. There was a gap in our education — and I knew how to fix that.”

This insightful and resourceful manager immediately established a company library, full of books and tapes and videos that he had reviewed himself and then rated for their teaching value by the size of bounty attached. An employee who wanted to self-improve could check our a resource from the library and write a one-page report in order to collect the dollar value of the bounty. The plan worked magnificently and a learning culture developed. More and more resources were consumed, the hunger for education grew, the participation in decisions increased, the quality of work improved, and enthusiasm was rampant. With a broad smile on his face, this satisfied business owner exclaimed “I am happy to report that today the inmates are running the asylum and we have never been more productive or profitable.”

It was Peter Senge (in his book The Fifth Discipline) that first introduced us all to the concept of “the learning organization” — a culture that encourages the learning process and establishes avenues for continuing education. Senge said that everyone in the organization must learn to think like a business leader and to take an active part in the success of the company. To reach this new model, Senge espoused the teaching of five key disciplines:

  1. SELF-MASTERY: Individuals in the organization must develop self-mastery; must aspire to becoming their best-self. The individual and the corporation benefit from this growth.
  2. MENTAL MODELS: Individuals and the corporation must adopt effective mental models — philosophies, if you will — that guide their decisions. Models that are effective and affirming.
  3. SHARED GOALS: There must be shared goals that are known, understood and embraced by individuals, who participate in their creation and plan effectively for their success.
  4. HOLISTIC SYSTEMS: There must be holistic systems that are interrelated and complete, to support the business of the business. The systems must underwrite and support the goals.
  5. TEAM LEARNING: There must be team learning — individuals growing in parallel, as artists and contributors, as individuals and as team members, and as business people.

A commitment to the development of a learning organization will pay off manifold. It will work in the largest and smallest of companies, and in every environment. Rod Cook, the owner of Vancouver’s Alpine Auto Body discovered the value of team learning some years ago when he began his annual retreat for his core employees. In addition to technical training and ongoing coaching, he wanted all of his people to think more like business owners. His estimators, body men, parts clerks, customer service reps and accounting staff. Everyone.

Did it work? Participants in the retreat can calculate the true cost of labor, the exact day of the year the company reaches break-even, and the cost of training a new hire. They can provide valuable feedback to Rod on numerous business issues and each year help to determine the strategic initiatives of the next year’s business plan. They can repair a car and train a new hire and increase productivity and think like business people. That’s what happens in a learning organization.