THE LEARNING ORGANISATION

ROLE OF LEADERSHIP

SYNOPSIS OF DR. PETER SENGE’S

RECENT SEMINAR IN DUBAI

PRESENTED BY:
MOHAMMAD IFTIKAR
General Manager Human Resources
Pakistan Petroleum Limited
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
• LEARNING IN LIVING ORGANISATIONS

 WE LIVE TODAY IN A WORLD UNDERGOING MAJOR

TRANSITION

 THE INDUSTRIAL AGE FOCUSED ON MATERIAL PROGRESS

 THE EMERGING AGE IS FORMING – HENCE YET UN-NAMED

 HOW SOCIETIES GO ABOUT DISCOVERING & ARTICULATING

THEIR DESIRES WILL SHAPE OUR FUTURE INSTITUTIONS

 LEADERSHIP IS THE ENERGY THAT ENABLES SUCH CHANGES

TO HAPPEN
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
• OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD ‘LEADER’

 IN EVERYDAY CORPORATE USAGE, ‘LEADER’ IS A

SYNONYM FOR ‘TOP MANAGER’. THIS ASSUMPTION IS
DISRESPECTFUL & DISEMPOWERING FOR THOSE WHO
ARE NOT ‘TOP MANAGERS’
 CORPORATIONS SPEND PROFUSELY ON ‘LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT’. THIS REINFORCES THE NOTION THAT
THE FUTURE OF THE ENTERPRISE LIES IN THE HANDS OF
A CHOSEN FEW
 THE TERM ‘LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT’ SHOULD
THEREFORE BE REPLACED WITH ‘EXECUTIVE
DEVELOPMENT’.
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
 WHAT DO LEADERS DO?
 LEADERS DRIVE CHANGE: THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO
EFFECT CHANGE BUT IN THE CORPORATE CONTEXT,
THIS LEADS TO THE ‘HERO-CEO’ CONCEPT. THE ‘HERO-
CEO’ IS SUPPOSED TO ‘ENERGIZE’ CHANGE-RESISTANT
EMPLOYEES & HE IS NOT AFRAID TO TAKE ‘TOUGH
DECISIONS’.

 FACED WITH THE NEED TO CHANGE, WE OPT FOR THE

HERO-CEO CONCEPT INSTEAD OF DEVELOPING
LEADERSHIP CAPACITY THROUGHOUT THE
ORGANIZATION.
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
………(CONT’D)

 THE IMPROVEMENTS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE HERO-CEO I.E.

COST REDUCTION, REDUCED WORK FORCE & HIGHER
PRODUCTIVITY ETC INVARIABLY FIZZLE OUT OVER A SHORT
PERIOD.

 THE MYTH OF HERO-CEO CREATES A SELF-REINFORCING,

VICIOUS SPIRAL OF CHANGES IMPOSED FROM THE TOP,
INCREASING FEAR AMONG THE EMPLOYEES, DIMINISHING
LEADERSHIP ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION, REDUCING
PERFORMANCE & EVENTUALLY RESULTING IN A NEW CRISIS
CALLING FOR ANOTHER TOP LEVEL INTERVENTION.

 THIS CYCLE REINFORCES THE FALSE NOTION THAT COMMON

EMPLOYEES ARE INCAPABLE & POWERLESS TO BRING ABOUT
CHANGE.
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
• NEED TO SHIFT OUR VIEW OF LEADERSHIP

 EVERYTHING ALIVE IS CONTINUOUSLY CHANGING,

WHEREAS WE TREAT ORGANIZATIONS AS IF THEY ARE
LIFELESS MACHINES.

 WE ‘DRIVE’ CHANGE & USE OTHER MECHANICAL

WORDS SUCH AS ‘MEASURES’, ‘PLANS’, ‘PROGRAMMES’
AND ‘CONTROLS’ WHILE TALKING ABOUT
ORGANIZATIONS. WE HAVE ‘DESIGNERS’ & ‘BUILDERS’
WHO CREATE ‘SYSTEMS’ & ‘PROCEDURES’ FOR THE
ORGANIZATION.

 THINKING OF ‘LEADERSHIP’ AS APPLICABLE TO A

‘LIVING’ ENTITY REQUIRES FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT IN
PERCEPTION. IT NEEDS A NEW LANGUAGE.
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
………(CONT’D)

 AN ALTERNATE DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP COULD BE,

“IT IS THE CAPACITY OF A HUMAN COMMUNITY TO BRING

FORTH NEW REALITIES”

IN OTHER WORDS LEADERSHIP ‘ENERGIZES’ & ‘BREATHES LIFE’

INTO AN ENTERPRISE

 IF WE THINK ABOUT NUMEROUS GREAT LEADERS OF HISTORY,

WE WILL DISCOVER THAT MOST OF THEM WERE NOT AT THE TOP
OF ANY ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY

 LEADERSHIP IS ALL ABOUT TAPPING THE ENERGY TO CREATE.

WHERE THIS ENERGY ALREADY EXISTS, WE BECOME MORE
PRODUCTIVE – WE BECOME MORE ‘ALIVE’
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION

 CREATIVE TENSION
 EFFECTIVE LEADERS CREATE CHANGE ENERGY
THROUGH ‘CREATIVE TENSION’.
 IT IS HARD TO THINK WHAT SHAPE FUTURE WOULD TAKE
WITHOUT HAVING A ‘VISION’. ULTIMATELY, PEOPLE IN ALL
SETTINGS, ALL PRACTITIONERS, ALL PROFESSIONALS
ARE DEEPLY INTERESTED IN WHAT THEY CAN MAKE
HAPPEN.
 THE ‘CREATIVE TENSION’ WHICH IS NECESSARY FOR
POSITIVE ACTION, COMES FROM COMBINING THE VISION
WITH THE CURRENT REALITY I.E. BY DRAMATIZING THE
PRESENT SITUATION.
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
………(CONT’D)

 TENSION ALWAYS SEEKS ‘RELEASE’. CREATIVE TENSION

CAN BE RELEASED ONLY WHEN CURRENT REALITY
MOVES TOWARDS THE VISION.

 LEADERS ENERGIZE THEIR COMMUNITIES THROUGH

GENERATING & SUSTAINING CREATIVE TENSION.

 CONVERSELY, WHERE CREATIVE TENSION IS

UNDERMINED, LEADERSHIP IS DIMINISHED.
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
 SELF-REINFORCING PROCESS OF GROWTH

 LEADERS WORK BETWEEN THE BOUNDARIES OF

‘CURRENT REALITY’ & ‘FUTURE VISION’

 THEY WORK LIKE GARDENERS; THEY UNDERSTAND THAT

THE SEED HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GROW. THEY ALSO
REALIZE THAT FOR GROWTH TO OCCUR THERE SHOULD
BE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE SEED & THE
ENVIRONMENT.

 THEREFORE, THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF LEADERSHIP IS

THAT PEOPLE WITH POTENTIAL NEED AN ENVIRONMENT
CONDUCIVE TO THEIR GROWTH.
 THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
………(CONT’D)

 THUS THE WHOLE PROCESS SHOULD BE SELF-REINFORCING,

JUST LIKE THE SEED & ITS ENVIRONMENT. THE SEED INITIALLY
SENDS OUT SMALL SHOOTS & DRAWS IN WATER & NUTRIENTS
FROM THE SOIL. THIS CAUSES THE ROOTS TO EXTEND
FURTHER, DRAWING IN MORE WATER & NUTRIENTS. THE CYCLE
CONTINUES TILL THE SEED REALIZES ITS MAXIMUM POTENTIAL
& TURNS INTO A FULL-GROWN TREE.

 EFFECTIVE LEADERS DO NOT ‘DRIVE’ THE CHANGE. THEY

SIMPLY PARTICIPATE IN & NURTURE THE GROWTH PROCESSES
AND REMOVE THE OBSTACLES THAT HINDER THESE
PROCESSES.
THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
 CONCLUSION

 TODAY WE ARE FACED WITH COMPLEX, MULTI-FACETED

ISSUES THAT REQUIRE IMAGINATION, PERSEVERENCE,
DIALOGUE, DEEP UNERSTANDING & ABOVE-ALL A
WILLINGNESS TO BRING SIGNIFICANT CHANGE ON THE PART
OF ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WORK IN AN ENTERPRISE.
 THE NUMEROUS CHALLENGES TO BRINGING SYSTEMATIC
CHANGE CANNOT BE MET BY ISOLATED HEROIC LEADERS.
THEY REQUIRE A UNIQUE MIX OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE, IN
DIFFERENT POSITIONS, WHO LEAD IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
 THIS SCENARIO WHICH IS STILL TENTATIVE & EVOLVING
WOULD REQUIRE LEADERSHIP WHICH WILL HAVE TO BE
SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM OUR TRADITIONAL
LEADERSHIP MODEL.