Five Disciplines for Building

High Performing Learning

Organizations
Presented
Campus Norrköping
Linköping Universitet, Sweden
September 24-25, 1998

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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

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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.

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 Events, Patterns and
Structure
Structure is harder to see

Events

Trends and Patterns

Increase leverage Like an iceberg

and opportunity for the big important
learning 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

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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

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 Individual Structures
(Mental Models)
 How I think
 How I view myself and my role
 My beliefs and assumptions

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 Systems Thinking
 Is a discipline for seeing structures(the
patterns and connections underlying
seemingly diverse personal, organizational
and societal issues.

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 Disciplines of Highly Performing
Learning Organizations
 Systems thinking
 Personal mastery
 Mental models
 Shared vision
 Team learning

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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.

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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.”

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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

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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]
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
Double-loop Learning
 Involves surfacing and
challenging deep-
rooted 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”

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 I take

Actions
(based on my beliefs)
I adopt

Beliefs
(about the world)
I draw

Conclusions

A CY
(based on assumptions)
I make

INQUIRY
OC
Assumptions
(based on meaning)
I add
AD V

Our beliefs
affect what
Meaning
data we
(cultural & personal)
select the
I select next time

Data
(from what I observe)

Observable
data/experiences

All that is knowable

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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.”

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 High
GE
Testing N
ER

G
N
AT

--Moves you up the ladder of inference

LI
Dictating IN

L
TE
G
ADVOCACY Asserting Dialogue

Explaining Skillful
Discussion

Bystanding
Interrogating
Sensing
Clarifying
O

Withdrawing
BS

Interviewing

G
ER

IN
VI

SK
N

A
G

Low High
INQUIRY
-- makes your thinking process visible
--Ask questions from genuine “not knowing”
-- Moves you down the ladder of inference
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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

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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

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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

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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
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 Example of “Left-hand Column”
What I was thinking What we were saying
He doesn’t believe in my Mgr.: “This is an interesting
proposal. proposal but I see some practical
difficulties.”

He’s ready to reject before Me: “What kind of difficulties?”

he understands.

He’s protecting his turf. Mgr.: “I’m concerned about the

board’s reaction to this many
people working on non-revenue
work.”

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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.”

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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

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 5 warning Signs of ASSUMPTIONS
In
Reality… The truth is...
Everybody
knows...

As a matter
of fact...

Research
states that...

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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?”

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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

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Make Your Reasoning Clear to Others

 Ladder provides a tool to ask questions

without embarrassment

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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?”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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 Producing Business Results
Engine for Success
Quality of
Relationship

Quality of R Quality of
Results
Thinking

Quality of
Action

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