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Taking down the wall, one brick at a time.

This article was the first of three written for the Institute of Directors way back in June 1991. All that has changed is the title.

On re-reading it does sound a bit dated but sadly it still holds true today.

Like many others, I have read several books, listened to many cd’s, perused many articles and attended a handful of courses on the “learning organisation”.

The theme of most courses on this subject is, of course, the need to learn continuously – not just to keep up with the competition but to stay ahead and gain a real advantage.

But how many of us have attended courses on the subject and then left, fired up with determination to go right back to the company, to implement immediately a “learning program”, to spread the word to other directors and so on, only to find that you hit a wall?  It was the same wall, you remember, that was there when you attempted to implement something else that you felt was important – total quality, or strategic planning, or doing business in a new market.

Plenty of you will, I fear, be nodding – albeit secretly – in agreement.  So just what is this wall?  The wall is your company’s articulation, however expressed, of the reasons why “that won’t work around here”.  Take away one reason, or brick, and another is put in its place.  Why is this?

There are three principal reasons why things don’t work.

Brick number one is “tried that before and it didn’t work.”  Having half-heartedly implemented something remotely similar to your ideas in the past, this group suffered from burnt fingers and now associate any new idea with their past, negative experience.  The last thing that they will do is associate the original “failure” with the fact that they were half-hearted about its implementation.  Nor do they see the fact that something that failed in the past won’t necessarily fail in the future. The point is that continuous learning doesn’t mean continuously innovating or going forward.  Indeed, often the ideas that deliver the best results are old ones, repackaged.

Brick number two: “Oh, you’ve just been on a course, have you?”  This response is the most demoralising and usually comes from the Neanderthals who believe they know it all, but close their mind to everything.  These are the ones who, having attended their last course on the technology of the future, were heard to mutter that the pocket calculator would never catch on.

I’m not an advocate of culling in order to produce a master-race - but these people could make me change my mind.  It is little consolation to realise the world will overtake these narrow minded and often frightened people, particularly when you have to work with them.

What about brick number three? “Great theory, but people around here won’t do that” Who are these people that won’t do it?  Who’s in charge here? It is interesting to see how those in positions of power blame the problems on those who work for them.  I tend to find that the more bosses you remove, the more innovative a company becomes.

Sometimes this is because staff who are seen as “just doing their job and then going home” have been made this way because of their boss.  Sometimes it’s because – shock horror – they have different drivers to your own.

Even those who work the shortest week want to enjoy themselves at work.  Most people I talk to get a kick out of seeing something, with which they are involved, do well.  Why wouldn’t they?  Don’t you?

As far as learning is concerned, people are both the problem and the solution.

The learning organisation is not a fad – it’s been with us since time began.  It’s just that we have only recently put a tag on it.  In nature it’s called evolution – and those that don’t evolve become extinct.  Come to think of it, maybe putting a tag on it is part of the problem; is is an easier target for pot-shots.

But once you have established that there is a wall, what are you going to do about it? 

Look at three big questions:

1. How do we help more people take what they have learned and adapt it to their own situation? 

2. Whose responsibility is it to pay for learning?

3. How can we create an environment where continuous learning is the norm and in which it can flourish?  I will explore the answers to these questions in my future articles.

A couple of final observations:

1. In my experience, I find the biggest “bricks” blocking progress are often the senior staff.

2. Perhaps we should be concentrating on teaching executives to think first, ONE BRICK AT A TIME as it were!

 Feedback is always welcome so leave a comment or email me at rikki@thinking.co.uk  You can also visit my site www.Thinking.co.uk.