the learning organization

The Learning Organization@lucamerolla

Luca MerollaMaster in Business Administration (MBA)B.Sc. Computer Science

EPFL Attestation Startup Board MemberPG Certificate in International BusinessDiploma in Managerial EconomicsDiploma in Management of Technological InnovationDiploma in Management of Information Systems

linkedin.com/in/lucamerolla @lucamerolla

What is a Learning Organization?

Definition :

“A learning organization is the business term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its members and

continuously transforms itself.”

How do we facilitate learning?

What prevent us from constantly transforming?

How does our brain works?

Mental Models

Emotional vs Rational

Confirmation Bias❏ Favour information and opinions that confirm our beliefs

❏ Selectively search for evidence that support our beliefs

❏ Actively suppressing or discarding everything else that contradicts our beliefs

❏ Intuitive thinking

❏ Involves emotions

❏ Simple mental rules

❏ Cognitive biases

System 1 thinking

System 2 thinking

❏ Rational thinking

❏ Systematic

❏ Considered evaluation

❏ Logical conclusions

Extrinsic Motivation

win an awardCompeting in a sport to...

receive a promotionI work hard to...

get a good gradeI study to...

obtain acknowledgement, fame, respectI learn to...

Intrinsic Motivation

I find it enjoyable and relaxingI read a book because...

I feel content and fulfilledI develop a new skill because...

I find it interesting and excitingI play a game because...

it makes me feel goodI learn because...

Fixed-Mindset Thinking❏ They believe intelligence and aptitude are fixed

❏ Are driven to perform for external rewards

❏ React defensively when they make mistakes

❏ Avoid situation where failure is likely

❏ Internal culture of fear

Growth-Mindset Thinking❏ They believe intelligence and aptitude can grow with

effort

❏ Are internally driven to master tasks or subjects

❏ Seek challenges and opportunities to extend their skills

❏ Are not destabilized by negative feedback

❏ Accept mistakes and failures

What is an High Performance Learning Organization

High Performance Learning Organization

=The Right People + The Right Processes + The Right Environment

The right people

Self-determination TheoryPeople has an innate psychological need for:

❏ Autonomy

❏ Effectiveness

❏ Relatedness

Thus they will perform better if these conditions are met

Self-efficacy Theory❏ Is our belief in whether we can or cannot do something

❏ Strong Self-efficacy❏ More comfortable in tackling new challenges❏ More likely to succeed

❏ Self-efficacy influence how we view threats❏ Anxiety❏ Stress

Theory X mindsetTheory X Managers believe that:

❏ Employees are lazy and not ambitious

❏ Employees are resistant to change

❏ Management’s job is to use punishments and rewards to motivate and modify employees’ behaviors

Theory Y mindsetTheory Y Managers believe that:

❏ Employees have the capacity to assume responsibility

❏ Employees can contribute to the organizational good

❏ Management’s job is to create the environment and opportunities for employees to grow

No one has ever admitted to be Theory X Manager!

Still they behave and talk like...

The Learning Environment

Employee-centric policiesInternal learning system should consistently align:

❏ Company culture

❏ HR policies

❏ Enable and promote learning mindsets and behaviors

❏ Measurements

❏ Rewards

High Employee EngagementTo obtain High Employee Engagement organizations needs to stimulate a positive learning environment that meets employees needs for:

❏ Autonomy❏ Effectiveness❏ Growth❏ Development❏ Relatedness

High Employee Engagement Examples❏ I have the opportunity to do what I do best

❏ In the last 6 months someone gave me feedback

❏ In the last year, I have had the opportunities to grow and develop

❏ At work, my opinions seem to count

❏ My supervisor, or someone at work, cares about me as a person

❏ I have a best friend at work

Learning Organization Culture❏ Treating others with dignity and respect

❏ Free to speak policies

❏ Conditional permission to make mistakes that leads to learning

❏ Seeking for truth

❏ Seeking feedback and stress test beliefs

Behaviors counts!❏ Being open minded

❏ Being empathetic and humble

❏ Managing one’s fear and other emotions

❏ Managing one’s ego defenses

❏ Actively listening

❏ Being positive emotionally

The Learning Processes

We overestimate how good we are

At thinking, relating and learning and how much we think we know.

We operate too much on autopilot

System 2 thinking and conversations are necessary for learning to occur

Although, a person can speak at only 100-150 words a minute

The brain can process up to600 words a minute

50 % body language, 38% tone of voice

Only 7% is represented by words

Unspoken emotional messages

System 2 & Learning ConversationsLearning is triggered by our engagement and emotional system.

Setup constructive conversations

Disagreement can be good:

❏ Being comfortable with disagreement❏ Openly engage: no EGO about who is

right or wrong

Critical Thinking Tools

Help us to mitigate our tendencies to be lazy thinkers!

Critical Thinking Tools can be useful in every domain of learning

Treat everything you think you know as hypotheses to be constantly re-tested by

new data.Critical Thinking Tools can help to abandon

any belief that is not supported by evidence

Critical Thinking Tools Examples❏ Unpacking assumptions

❏ Toyota 5 Whys

❏ Lean Startup

❏ PreMortem Tool

“The good senior leader always go back and reset the assumptions

underlying what they think it’s true.”Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Critical Thinking ExercisesWrite 2 articles for a newspaper in the future:

❏ My-company-name: a story of success❏ The demise of my-company-name: a sad story

Imagine to be replaced. Write a letter to your successor:

❏ What would you like your successor to do that you are not doing right now?

Why Organizations Don’t Learn Enough?

Biased toward SUCCESS

We want to WIN!

We don’t focus on the potential to learn

Biased toward ACTION

Exhaustion

Lack of reflection

Pain + Reflection = Progress

20% better performance on 4 weeks period for teams thatsystematically apply 15mins of reflection daily

Biased toward FITTING IN

The need to conform can limit the strengths we bring to the organization

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

Steve Jobs

Biased toward EXPERTS

Experts of the… past.

Resistance to change

Lack of empowerment

Asking, not telling

Humble inquiry is a necessary skill and process for learning conversations. It is a process discovery.

Bridgewater Associates

Meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical truth and

radical transparencyEmployees rated 4.4 out of 5

Bridgewater’s culture as key of its success

Radical Transparency

Meetings are recorded and available to every employee

You can’t talk behind somebody’s back

Best Independent Thinkers

Through disagreement and thoughtful conversations you get to know the talents and weaknesses of people

Let’s agree to disagree

Don’t let emotions hijack your thinking.

Appreciation for the fact that people are different

Why people cannot peacefully disagree?

Fail, Learn, Move Forward

Fail is part of the process, not unusual

Culture of feedback

Gets over who’s right or wrong.

Focus on accurate or inaccurate

Bridgewater Associates’Personal Growth Tools

Personal Growth ToolsThe 3 purposes of the Bridgewater Associates Personal Growth Tools are:

❏ Know people strengths and weaknesses

❏ Track performance over time

❏ Place people into position of their strengths

The Baseball Card

Each employee has a daily Index score on how they perform

The data is used for determining job and assignment fit

The Dot Collector &The Dot Connector

Each employee has the possibility to evaluate every employee transparently

The Pain Button

Each employee has an app on their phone to report their feelings

The purpose is to write down and reflect on the “pain”

Feedback? Let’s try!

Leave your transparent and honest feedback

@lucamerolla

#TheLearningOrganization

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