building learning dynamics

5/12/2018 Building Learning Dynamics - slidepdf.com

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/building-learning-dynamics 1/21

Building Learning Dynamics

Levels

Organization

GroupIndividual

Skills

Systems thinking

Mental models Personal mastery

Self-directed

learning

Dialogue

Types

Adaptive

Anticipatory Action



Building Learning Dynamics

Learning can be defined as a process by which individuals gain new knowledge and insights

that result in a change of behaviour and actions. It comprises cognitive (intellectual),affective (emotional), and psychomotor (physical) domains.

Principles of Learning

They have found that we learn best when we are motivated to achieve something asopposed to being motivated to learn.

Learning is also most thorough when it involves the whole personmind, values, andemotions.

People tend to be more receptive to learning that they have helped to create, and they willknow the information they acquire in this way better than anyone else



Levels of Learning: Individual Learning

organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not

guarantee organizational learning, but without it no organizational learning occurs

Individual learning opportunities include self-managed learning, learning from co-workers,computer-assisted learning, daily work experiences, special assignments on projects, andpersonal insights.

Locus and Focus of Individual Learning

Learning should be a constant in the work environment, whether through on-the-jobcoaching, electronic performance support systems (EPSS), action learning, or

reflective planning. Classroom training, whenever possible, should be designed for smalljust in time formats that provide immediate application to the job.




Accelerated Learning

Mnemonics for greater recall and retention

Music to engage the whole brain

Metaphors and stories to engage the whole learner for concept

development and transfer of learning

Peripherals to create a richer and more integrated learning environment

Lighting, colour, and room arrangements that create receptive learning states

Mind mapping or information graphs to aid learning, recall, concept formation, idea generation, andplanning

Principles for enriching the learning environment:

Provide a natural, comfortable, and colourful setting

Help people eliminate or reduce fears, stresses, or learning barriers

Accommodate different learning styles, speeds, and needs

Present material pictorially as well as verbally

Treat learning as a collaborative effort of equals




Personal Development Plan

Individuals in learning organizations see learning as a way of life rather than an occasional event.

Organizations should be as up-front and open as possible about future corporate directions and plans,and then employees can create programs for self-development that will make them valued assets totheir companies. And if a firm moves in a direction that no longer matches the skills or interests of anemployee, that individual will possess competencies and know-how hat are in demand at other

organizations.

Learning organizations constantly encourage, support, accelerate, and reward individual learningthrough an organizational system that promotes continuous self-development and employability.

Resourcesincludecourses,workshops,seminars,self-learningmaterials,developmentgroups,coaching,mentoring,anddatabanks. Employees are expected to learn not only the skills related to their own jobs but the skills of

others in their units.



Levels of Learning: Group or Team Learning

Team learning emphasizes self-managed learning, creativity, and the free flow of ideas.A successful team learning system ensures that teams share their experiences, both

negative and positive, with other groups in the organization and thereby promotevigorous corporate intellectual growth.

Learning organizations seek to create a full range of teams, including continuousimprovement, cross-functional, quality management, and organizational learningteams.

Outstanding teams develop operational trust, in that each team member remainsconscious of the others and acts in ways that complement their actions.

Team learning requires these three elements:

The need to address complex issues through collective insight

The need for innovative, coordinated action

The ability to encourage and stimulate learning in

other teams



Levels of Learning: Organizational Learning

First, organizational learning occurs through the shared insights, knowledge, andmental models of members of the company.

Second, organizational learning builds on past knowledge and experiencethat is,

on organizational memory, which depends on mechanisms such as policies,

strategies, and explicit models with which to store knowledge.

Individuals and groups are the agents through which organizational learning takes

place, but the process is influenced by a much broader set of social, political, and

structural variables. It involves the sharing of knowledge, beliefs, or assumptions

among individuals and groups



Types of Learning: Adaptive Learning

Adaptive learning occurs when an individual, team, or organization learns from experience and reflection.

The company takes an action intended to further an identified goal, the action results in some internal or

external outcome, the resultant change is analyzed for congruence

with the goal, and the company initiates a new action or modifies the previous action based on the

outcome. Adaptive learning moves from action, to outcome, to results assessment, and then to reflection.

Adaptive learning may be either single loop or double loop.

Single Loop: Learning is focused on gaining information to stabilize and maintain existing systems.

Double Loop: Learning involves in-depth questioning of the system itself to ascertain why errors or

successes occur in the first place.



Types of Learning: Anticipatory Learning

Anticipatory learning arises when an organization learns from anticipating various

futures.

This approach seeks to avoid negative results and experiences by identifying the best

future opportunities while discovering ways to achieve them.

In comparing adaptive and anticipatory learning, we can note that adaptive learning is

more a coping form of learning. Anticipatory learning is a more generative or creative

type of organizational learning.



Types of Learning: Action Learning

Action learning involves working on real problems, focusing on the acquired knowledge,

and actually implementing solutions.

Action learning is both a dynamic process and a powerful program.

Action learning is built on a well-tested framework that enables people to learn

effectively and efficiently as they assess and solve difficult, real-life

problems.

The Action Learning Group or Team

The core entity in action learning is the action learning group, which is composed of four toeight individuals. The group should include people who have the power to carry out the

groups recommendations, care about the problem, and know something about itinother words, those who can, who care and who know




The Action Learning Coach

The action learning coach may be a group member who is familiar with the problem being

discussed or an external participant who may not necessarily understand the problem or

organizational context but possesses the requisite facilitation skills.

Insightful Questioning and Reflective Listening

By concentrating on the right questions rather than the right answers, action learning

focuses on what we do not know as well as what we do know.

The procedure of asking questions rather than immediately providing solutions unfreezes

the group and defuses defensiveness. Asking the right questions when everything is

uncertain and nobody knows what to do next encourages outside-the-box creativity.




Taking Action

Action enhances learning by providing a basis for reflection, and, indeed, the most valuablelearning in action learning occurs when participants reflect on their actions, not just on their

planning

Commitment to Learning

Greater learning occurs when we are allowed ample time and space, when a sense of urgency

exists, when we can see results, when we are allowed to take risks, and when we are

encouraged and supported in our deliberations.

Critical learning occurs when we are able to question the assumptions that underlie actions.

Learning intensifies when we receive accurate feedback from others, observe the results of our problem-solving actions, and reflect on our actions.




Action learning is most effective when learners examine the organizationalsystem as a whole.

By working cooperatively on real issues, the group can move to higher levelsof learning relative to application, synthesis, and evaluation.

Action learning is built on the entire learning cycle: learning and creatingknowledge through concrete experience, observing and reflecting on thisexperience, forming generalizations from experiences, testing the implicationsof those generalizations through new experiences, and beginning the process

again.



Types of Learning: Edgar Schein

Habit and skill learning

Emotional conditioning and learned anxiety

Knowledge acquisition

Learning happens only if the learner recognizes a problem and is motivated to learn.

Even with insight, the learner often cannot produce the right type of behaviour or

skill with enough consistency to solve the problem.

Insight does not automatically change behaviour, and until behaviour changes and

new results are observed, we do not know whether or not our cognitive learning isvalid.



Learning Skills:Systems Thinking

Systems thinking is a conceptual framework that helps us see the overall patterns

more clearly and thus improves our ability to change them.

It is a discipline for seeing wholes, a framework for seeing interrelationships rather

than linear cause effect chains, for seeing underlying structures rather than events, for

seeing patterns of change rather than snapshots

Systems thinkingin particular, systems dynamicscan be a powerful tool for

facilitating organizational learning. Systems dynamics recognizes that organizations are

like networks of interconnected nodes. Changes, planned or unplanned, in one part of

the organization can affect other areas, with surprising, often negative, consequences.



Learning Skills: Mental Models

A mental model is our image of or perspective on an event, situation, activity, or

concept. It is a deeply ingrained assumption that influences how we understand the

world and take action in it.

Mental models of what can or cannot be done in different situations vary

tremendously from person to person and are often entrenched and difficult to change.

It includes the ability to carry on learningful conversations that balance inquiry and

advocacy, where people expose their own thinking effectively and make that thinking

open to the influences of others



Learning Skills: Personal Mastery

Personal mastery refers to a special level of proficiency, similar to that of the master

craftsman who is committed to lifelong learning and continually improves and perfects his

or her skills. It is a discipline of constantly clarifying and deepening our personal vision,

energies, and patience.

Personal mastery entails a commitment to continuous learning at all levels of theorganization. This includes pervasive support for any kind of development experience for all

members of the organization.

Traditional training and development activities are not sufficient; they must be

accompanied by a conviction that no member is ever finished with learning or practice.



Learning Skills

Self Directed Learning

All members of a learning organization should be aware of and enthusiastically accept theresponsibility both to be learners and to encourage and support the learning of thosearound them.

We must learn how to learn on our own, partly through knowing our preferences regarding

learning style in order to optimize our learning opportunities.

Dialogue

Dialogue is intense, high-level, high-quality communication based on the free, creative, andmutual exploration of subtle issues; on listening deeply to one another; and on suspendingour own views. By applying the discipline of dialogue, we learn how to recognize thepatterns of team interaction that either promote or undermine learning.



Learning Capacity of Organizations

Three dimensions to consider while building the learning capacity of the organization:

Speed of learning:

Refers to how quickly the organization is able to complete each learning cycle (planning,implementing, and reflecting) and to complete iterations of the cycle.

Depth of learning:

Refers to the degree of learning the organization achieves at the end of each cycle, which itaccomplishes by questioning assumptions and improving its capacity to learn in the future.

Breadth of learning:

Concerned with how extensively the organization is able to transfer the new insights andknowledge derived from each iteration of the learning cycle to other issues and parts of the

organization.



Training and Learning

Training Learning

From the outside in, done by others From the inside out, learner motivated

Assumes relative stability Assumes continuous change

Focuses on knowledge, skills, ability, and job

performance

Focuses on values, attitudes, innovation, and

outcomes

Appropriate for developing basic competencies Helps organizations and individuals learn howto learn and create novel solutions

Emphasizes improvement Emphasizes breakthrough

Not necessarily linked to organization's mission

and strategy

Directly aligned with organizations vision and

requirements for success

Structured learning experiences with short-

term focus

Formal and informal, long-term future

oriented, learner initiated



Learning Organization and Organizational Learning

In discussing learning organizations, we are focusing on the whatthe systems,

principles, and characteristics of organizations that learn and produce as a collective

entity.

In discussing organizational learning we are concerned with how organizational

learning occursthe skills and processes of building and utilizing knowledge. As

discussed below, organizational learning is just one aspect of a learning organization.

building learning dynamics

Documents