Evaluating a Learning Organization
- Darlene Edgar
Summary: "Is Yours a Learning Organization?" (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, 2008)
Misconceptions about Learning Organizations:
Being a learning organization goes beyond having a clear vision, incentives, and training.
Early discussions were abstract and lacked a prescriptive sequence, leading to implementation problems.
Initial focus on CEOs and senior execs, neglecting managers of smaller departments where critical work is done.
Challenges and Lack of Standards:
Managers lacked tools to assess how team learning contributes to the organization.
Standards and tools for assessment were lacking.
Three Essential Factors for Learning Organizations:
Supportive Learning Environment:
Psychological safety.
Appreciation of differences.
Openness to new ideas.
Time for reflection.
Concrete Learning Practices and Processes:
Leadership.
Information generation, collection, interpretation, dissemination.
Experimentation, intelligence gathering, disciplined analysis, interpretation, education, and training.
Systematic and clearly defined knowledge sharing.
Leadership:
Leaders should question, listen, and promote dialogue and debate to encourage learning.
Organizational Learning Tool:
An online diagnostic tool helps assess the extent to which a unit functions as a learning organization and the relationships affecting learning.
Surveys are completed, providing brief descriptive sentences from the building blocks of learning.
Can be used for individual or team perspectives.
Scores are compared with benchmarks to identify areas for excellence and improvement.
Leadership and Comparative Performance:
Leadership alone is insufficient for a learning organization.
Organizations are not monolithic; comparative performance is crucial.
Learning is multidimensional, requiring a nuanced understanding.