Kim Woods Only (602 6.1 Discussion)

Post #1

I really enjoyed reading this piece in the Fieldbook by Juanita Brown, Bryan Smith and David Isaacs. You can feel their passion towards creating that community feelings inside organizations. It is something that the manager of my call center and I have been trying to do since we started down the road of having a consolidated call center. Call centers are a tough working environment and we knew we needed to keep a community atmosphere in order to keep a low turnover rate. We started with action learning as discussed by Brown, Smith and Isaacs. “Take a step and see where it takes you, in the context of where you want to go” (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross & Smith, 1994, p. 526). We did this by pulling the team together and making a few positive changes. From there we would give it time to see how those changes brought us towards our goal or further away. Each time we would learn by doing and then continue to make changes until we achieved our goal. The other thing that Brown, Smith and Isaac talked about that we are currently working on is designing spaces that are a conduit to the community feeling you want to achieve. “Maybe you would create the equivalent of a central plaza or common square where people would come to have coffee and conversation” (Senge et al., 1994, p. 527). We are in the middle of re-designing our call centers new office. We created this central hub area with a large round table. This is where community together would occur. When anyone brings food or dessert to share, the round table is used to take breaks and allow the employee’s time to celebrate together.

I have been a user of action learning in the past and agree with what I have learned in this course. I think that involving the front line staff in creating the change and then allowing them to test it out in phases is a great approach to getting that community feeling and buy in from staff that management is always seeking. The one area that I think is lacking in my organization is timing. As Senge et al., (1994) says, “Timing is everything in community development. It’s often better to wait until you sense that people are ready to move forward” (p. 527). I feel that administration doesn’t necessarily take the front lines staffs feelings into consideration when they are planning a project. The timing is more on if it is the right time for the organization, not the individuals involved. That is an area that I take away from this course and will be more conscious of moving forward.

 Resources

Senge, P.M., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R.B. & Smith, B.J. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Post #2

Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, Senge & Smith (1994) noted in the Fieldbook that there are several techniques to improve organizations through community mindsets. Creating a shared vision allows teams and organizations to march toward a common goal and elicits buy-in from all members. When considering my organization, applying the exercise of “Seeking what Unifies.” In our organization (a military aircraft maintenance unit), we have individuals that come from different walks of life and are specialized in their different career fields. Finding unity in a sea of diversity can be challenging yet very rewarding. When we can find a common goal, achieving individual buy-in can come easily. In regards to building a shared vision, I feel that action learning may be more effective as groups will learn, succeed, and fail together through experience. This can provide a more meaningful bond amongst team members which will drive them towards developing a shared vision. Finally, when considering vision, both shared and individual visions can influence choices that we make. Senge (2006) notes that “shared visions emerge from personal visions” (p. 197). As we drive (either as individuals or as groups) toward our respective visions, we make the choices necessary to guide ourselves in that desired direction. Those choices are a result of our goals, beliefs, and behaviors. As long as we aspire to work towards our visions, those choices should be sound.

 

 

Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Senge, P. & Smith, B. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.

 

Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art and science of a learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Post #3

Senge (1994) state in this section an idea that really resonated with my understanding of Senge’s work overall to this point: “Sniff out the people who care, and bring them together, using dialogue, problem-solving approaches, potluck suppers, or house meetings” (p. 526). This statement really shows a few important insights. First, and stated in this section in other words, we need to do things that are practical and can be literally seen by members of the organization. Second, the term dialogue really shows that people need to engage in a true exchange and recognition of ideas. Team members have to realize that discussion or argument is not the answer. Third, Senge mentions sniffing out the people who care. In every organization there are what we call in public education, “fundamentalists.” These people, no matter what we do as managers or leaders, do not budget in their fundamental views of the culture or structure of an organization. Nothing is their fault and they can never see things from another’s perspective. This advice by Senge shows us that we can simply ignore those people and focus on the ones who we can progress with.

In my organization, “keep[ing] it simple” would really be a great tool (Senge, 1994, p. 526). Senge states in this section that it is most important to engage in simple tasks that bring payoffs for as many people as possible. Oftentimes keeping it simple can show quick progress in areas which can really help to build a sense of community. In education, this can be very lucrative. We have all sorts of small systems and processes that can be easily improved to make life easier for teachers, aides, and security. Action learning is definitely a great method for building shared vision. After all, thinking about things doesn’t produce results. We have to ultimately start to see production and growth.

Personal vision and shared vision really come back to personal mastery. As leaders we have to ignite the personal mastery in our employees through a tie in to the organization’s mission and vision. Senge (1990) states: “For all these reasons, many organizations espouse a commitment to fostering personal growth among their employees because they believe it will make the organization stronger” (p. 133). This insight precisely sums up my feeling around personal vision as it relates to shared vision. We have to interweave the organization’s mission and vision with the personal missions and visions of those employed.

Senge, P.M. (1990). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization, NY: Double Currency.

Senge, P.M., Roberts, C., Ross, R. B., Smith, B. J., Kleiner, A. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook, NY: Doubleday.