“Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.” – Brian Tracy, Eat that Frog
What is an always-learning mentality?
For this case, look no further than Peter Senge, the founder of the Learning Organization Theory. For those who don’t know already, Peter Senge’s credentials include being described as one of 24 people who “had the greatest impact on the way we conduct business today” and he was designated, in 1999, “Strategist of the Century” by the Journal of Business Strategy.
Quick history lesson: Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline, which was published in 1990, popularized the concept of the learning organization. Senge argued, “Learning organizations are where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.”
In other words, learning organizations are companies in which employees are empowered, and even expected, to do more than just survive the current circumstances. In fact, learning organizations must be ready and willing to learn-on-the-go and recreate themselves as necessary to thrive in the always changing marketplace.
Why is having an always-learning mentality important for entrepreneurs?
Do you live by clichés? If so, and you have extra time, check out this Inc Magazine article so you learn the 10 simple ways to make sure you’re always learning. Or, check out these 5 tips by Jeff Usner, these 4 learning habits by Mie Kehoe, and these 10 simple ways to learn by Stacey Lastoe.
Confidence in our employees is why it is so important to be a learning organization. According to Peter Senge, organizations that are always-learning are more flexible, more competitive, and more successful. Learning organizations know how to get the job done, which often requires the delegation of important and difficult work tasks. However, you can’t delegate work tasks to your staff without the confidence that your staff can get those tasks done. You can be confident in your staff when you know they understand how to learn, how to be an effective leader, how their actions fit into the big picture, and how the nuances of the task at hand should affect their decisions and actions.
How do we become an always-learning organization?
If you don’t care for clichés, accept as truth what Peter Senge researched and found to be true: In learning organizations, six areas converge: (a) Systems thinking, (b) Personal mastery, (c) Mental modes, (d) Building a shared vision, (e) Team learning, and (f) People are agents.
Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking was first proposed by the biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy in the 1940s, but, in 1968, was officially known as General System Theory. The key contribution of Systems Thinking was “holism”. Instead of reducing an organism down to its parts and properties, Holism postulated that an organism could be understood as more than just a collection of parts and properties. Holism viewed an organism as a whole system with various relationships between the parts of the system. In layman’s terms, the development of holism shifted the view of the organization from short-term to long-term. Specifically, when you view an organization as a collection of parts, it’s easy for you to contemplate advantages of short-term decisions. However, when you view an organization as a whole, then you must take a long-term view and make it work.
Personal Mastery
Personal Mastery has a lot to do with your ability to motivate your employees. All the individuals in your organization must want to learn. This means that your employees must learn to focus their energy, create a personal vision, and see reality objectively. As the boss, you must learn how to teach your employees personal mastery.
Mental Modes
Mental modes help or harm us. Mental modes are created by our assumptions, the things we take for granted, and the biases of our worldviews. In order to be always-learning, we must realize we have problematic mental modes that we go to as a default and we must know how to change default mental modes for the better.
Building a Shared Vision
Here is where all the clichés are correct: Building a shared vision for your company is very important. Without a shared vision, there is no leadership and companies die. Do you want enthusiastic employees? Do you want committed employees? Then, you must have a coherent shared vision that your employees believe to be true.
Team Learning
Team learning is all about alignment. Alignment is when all the actions of your employees work together towards the same outcome. Don’t get me wrong, alignment is not easy. Alignment is difficult work. Alignment often is tedious work because it involves dialogue between team members. Have you ever heard someone say, “This is like herding cats?” Achieving alignment is like herding cats because getting a group of employees to think together is not a natural or easy task. However, aligned teams accomplish great things.
People Are Agents
People are agents refers to the simple fact that everybody has the capacity to act in any given environment. This means that everyone influences somebody by their actions and decisions. This also means that when our employees are all on the same page, then as an organization your business can accomplish great things.
Successful small business owners focus on learning wherever they are, embracing the chance to grow and develop themselves. While it can be humbling to ask another for help, there is immense value in acquiring the skill to learn, both in business and in life.
