Down with the status quo!
<h>Europe and Singapore</h> have a lot to teach the world, according to MIT organizational learning guru Peter Senge. He wants societies to open themselves to the learning process. Mr. Senge, companies have a tough time implementing organizational learning. How can we expect entire societies to become “learning societies”? Success will come to those who see learning as a continuous development that is fundamental to a society’s growth and survivability. This insight is catching on more and more. The key question is, how can societies improve their capacity to learn? And how would they go about doing that? Take Singapore, for example. Ten years ago, the country announced that it was the first learning society. The conditions were outstanding. It was a small, well-organized country, run almost like a company. Organizational learning tools and principles were introduced in both the school system and in key government organizations. The idea was to improve the learning capacity of these institutions and transform them into a driving force behind a learning society. | ||
Did the approach work? Progress was achieved in certain key institutions. But that was only the start. School involvement was problematic. All supervisory officials were ordered to take a one-year program as an initiation into the basics of organizational learning. The mandatory nature of it didn’t work. People learn what they want to learn. Creating a new type of achievement potential must be seen as relevant in practical work. Ultimately, only a few school systems really changed their processes. Was the Singapore project a failure? I wouldn’t quite say that. You have to remember that changes can’t be implemented solely by means of complete make-over programs. The effort that was undertaken in Singapore created the basis for a lot of things, and it will take time for an environment to develop in which people recognize the benefits of this kind of approach to learning. For example, the Singapore police had a very promising initiative. The chief of police sent individuals who were working in key positions to Western organizations that had already made progress in implementing new learning methods. That made members of the Singapore police force want to advance in their learning. Successful learning initiatives begin with this desire. What do you make of China? It is also calling itself a “learning society.” China wanted to do it the same way as Singapore, but a lot of their efforts concentrate excessively on short-term strategies and official programs in administrative and economic realms. Still, there are a few Chinese companies that have been working with learning tools for many years now. They provide a good example of what is possible. To break through, it will take more than motivational speeches. You don’t build a learning society without first making in-depth changes in schools and universities. In particular, people need practical examples and concrete evidence of improvements to generate some momentum. | ||
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Today, China seems to be learning increasingly in the economic area. Is that enough? China has high economic development objectives, but this focus is too narrow. Learning needs to also concentrate on social and environmental innovation. On the other hand, the broader the perspective, the larger the number of people who have to be involved. In order to truly create a sustainable learning initiative, the most diverse people from all key fields need to participate. They need to develop a common vision of what the change would mean for them. Then they need a strategy on how the institutional capabilities for change can be created. Do you still believe in institutions? Traditional institutions have structural defects, but we need them for learning societies. We do need to free them from their isolation and promote greater collaboration among various sectors. Is there an example you know of where that is working? The EU has achieved success in environmental issues. Consider the guidelines for taking back old cars. They were developed together with European auto manufacturers. It resulted in a process of mutual learning. The auto industry has changed radically because the EU and the manufacturers jointly developed an approach to take back worn-out cars. In the meantime, this development has also had an impact on other consumer goods. This level of collaboration reveals that it takes strong players on both sides for collaboration to actually work. During the negotiations, BMW assumed a leadership role and saw that the guidelines could actually be a competitive advantage for European companies, which was conveyed to the other manufacturers. They in turn participated actively in ways that went beyond old-style lobbying. One could see this as an example of how politicians can learn from the corporate world. Do society and politics need to learn more from the economic sector? Absolutely yes. In a globalized world, the economy by its very nature plays a leading role, especially because companies operate more globally than governments. And if we’re talking about learning and social innovation, companies know exactly how to deal with innovation. It only makes sense that they would share this knowledge with society. | ||
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But overall, Europe does not seem exactly open to change. What is wrong here?
Those who seek change are prone to encounter resistance and to then want to “break” it. This approach results in a split between the “believers” and the “non-believers.” One reason why there is a lack of openness to change is fear— pure and simple. Fearful people don’t want change. Fear leads to a focus on survival and protection, and it gets in the way of learning. There is a lot of fear in Europe today, particularly because Europeans are having to confront poverty to a greater degree than the US. Europe is a little nest of prosperity in an environment in which people to the east and the south have considerably less. What can politicians do about it? Europe needs to develop a positive image of itself during and after the change process. Europeans should learn from the biological principle of self-preservation. In nature, everything is changing all of the time—yet some things are also perpetually preserved. Therein lies a key management principle: If you want change, you need to be very clear about what you want to preserve. You see societies as self-organized systems. Can the change process even be controlled? Yes. One can influence an animate system by providing examples. That’s exactly what China has to do in order to become a learning society. To a large extent, the country needs to provide good examples and help innovators to learn from each other. What roles do individuals play in learning societies? Take the former head of purchasing at BMW as an example. He played an important role as a representative of the car makers in hammering out the EU’s “old car” guidelines. Every learning initiative needs committed, competent and credible leaders. But who is playing this role in society? Surely not the traditional intellectual? Many intellectuals are so far removed from practical change processes that they lack relevance and credibility. China has a different tradition— that of the committed intellectuals. They write books but are also closely integrated into the economy, politics or other institutions. This understanding of what an intellectual is also exists in the Society for Organizational Learning’s network. We believe that smart managers are intellectuals, just like we believe in encouraging researchers to participate directly in change projects or consultants to share their insights. Believe it or not, many leaders are prepared to think about subjects that reach beyond issues they face on their daily agendas. Peter Senge is the guru of organizational learning. He teaches at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he founded the interdisciplinarz Society for Organizational Learning. His books have become classic management literature. This is an excerpt of a an interview with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants' award-winning magazine think:act. If you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us:  |
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