Building a Learning

Organization
Presentation by Teresa
Brewington
 Building a Learning
Organization
Personal
Personal Team
Team
Mastery
Mastery Learning
Learning
System
System
Thinking
Thinking Shared
Shared
Vision
Vision Mental
Mental
Model
Model
System Thinking is similar to a
car.
 A car cannot operate without
each and every part in working
order, contributing to the
whole, You can’t drive without
a steering wheel, or tires, or an
engine, or a battery. A car
much like any organization has
many different parts that must
be operating, functioning, and
contributing to the whole in
order for the car to be driven.
Systems Thinking

 Takes into account people, processes, and departments.

 How the decision will affect everyone in the company.

 All parts being dependent and related to each other.

Step 1: The problem is….
 The first step of The problem is: “We
System Thinking is don’t seem to be able
describing the to lower employee
problem. retention rates.”
Step 2: Tell the story
 Also known as “model building,” in this
step you develop a hypothesis that
could explain why we have the
problem we have. Then, we must test
the story we have created.
 How did we contribute to or create the
circumstances we face now?
 Either make a list or draw a picture.
 The story: The retention rate for
employees have risen causing the
organization time and money to hire
and train new employees. The
average time an employee stays within
our organization is 8 months 2 days.
Our supervisors spend less time
supervising employees, and more time
training new ones. Many of our
employees leave our organization and
go to work with our competitors.
Because of the organization's growth we have hired many new positions from 2003 to 2007. However, the
retention rate for employees have risen causing the organization time and money to hire and train new
employees only to replace grandfathered employees. The average time an employee stays within our
organization is 8 months 2 days. Many of our employees leave or organization and go to work with our
competitors.

25

20

15
Employees
10 New Hired Employees

0
2003 2004 2006 2007
System Thinking:
The Five Whys Activity
 First you must pick the symptom of where to start and ask the first
“why” of the group.
 You must ask, “why is this taking place?”
 Repeat the process asking “why” after each statement. You will
probably see many situations or problems with the same root or
cause.

Avoid blaming individuals or departments.
 Why Activity : Why is our organization’s retention rate so high?
Because of “Burnout” especially with our
Family Specialist positions.
Why do our employees get “burnout”
Because of low wage, entry level positions,
especially with Family Specialist positions.
Why is there low employee moral especially with the
Family Specialist positions?
Because Family Specialist do not feel supported by
management. Family Specialist are our client’s first
and foremost contacts, they are the liaison between
management and our clients but yet they feel like
they do not have a voice that they are only
information soldiers giving information from
management and relaying this to our clients..
What does management need to do in order for FS
positions to feel important?
Because our employees, especially Family
Specialist overworked.
Why are employees overworked?
Because our employees are dedicated to doing the
job and meeting our demands and deadlines. They
are also required to make monthly visits to each
client’s home at least once a month. Doing so, often
requires Family Specialist to work after five to
accolade our client’s schedules. Yet, Family
Specialist are not paid or compensated in anyway.
Why are our Family Specialist working so many
hours over the required 40 hours per week?
Because of quality assurance, because the average
FS caseload is 15. Because we demand superior
customer service adding more demands on our FS
positions to adhere to these demands.
Why do Family Specialist have so many
responsibilities
Because we don’t have an HR department.
Why do we need a HR department?
Because an HR department can screen, hire and
train more qualified employees.
Why why do we need an Hr department today but we
didn’t five years ago?
Because our organization has doubled the number of
employees in the last five years to compensate with
our organization’s success and growth.
Why can’t upper management continue to handle the
new employee process?
System Thinking: Links and Loops
 System Thinking: Links and Loops
Family Specialist Positions

Continues to hire and train FS positions

rying to meet the demands of a growing

organization and FS turnover rate.
ARCHETYPES:
 ARCHETYPES prompts us to fill in the
gaps of our thinking and to tell more
complete stories.
 ARCHETYPES clarify and test mental
models.
 Examines your situation in terms of
feedback (reinforcing and balancing)
relationships.
ARCHETYPES:
Fixes that Backfire

Limits to Growth

Tragedy of the
Reinforcing Loop Commons

Shifting the Burden

Balancing Loop Accidental

Adversaries
Using the Archetypes Model:
FIXES THAT BACKFIRE
 The relief is  Anticipating that an
temporary and often
returns.
 An immediate relief
but does not fix the
problem.
employee will stay
with our organization
for an average of 8
months our
organization hires
new employees on a
rotation to offset the
lose of grandfathered
employees.
Using the Archetypes Model:
LIMITS TO GROWTH
 You have hit a brick wall your
efforts are worthless. The harder
you push the more resistance the
wall will have. Your organizations
growth has either hit a plateau or
collapses.
 Most organizations focus on
growth in lieu of the more
important quality of service. If you
work on the quality of service your
organizations growth will come
much easier.
 The overall goal of our
organization is to grow with the
number of clients we serve.
 Our organization can only grow if
we hire more employees.
 Or organization has mistakably
forgotten the role and importance
of a Family Specialist to the
relationships of our clients.
 Our top complaint from our clients
is the fluctuation of Family
Specialist.
 Many of our older clients have
gone through 5 or 6 Family
Specialist in the last 5 years.
Using the Archetypes Model:
SHIFTING THE BURDEN
 Shifting the Burden is yet only
another quick fix, it will relieve the
symptoms but will not fix the
REAL problem.
 Shifting the Burden diverts
attention away from the
fundamental source of the
problem.
 In order to reduce the amount of employee
retention our organization designed a Good Faith
Agreement. This agreement states that the
employee agrees to remain employed with our
organization a minimum of one year and that the
employee will not be able to obtain employment
with our organization’s competitors.
 Or organization clearly Shifted the Burden by
making this an employee problem in lieu of the
underlying problem of employee retention. The
Good Faith Agreement shifted the burden to the
new hires in lieu of the managers ultimately placing
the blame of employee retention to employees bad
work ethic instead of finding out the real problem
for employee retention.
 Because of this, the problem still exist within our
cooperation. The only difference is that our
management team feels better about hiring new
employees that will agree to sign the Good Faith
Agreement. And again, the agreement is written in
good faith therefore, there is no legal grounds
protecting against such actions.
Using the Archetypes Model:
TRADEGY OF THE COMMONS
 With this Archetype people benefit
individually by sharing a common resource
but then the amount of activity grows to
large for the common to support.
Ultimately, the common will hit peak and
crash.
 The commons could be natural resources,
space, financial capital, or market size.
 Managers are continually spending wasted
time on hiring and training new Family
Specialist in lieu of supporting
grandfathered Family Specialist to make
their work load easier or to make their over
time work less frequent.
 Our organization designed and will be
implementing a new software in the near
future. With the new software Family
Specialist functions should run more
effectively. The software is similar to a
“getting organized” program. It will be used
to track work progress, deadlines,
appointments, and work performance. With
this new software management can quickly
view its employees status on a multitude of
projects. Again, this doesn’t fix the problem!
Using the Archetypes Model:
ACCIDENTAL ADVERSAIRES
 Seek to understand needs and
how not to unitentially undermine
those needs.
 Accidental Adversaries are a
repeating cycle that can ultimately
be devastating.
 In this stage the sides are unlikely
to talk and it becomes unlikely that
either side will learn the effect it is
having on the other.
 Management in our cooperation often make
decision that effect the Family Specialist without
Family Specialist ideas, insights or thoughts to the
issue at hand. Too often management give FS’s
directives without the FS’s being part of the
decision making team.
 Because of a long history of turnover rate and
unethical work practices amongst past Family
Specialist our management team has a
preconsumed assumption and negative impression
of current Family Specialist. These negative
feeling is very evident through there working
relationships.
 Family Specialist intuition is that upper
management does not value their work efforts.
Thus making them feel as they are not appreciated
and are not an important part of the decision
making team.
 Because of these underlying thoughts and
feelings the impact on the FS relationship with
management is poor and communication, trust and
relationships with FS and management is poor.
Personal Mastery: DO YOU WANT THIS IN
YOUR ORGANIZATION?

Do
Doyou
youwant
wanttotomake
makea a
working environment that
working environment that
encourages employees to Do you want
encourages employees to Do you want
become better employees that
become better employees that
contributors?
contributors? are proud to be
Do you want
are proud to be
Do you want part of their
employees to part of their
employees to organization?
motivate and organization?
motivate and
encourage other
encourage other
employees to do their
employees to do their
very best? Do
very best? Doyou
youwant
want
employees
employeestotofeel
feel
passionate, and
passionate, and
caring about their
caring about their
work?
work? Do
Doyou
youwant
wantyour
your
employees to be able to
employees to be able to
Do you want employees handle the large amounts
Do you want employees handle the large amounts
that of work handed to them
thatare
areinspired
inspiredtotododo of work handed to them
their but
buthave
havefun
funalong
alongthe
their verybest
very bestand
andtake
take the
pride way?
prideinintheir
theirwork
work way?
efforts?
efforts?
Personal Mastery
 Mastery means not only to produce results but also to master the principles
underlying the way you produce results.
 The practice of personal mastery involves keeping both a personal vision and a
current reality to form creative tension.
 The more we practice this way of thinking the more we feel confident thus allowing
ourselves to be aware of the tension.
 Personal mastery teaches us not to lower our vision.
 Emotional tension is allowing ourselves to think negatively. Personal mastery makes
us aware when we have emotional tension.
 In order to teach personal mastery you must be the leader or a coach. The first task
is to model your own behavior. As a coach you must have a good sense of your own
personal vision in order to inspire others to bring out their own.
 Be prepared when emotions come to the surface.
 VERY IMPORTANT: You must no longer assume that people are motivated only by
money, recognition, rewards, or fear.
Personal Mastery to create a
Shared Vision
 In order for an  Ask employees questions
similar to what is listed here:
organization to  1. What would you personally like to
succeed you want see this organization become?
 2. What type of clients would it serve?
employees to take  3. What type of reputation would it
their personal 
have?
4. What would be the organization’s
mastery and align it mission?
What values would it have? What
with the organizations 
values would its employees have?
shared vision.  How would people work together?
Establish a Personal Mastery Management Guide: This is your
organizations ownership manual you are the coach and you are here to
empower your employees to be the best they can be.

 Employees, especially FS need to be encouraged to bring passion to the work place

to create intense emotions.
 Employees, especially FS will be encouraged to pursue professional and personal
growth through continued education, workshops, etc.
 Motivation by way of fear, intimidation, or reward will no longer be acceptable.
 Meetings, decisions, directives are team based. Employees will be encouraged to
participate and know that their input and expertise is important.
 At each staff meeting we will implement an open table where employees, especially
FS are encouraged to voice any concerns, changes, ideas, etc.
 Employees, especially FS will never feel threatened by speaking their opinions,
feelings or thoughts.
 Honesty will be encouraged.
 Management will support individual values and beliefs.
 There will be no “I” in team work. There will be no finger pointing.
 Employees will be encouraged to be open and honest.
Building a Shared Vision: 5
Stages
 Telling – Tell them what must be done.
 Selling – Getting them to buy in.
 Testing – Test the vision.
 Consulting – What do we need to
implement?
 Co-Creating – Lets build the organization
we all want.
A Shared Vision: 5 stages
 1. As managers it is up to us to lead, to be the coach.
No exceptions!
 2. I will sale this to the managers and expect them to
sale this to employees specifically Family Specialist.
 3. Through constant communication I will know how the
implementation is going.
 4. I will ask employees, especially family specialist to
share their ideas for this vision.
 5. We will work together to build the organization and
working environment we ALL want.
Our Shared Vision:
 As the coach, and the leader I will ensure that my managers buy into this concept and act as
coaches. I will encourage them to empower Family Specialist to buy in to this concept. I will
encourage openness and honesty amongst my managers and Family Specialist. I will encourage
open communication. I will empower my managers not to be leaders but coaches and support
staff in lieu of directors who only give directives! Our managers will need to steer away from their
dictatorship roles and become more open to this new concept. Family Specialist will know their
importance with the organization and they will be treated with much respect and encouragement
and nothing less by management will be tolerated. Family Specialist will know that their work,
their thoughts, feelings and ideas are important and want to be heard. I will have a learning
organization were employees feel they can succeed both personally and professionally. I will
implement a new policy to pay for higher education for staff. I will encourage management to
allow comp time for over time worked. So that overtime will be encouraged not discouraged. By
doing this, Family Specialist will love what they do and instead of a position that nobody wants it
will become a position that everybody wants and loves!
Mental Models Activity:
 To Do: Think of a current problem that you have
 This exercise will help right now. Then write a report about it. Know that
the report will be published to your co-workers,

you see your own CEO, the press, your manager. Your future
depends on this report.
 Make a list of all those that will be reading your
mental models clearly report and write what reactions they may have when
they read the report. Of the list pick 2 that are most

and will help you see 

important to you. Example, CEO and wife.
Now write an actual (truth) report to the to people
you selected. Include in your report: A curtain racer,
a different issue from 
a nut graf, and an ending.
You should now have 3 different reports. Think that

others perpective.
 Now take from your 3 draft reports and write a final
you are in a time capsule and just found these
reports many years later. Ask yourself several
questions: What did you feel about the report, what
were your impressions, what does the author care
about? Do you think the author was telling the truth?
report. The report should draw from all the reports.
What will need to be added or subtracted to your
final report. Share your report with one of the top
people you chose.
Mental Models Discipline:
 As stated in The Fifth Discipline Field
book, Mental Models are the images, the
assumptions, and the stories in which we
carry in our minds of ourselves and other
people, institutions and every aspect of
the world.
 Mental Models require Reflection and
Inquiry.
Mental Model: Reflection and
Inquiry
 Reflection: Slows down the thinking process to
become more aware of how we form our mental
models and inquiry.
 Inquiry: Holding conversations where we openly
share visions and develop knowledge about each
others assumptions.

Reflection
Reflection
Inquiry
Inquiry
Mental Models Discipline:
 As the leader of my organization I feel this discipline will be the most challenging but the most
important! I think that the biggest problem with the relationship with Family Specialist and our
management team is that they have underlying assumptions and ladders of reference that have
come from years of negative relationships and problems pertaining to Family Specialist positions.
It will be my job to teach them and successfully implement this model. I will need to teach them
to learn how to reflect, listen and be open to new ideas and concepts. I will need to steer them
away from the dictatorship type management they currently practice. I will need to work with
them individually on different mental model exercises to improve active listening skills. I feel that
this is the underlying problem we face within our organization. The relationship with the
management team and the Family Specialist is poor and this relationship if extremely evident. If
I can succeed in this discipline and break the ladder of reference with my manage towards
Family Specialist then half the battle will be won!
The Learning Team Discipline:
 Starts with Self Mastery and knowledge.
 This is NOT team building.
 Must involve looking outwards to develop knowledge.
 You must have mastered the art of forgiveness.
 You must get rid of your assumption and conclusions.
 You must not blame others.
 You must listen and learn.
 You must be willing to understand and be open to others point of view.
 You need to use a dialogue.
Team Learning Discipline:
Dialogue 4 phases
 A Dialogue is used to produce a shared
environment, and is intended for
exploration, discovery and insight. There
are 4 phases to a Dialogue.
 You can go from Dialogue to Skillful
Discussion. In Skillful Discussion the
team will come to a closure, a decision or
an agreement.
4 Phase’s of Dialogue:
 Phase 1: Come to the table as observers.
 Phase 2: Requires listening and inquiry.
 Phase 3: Conversation begins to go in a
new direction. In this phase you
should begin to see less of a
separation between management and
employees.
 Phase 4: The distinction between memory and
thinking become apparent.
Dialogue between Family
Specialist and Management
 I as the leader will encourage the management staff and Family Specialist to meet in
a mutual location. The dialogue will have at least 4 consecutive two hour sessions. I
will be the facilitator of the dialogue and it will be very important for me to remain as a
mutual party. The dialogue will not be used to encourage a conclusion or ending to a
problem the dialogue is merely a mechanism used to share insights and explore. As
the facilitator, after at least 4 successful dialogues if still necessary, I will move to the
Skillful Discussion, in which to come to a mutual understanding or conclusion. By
successfully completing this discipline relationships with Family Specialist and
management team will improved. Thus making Family Specialist feel like they are
appreciated and that their thoughts, feelings and opinions are understood. As the
facilitator of this dialogue I will have explained the ladder of reference to the
participants and management staff will hear and understand clearly what Family
Specialist are thinking without making assumptions. At the end of this dialogue I will
have broken down the obvious walls between management staff and Family
Specialist allowing for open and honest communication between the two groups.
Questions???
 Reference:

The Fifth Discipline Field book.

Strategies and Tools to Building
a Learning Organization.
Senge, Peter 1994