The Hard Work of Building a Learning Organization
If we recognize the need to create a culture which is ready to accept change as a constant then we need to be prepared to undertake the hard work of building a learning organization. Just as effective execution is a baseline for IT to engage and become intimate with the business, the ability of an IT organization to adapt and learn is a baseline for this ability to execute.
To build a learning organization you must develop specific personal and organizational capabilities. Once these capabilities are present, you can then consider how to adopt and apply models of organizational change management to your organization. It is possible to develop these capabilities as you plan for your IT Transformation initiative, but it is critical that your organization be prepared before attempting to execute such a large scale change.
Have You Ever Been a Part of a Learning Organization?
You have probably been a member of a “learning organization” – though it may not have been at work. Have you ever been a part of a team, maybe even a team of one, that has been responsible for putting on an event on a periodic basis? It may be setting up and preparing a fundraising dinner or BBQ or setting up a booth at the local art festival, or grilling steaks for friends.
How did it go the first time?
You may have spent time planning and preparing and even formed a written plan. I am willing to bet that no matter how much advance planning you and your team put into the event, when it came time to execute there was some stress. There were little things that were unanticipated that cost time, or that you realized lessened the effectiveness of the result. These little things may have added up and the time pressure grew, and there may even have developed a feeling of chaos.
Or, perhaps there was no time pressure, but you learned from the experience and added those little things the next time to improve the result. Some of these things may have been written down, while some may have been mentally recorded as tacit knowledge.
Learning Like a Parrot-Head
Every year a group of friends and family goes to the local Jimmy Buffett concert. For those of you who are not ‘Parrot Heads’, the tailgate at a Buffett show is as large an event as the show itself.
I don’t remember how we got the tickets the first year. We did plan the tailgate though, deciding on how much beer and soda to bring, what type of food and how we would cook it. Responsibilities were assigned. Everything went alright, but it could have been smoother.
We had beer, imported beer with no church-key. This was not a big problem, as EVERYONE around us had a bottle-opener; but it was a bit embarrassing. We roasted in the sun on the hot pavement of the parking lot and envied those around us who had brought canopies.
Each year, however, small improvements have been made to the entire process.
Now, “Buffett Ticket Day” is an event in itself! My nephew’s house is Central Command, a bank of laptops and cell-phones is setup to increase the odds of breaking into the various ticket outlet queues as quickly as possible. My sister figured out that you could purchase tickets for the Massachusetts show from a TicketMaster in South Dakota; a TicketMaster that was not usually flooded with calls.
Having procured the tickets, the tailgate itself is now set up with maximum efficiency. Everyone has their jobs and executes to the shared vision of establishing a comfortable, decorative camp. We have replaced the cumbersome canopy with one that sets up with the push of two buttons in less than three minutes. The canopy goes up, the chairs and tables come out while the grill-master gets the cooking fire lit.
It is no exaggeration to say that this year the camp was set up and our party of 16 were eating their first hot dogs within 10 minutes of arriving at our parking spot.
Nonetheless, there are always unanticipated events that test your processes and organizational adaptability. This year there were unprecedented winds that threatened to carry everyone’s canopies away. Our first response was to tie the canopy legs to coolers. While this was adequate, later benchmarking on a walk around the parking lot allowed us to learn that using a heavy hydraulic jack was a better (and retrospectively more obvious) option.
A Clear Vision Is Necessary to Create a Learning Organization
Even if you have never heard of Jimmy Buffett, I am willing to bet that you have experienced a similar example of organizational and process improvement, and thus have been part of a learning organization.
Too often however, we don’t experience this continual improvement in our work organizations. In preparing for the Buffett tailgate there are several processes involved and there are different individuals who are accountable for those processes. However, in this simple example, everyone is always crystal clear on the overall vision, and how their efforts contribute to the success of the goal.
This isn’t always true in larger organizations. The shared vision, the goal of the organization, may not be clearly defined. Absent this clear goal, it becomes unclear how one’s efforts contribute to the success of the larger organization. So focus becomes centered on more local goals. People concentrate on managing and improving local, siloed processes and functions with only a vague understanding of how they contribute to the overall success of the organization.
One of our neighborhood stories is of one potluck where the menu was carefully crafted and appropriate dishes were assigned to make a complete meal. At the dinner one dear, but slightly disorganized, friend who had been responsible for dessert brought a potato salad instead. When asked why, she responded that ‘this was easier.’ She had optimized her process, and the potato salad was very good; but the meal was less than complete because she did not fully participate in the shared vision. We had two versions of potato salad and a host rummaging in his freezer for ice cream.
Capabilities to Create a Learning Organization
So, what are those organizational capabilities that one must develop to create a flexible learning organization? They begin with personal mastery and accountability. You must have committed staff who are willing to be held accountable for their responsibilities and contributions to the organization. They need to bring dessert if that is what is needed, and understand that folks don’t want two very good versions of potato salad.
The next step is to develop the habit of process thinking. The process approach allows for clear goals to be defined for each work-stream or effort. Results can then be measured. This provides a baseline for improvement. It is hard to improve things when the goals are not understood and therefore performance cannot be accurately evaluated.
With these capabilities in place you are ready to develop a shared vision and identify the overall goals of your organization. This is what IT Transformation is all about; using a predefined framework centered on goal definition and interrelated processes to define the shared vision of the organization and help develop a foundation for execution.
When you have committed and accountable staff who clearly understand the goals of the organization and how their coordinated efforts contribute to success, you will be well on the way to achieving a learning organization that is ready to adapt and consistently improve.
About the Author
William Cunningham, PMP is a Certified ITIL Practitioner. An independent consultant, he was most recently the Program Manager and Lead Process Architect for Yale University’s IT Service Management initiative. He is a member of the Southern New England Chapter of the Project Management Institute and President of the itSMF Higher Education SIG. Bill is a frequent presenter on managing organizational change, Process and Project management and IT Service Management.
