Two Common Obstructions to Building a Learning Organization – Part 1

In my last post, I introduced (or perhaps re-introduced) you to the concept of a “learning organization.” In today’s post, I want to introduce two broad types of obstructions or impediments you may discover along the way if you want to transform your organization into a learning organization – current management practices and norms, and the existence of specific types of cultural patterns that one might consider forms of “learning disabilities (a term used by Peter Singe in The Fifth Discipline if you are familiar with his work).” Current management practices and norms that work to impede or even subvert learning and existing cultural patterns and ways of thinking that disable learning are very different types of obstructions, but both types of obstructions to learning are just as potent in their power of derailing your efforts.

“Current management practices and norms that work to impede or even subvert learning and existing cultural patterns and ways of thinking that disable learning are very different types of obstructions, but both types of obstructions to learning are just as potent in their power of derailing your efforts.”

In this particular post, I want to focus on the first type of obstruction – current management practices and norms. Keep in mind that historical management training, prevailing schools of thought, and a great deal of mentoring and coaching has led to some of these particular impediments and that in today’s business world, with so much pressure being on the “here and now”, the challenge is great to both recognize these and to overcome these. With that said, here are the most significant impediments that I have compiled in combining my own experiences along with published works from authors that have spent years studying management and organizational development (W. E. Deming, Peter Singe, etal.)

1. Management by Control
I have encountered, and I am sure you have as well, many managers who believe that the power of management lies in controlling everything. This type of manager controls and protects information as if being the only source of that information gives power and security. This manager controls decisions (they want the last say in all decisions) raise levels of frustration among the ranks seeking to contribute. Some of these managers have good intentions in following the “plan well, and implement well and control” mantra, but this rigid “controlling” nature leaves little room for independent contributions, innovations, and learning.

2. Management by Directives or “Agreement (sure)”
Some work in groups where the manager simply tells everyone what to do (directs them), expects their agreement, and expects their compliance. They manage through a fear and also through belittlement of those that do not “see things the right way” and agree. Do these managers want diversity in ideas or the way people approach solving problems. No, these managers want uniformity, agreement, and compliance. These managers get a superficial “yes” and “sure” to their ideas, but rarely, if ever, gain loyalty, a sharing of any kind of vision, and the manager certainly learns little from anyone and inhibits others from learning.

3. Management by Targets and Outcomes (Short or Long-term)
This doesn’t sound bad does it. In fact, some of you are probably already reacting internally with “wait, this is the right way to manage.” Yes, management by outcome is fairly popular and certainly many managers need to agree on targets for some workers in roles such as sales, or perhaps application development; however, it is always the “how” and “why” that must be answered to get the full picture. If managing by targets means a manager is always focused on the “short-term” items, that manage may be at the same time ignoring key intangible parts of the work going on and certainly not seeing longer term consequences that may result from short term actions. Another more serious problem arises in this management norm if a manager, or management as a whole, is setting “targets” and “outcomes” that are either not achievable within current environment, systems, and processes, setting those targets or outcomes without any input from those working to achieve them, or both.

4. Management by Creating “Excessive” Competition
Competition has its place and purpose, but an environment that feeds excessive competition easily leads to an environment filled with distrust and paranoia. Managers who promote competitiveness to allow the “survival of the fittest” may be missing huge learning opportunities for themselves and those they manager while losing potential big contributors due to a lack of patience, compassion, encouragement, and coaching.

5. Management by The Right Answer
You either know the right answer or you don’t, right? Managers who are managing some types of environments seem to want people to know the right answer — and don’t leave a lot of room for learning new answers, alternative methods of finding answers, or even new questions at times.

6. Management into Isolation
Some managers isolate their own group from other groups or perhaps even manage in a way that isolates teams within their own group from each other or from seeing the big picture or the larger system. This may take the form of a rigid “chain of command” where communication can only happen up and down a specific chain of people. This might be simply a lack of encouraging groups to interact. This may be a reflection of the manager’s own behavior. Whatever the cause, isolation leads to being cut off from other ideas and the opportunity to learn together. One strong enabler of the learning organization (that I will discuss later in this series) is a view of the larger system or the “big picture” and when a manager fails to keep a group informed with all the relevant information about the outside environment or the overall organization’s systems, this definitely impedes the ability for that group to learn together.

Summary
These are the six broad management practices that would impede or obstruct an effort to transform your organization into a learning organization and even without a specific transformation effort these practices just get in the way of any real innovation from the ground up. In my next, post, I will cover the second major type of impediment – some common cultural and/or behavioral patterns that you can call “learning disabilities.”