‘To keep up with developments in their field, people must become lifelong learners, and success will belong to those who can master new skills and envision novel possibilities. Employees must absorb, and sometimes create, new knowledge while executing. Because this process typically happens among individuals working together, collective learning—that is, learning in and by smaller groups—is regarded as the primary vehicle for organizational learning.’ Amy Edmondson
Organising to execute, she says, is about a focus on ensuring control, efficiency, managing repeatable tasks, minimising variance and rewarding conformity. Qualities that work well in stable environments with well understood contexts that change slowly but ones that work less well in rapidly changing circumstances characterised by greater uncertainty. Qualities that can bring operational cost savings and improved productivity and process efficiency but which can also act as a brake on cross-discipline collaboration and learning, and even be characterised by a fundamental distrust of the worker. Qualities that can lead to failure in complex adaptive environments.
The point is that lifelong learning is something that we should pursue not only as individuals, but is also something which is critical at a team and an organisational level. We hear a lot these days about ‘failing fast’, ‘fail happy’, ’embracing failure’. This is not that helpful. Failure in isolation is a redundant standard. Far better to talk about learning, and how we can support continuous improvement from understanding, reflecting on and responding to both successes and failures. As Amy says:
‘When facing an uncertain path forward, trying something that fails, then figuring out what works instead, is the very essence of good performance. Great performance, however, is trying something that fails, figuring out what works instead, and telling your colleagues all about it—about both the success and the failure.’
Amen to that.
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