[Neurons] 2009 Meta Reflections #39

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Meta Reflections #39

Sept. 14, 2009


The Fifth Discipline and Self-Actualization #1

 

 

 

THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION PSYCHOLOGY

 

 

                                                                        

In 1990 Peter Senge published a book that has become a classic, a book that
most people in leadership and management roles in business, most who consult
or coach within organizations, and those who seek to stay on the cutting
edge of business have read.  I'm speaking, of course, about the book The
Fifth Discipline.  The theme and central focus of this book is on learning
to think and work systemically.

 

Senge was convinced that the key to business success rested in five
disciplines, which when synergized by leaders and managers, will launch an
organization or business into a creative mode and take it to a whole new
level of effectiveness.  Like the five critical component technologies that
came together in 1935 for the McDonnell Douglas DC-3 and which ushered in
the era of commercial air travel- Senge argued that the five components he
discovered would create great companies.

 

What are those five components?  Systems thinking, personal mastery, mental
models, building shared vision, and team learning.  Together "each provides
a vital dimension in building organizations that can truly 'learn,' that can
continually enhance their capacity to realize their highest aspirations" (p.
6).  Then unlike most contemporary organizations that are reactive,
companies can become responsive or even generative.

 

Now my first reading of The Fifth Discipline was in early 1993, and while I
reread it again in 1999 for the "Business Genius" trainings, when I began my
research on Self-Actualization Companies, I didn't even think about Senge's
book.  Then recently something reminded me of the book.  So I re-read it
again- but this time with the eyes and mind of self-actualization
psychology.  And in doing so I have discovered several fascinating things.

 

Senge focuses on enabling companies to become "learning organizations."  He
writes about organizations going beyond the old traditional hierarchical
structures to an enlivening vision, people collaborating and experiencing
team learning, a whole new level of openness, and leadership that evolves
beyond being politically power oriented.  Now does that sound like
self-actualization or the self-actualizing leaders and companies that I
describe in Unleashing Leadership?  That's what I also thought!   The Fifth
Discipline is about self-actualization in organizations.

 

Yet because Senge did not use the term self-actualization or frame things in
terms of moving beyond Theory X to Theory Y of management, I did not make
the connection.  In spite of not using the language, throughout the work the
vision and premises of self-actualization psychology informs his argument
for the emergence of a whole new kind of organization- self-actualizing
organizations. 

 

In fact, for Senge "systems thinking" and "personal mastery" are two of his
expressions for self-actualization.  What I suddenly now realize in
re-reading The Fifth Discipline is that "personal mastery" in this model is
what we call "self-actualization" in Maslow's model!  Here's my evidence.

 

Senge described "personal mastery" as a high level of proficiency in an area
that deeply matters to you.  And to develop that level of mastery, you need
to do two things: 1) Clarify what's truly important to you and 2) See
current reality more clearly. (p. 141).  Senge says that personal mastery
goes beyond competence.  

"It goes beyond spiritual unfolding or opening, although it requires
spiritual growth.  It means approaching one's life as a creative work,
living life from a creative as opposed to reactive viewpoint." (p. 141)

 

In an amazing paragraph where he described people of personal mastery,
Senge's description sounds very, very similar to how Maslow described
self-actualizing people.

"People with a high level of personal mastery share several basic
characteristics.  They have a special sense of purpose that lies behind
their visions and goals.  For such a person, a vision is a calling rather
than simply a good idea.  They see 'current reality' as an ally, not an
enemy.  They have learned how to perceive and work with forces of change
rather than resist those forces.  They are deeply inquisitive, committed to
continuing seeing reality more and more accurately.  They feel connected to
others and to life itself.  Yet they sacrifice none of their uniqueness.
They feel as if they are part of a larger creative process, which they can
influence but cannot unilaterally control.

 

"People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning
mode.  They never 'arrive.' ... Personal mastery is not something you
possess.  It is a process.  It is a lifelong discipline.  People with a high
level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their
incompetence, their growth areas." (p. 142)

 

"People with high levels of personal mastery are more committed.  They take
more initiative.  They have a broader and deeper sense of responsibility in
their work.  They learn faster.  For all these reasons, a great many
organizations espouse a commitment to fostering personal growth among their
employees because they believe it will make the organization stronger." (p.
143)

 

And systems thinking?  Senge describes this as "contemplating the whole as a
pattern," being able to see the unity of snapshots of isolated parts and how
they work together.  He describes the building blocks of systems thinking as
feedback loops and delays in the system and from there the recognition of
patterns that arise that indicate specific kinds of systems (archetypes). 

 

When we apply systems thinking to human beings, we recognize that our
experiences are made up of multiple systems-our mind-body system, our
meaning-making system, our neuro-semantic system.  And within these systems
are reinforcing processes, limiting processes, balancing (stabilizing)
processes.  And as in a business or political system, we also experience
problems at various levels.  Some of our problems are mere symptoms of the
system rather than the fundamental causes.  That's why the symptoms keep
resurfacing over time.  That's why "solutions" which work at one level or
for the short-term, never actually takes care of the real problem.

 

So what do we discover when we "contemplate the whole" and look for patterns
in human beings?  We discover that there is within us an inner drive to
self-actualize and that this is itself our most fundamental inner dynamic
system.  This is our primary system for growing, developing, and actualizing
our highest meanings and performances.  And Self-Actualization Psychology is
the psychology that describes this whole.




 

 

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L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

International Society of Neuro-Semantics

Meta-Coach Training System

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO.  81520 USA

1 970-523-7877

1 970-523-5790 fax

      <http://www.neurosemantics.com/> www.neurosemantics.com 

       <http://www.neuro-semantics-trainings.com/>
www.neuro-semantics-trainings.com 

       <http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org

       <http://www.meta-coaching.org/> www.meta-coaching.org

       <http://www.ns-video.com/> www.ns-video.com 

 

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you can  subscribe and unsubscribe there.   Meta Reflection articles by Dr.
Hall are sent out every Monday and meta-Coach Reflections sent out every
Wednesdday to the Meta-Coaches egroup.

 

 

 

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