[Neurons] 2009 Meta Reflections #43

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Meta Reflections #43

Oct. 5, 2009

The Fifth Discipline and Self-Actualization #4

 

 

 

LEARNING-

A KEY SELF-ACTUALIZATION FACTOR

 

 

 

In 1990, when Peter Senge wrote The Fifth Discipline he was looking to
identify a frame or key factor for effective and successful organizations.
He came up with five- which he then categorized as the five disciplines:
systemic thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, and team
learning.  Like many before and after him, he knew that organizations had to
change from the command-and-control model of authoritarian leadership, from
the rigid, hierarchical, and controlling models of the past.  And his
solution was to create the learning organization.  For him this meant an
organization with people growing, thinking systemically, able to change
their mental models, and even learn together through dialogue.

 

So in The Fifth Discipline when you read the term "learning" as in "learning
organization" and "team learning," this was his solution for the "learning
disabilities" of organizations.  He wrote, "Learning disabilities are tragic
in children, but they are fatal in organizations."  And he commented that
these learning disabilities (what we call cognitive distortions) are
crippling in companies.  Senge's proof was that one-third of firms in the
Fortune 500 group in 1970 were gone by 1983.

 

More recently in the world-wide recession that emerged from the housing and
banking problems in 2008, we have seen a great many organizations collapse.
We have seen major corporations fold; we have seen executives handcuffed and
led off to jail.  We have seen millions lose their jobs.  We have seen
millions of investors losing fortunes.  Something has gone wrong.  But what?
And what can we do about it?

 

In Senge's perspective the problem lies in how the people in the
organizations are unable to learn, to learn together, to change their
frames, to call forth the best in people, and to live at a higher level.  He
framed all of this as entirely a learning problem.  For him, the "learning
dilemma" (p. 23) in organizations is due because the "learning horizon" is
so short; leaders don't think long-term to the consequences of their
actions.  They have too short and small of a horizon for their thinking.
This is especially true of top executives who move on to another firm before
the consequences of their actions reach fruition.

 

As I have noted in the previous Meta Reflections, in my re-reading of The
Fifth Discipline, Senge was talking about self-actualization and in focusing
on systemic learning he identified one key facet of a self-actualizing
leader and company.  So as he argued that the competitive advantage in these
times of accelerating change is learning faster than one's competitors,
since passionate learning is a facet of self-actualization, self-actualizing
leaders, peoples, and companies is the competitive advantage today. 

 

Senge connects learning to personal mastery.  It takes "personal
mastery"-"the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our
personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of
seeing reality objectively" (p. 5) to develop the learning power to keep
discovering things and translating those things to reality.  It takes this
self-actualizing development of clarifying the things that really matter to
us.  Here's a comment from Senge that indicates that when he speaks about
"learning" he is speaking about self-actualization:

"Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human.  Through
learning we re-create ourselves.  Through learning we become able to do
something we never were able to do.  Through learning we re-perceive the
world and our relationship to it.  Through learning we extend our capacity
to create, to be part of the generative process of life. ... this is the
basic meaning of a 'learning organization'-an organization that is
continually expanding its capacity to create its future." (p. 14)

 

Recently I became highly conscious of the problem with the word "learning."
It happened while I was attempting to explain the power and magic of
"learning" to a group of leaders.  I could sense the lack of enthusiasm for
"learning."  "Learning, yes, we need to learn.  Yawn.  Yawn."

 

Later as I reflected on the experience, it dawned on me that the problem is
that the word "learning" has suffered from the inflation of being over-used.
The word has lost its power, its impact, and its ummph!   In contrast, when
I present the Matrix-embedded-pyramid model that updates Maslow's work with
the NLP-Neuro-Semantic Matrix within the pyramid of needs, people catch a
vision of the absolute uniqueness of learning.  Seeing that we are
instinct-less and not-knowing how to be, how to cope, how to develop ... the
human instinct of learning, to wit, to construct meaning, to wit, to figure
out things via meaning-making- suddenly people discover just how powerful
and magical "learning" actually is.  And they become excited.

 

Animals just know; humans learn.  Animals have the knowledge inside
(in-stinct); humans get the information from without.  Animals have very
limited ability to add to their knowledge base; humans have unlimited
learning capacity.  The gap of not-knowing which our lack of instincts
creates simultaneously opens up a space for learning- for the creativity of
defining what something is, figuring out how it works, deciding on its value
to us, constructing theories of understanding, inventing new levels of
knowledge, entering the semantic and symbolic world, and experiencing all of
the uniquely human constructs of culture and civilization.

 

In Neuro-Semantics we think about "learning" in terms of creativity-
creating and inventing all of the levels of meaning that are available to
human beings.  We call this domain The Construct and The Matrix and it is
there that we live and from which we operate.  It is there that our
learnings construct our sense of reality as we map-out our understandings.
And in this way we can create life as a heaven or hell.  And it is this
Constructed Matrix that can even change how we experience our fundamental
physiological needs and drives.  That's why it is a Matrix-embedded-pyramid
of needs.  So when you read Senge, you can now read his words about
"learning" as indicating one of the key facets of the self-actualizing life
and see how The Fifth Discipline has a lot to say about self-actualizing
organizations.

 

Interested in Self-Actualizing Leaders and Companies - then meet me at one
of our "Unleashing Leadership" trainings!

 

 

 

Unleashing Leadership Workshop

 

Oct. 17-19, Pretoria South Africa 

            Sponsored by People South Africa --- Cheryl Lucas and Carey
Jooste

            cheryl at peoplesa.co.za      

 

Dec. 11-13, Imola, Italy

            Sponsored by Bless You --- Nicola Rivera and Lucia Giovannini

            Nicola at blessyou.it 

            Special gathering on Dec. 14 for Meta-Coaches and NS trainers at
the home of Nicola and Lucia.

 

 

 

 

 

 




 

 

 

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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Hall are sent out every Monday and meta-Coach Reflections sent out every
Wednesdday to the Meta-Coaches egroup.

 

 

 

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