Accelerating Strategy Execution: Speed Is Learning and Learning Is an Unnatural Act!
Posted by: Henry Frechette in organizational learning, organisational learning, strategic focus, strategy execution, Speed of execution
I am still thinking about speed. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that:
1. Speed is learning and
2. Learning is an unnatural act. It is not going to just happen because we want it to.
To the first point, speed is learning: To accelerate the rate of execution of any initiative, the teams and individuals involved must learn from each initiative and be able to apply that learning to the next initiative. If they do that, then not only will they be able to execute faster, but each initiative will be more successful. So, if this is true, how do organizations ensure that this is happening?
We must rethink the outcomes of execution. Execution in this day and age is not about efficiency; it is not about leaders providing the answers and employees following their directions. It is about learning: about leaders providing the direction and teams discovering the answers and best ways of getting the work done. (Edmonson, A., The Competitive Imperative of Learning, HBR, July-August, 2008.)
To the second point: The work of Garvin et al. reinforces the idea that learning is an unnatural act (Garvin, D A., Edmondson, A. C., and Gino, F. Is Yours a Learning Organization? HBR, March 2008, p 109.) Learning takes place mostly at the team level and there are three building blocks required for it to happen:
- A supportive learning environment characterized by psychological safety, openness, appreciation of difference, and time for reflection (go slow to go fast).
- Concrete learning processes and practices that encourage experimentation, information collection, and analysis. Like any process these can be developed and managed.
- Leadership that reinforces learning: “When leaders actively question and listen to employees—and thereby prompt dialogue and debate—people in the institution feel encouraged to learn” (p 113).
Is your organization learning? How do you know?
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September 5th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Hello Henry,
I recently read your post about speed. You mention these two points:
1. Speed is learning and
2. Learning is an unnatural act. It is not going to just happen because we want it to.
Regarding #1 I’m not sure I totally get it. Wouldn’t speed be an outcome of learning or a mechanism used during learning, separate and distinct from the learning itself?
If #2 is true, then how would we talk about/differentiate between learning and memory?
Would we say memory and the neurological and psychological processes associated with it allow us to remember and retrieve information in the service of learning?
I’m interested to hear your point of view.
Thank you,
Nanette
September 9th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Nanette, thank you for your comments and questions. Here is what I was thinking about when I wrote that speed is learning and learning is probably speed. If an organization is going to accelerate its rate of execution the people, teams and individuals, must increase the capabilities as they are exectuing their initiatives. To get faster, at the end of any project people should have new skills, competencies, capabilities that they did not have before and that they can apply to tne next execution in a way that adds value. It is circular, perhaps a reinforcing loop. If this learning does not take place than at some point the team or individual hits the llimits of that system or that capability and the ability to accelerate declines or even collapses.
I argue that it is an unnatural act in work settings because in my observations and in the literature learning does not happen automatically. It certainly may happen by chance, but that is not sufficient in today’s quickly changing business conditions. Instaed learning can be thought of as a process like any other process withini an organization. It can be managed, it can be improved. There are condition in the organization that enable learnng to occur and conditions that will inhibit it. The point is that if teams and and individuals are going to learn, the organization needs to be intentional about it. The it being the conditions and opportunities for learnig to occur, and the conditions and opportunities to apply that learning. As a specific example, Amy Edmondson (HBR, March 2008; Is Yours a Learning Organization.) speaks of three building blocks for a learning organization: 1. A supportive learning environment, 2. concrete learning processess and practices, and 3. leadership that reinforces learning.
So I am not thinking about learning here at the biological or psychological level, but at the applied level as it relates to organizational performance. However to yor point, I do not think learning takes place unless it becomes part of memory. At the saem time from an applied point of view knowing something may not be sufficeint, one also needs to be able to do something with it.
Thoughts?