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Session Agenda with Embedded Notes

 

Leadership Learning Community (the session conveners) Overview

 

Who we are:

The Leadership Learning Community (LLC) is a national organization of people who run, fund, study and provide services to leadership development programs and are united in our belief that leadership can change our communities, organizations, and the world

 

What we aspire to accomplish:

Our aim is to strengthen our collective and program capacity to transform individuals and society by connecting the learning, practice and resources of those committed to leadership development.

 

"It has always been clear that there are no magic bullets for building learning organizations....  Yet much has been learned and continues to be learned about creating work environments that produce inspired results and generate fun while doing so."  --Peter Senge

 

For this session, we have provided resources, definitions, links etc. on this topic that will be accessible after the sesion (see the pages linked from the top of this page).  During this session we hope to lift up and make visible some of the knowledge that's in the room in the spirit of learning so that you all might also be resources to one another during and after the session.

 

Images Exercise

As you think about phrase “Learning Culture or Learning Organization, pick an image that resonates with you… Get into groups of 4 or 5 and share briefly why you picked the image you did.

 

What Themes or Questions emerged in your groups?

 

Themes that emerged in groups

• Being in a learning culture means stepping out of the day to day
• Having fresh eyes; new focus
• Metaphors: using pictures moved us to a new language
• Learning requires reframing
• Engages the power of small things coming together
• Sharing capabilities and knowledge
• The organic will take over the artificial

 

Everyone say name and organization

 

Continuum Exercise

• Talk about the ideal organizational enviroment.
• If this is a "10", pick number to represent where your specific organization or work context (not you as an individual but the organization) would fall on a continuum of 1 to 10?
• When you have your number, line up to form a human representation of our organizational continuum.

• Group into somewhat even groups
  • Instructions (Give yourselves a name, Discuss: groups whose members chose number of 5 or less on the continuum discuss the challenges of creating a learning culture; groups of people who chose numbers of 6 or higher, discuss  what it takes to build and/or support the learning culture.)

 

Group Names

• Start of the Line
• Flaming Hamsters
• Striving for Mediocrity (Wanna be 5's)
• Strive Beyond 5
• Cautiously Optimistic
• Learning Rocks!

 

The Challenges of Creating a Learning Culture

• Task orientations - playing catch-up
• Forced/pants-on-fire/aggressive-need type learning that's not fun
• Rapid growth & diversification and constant new processes
• Hierarchy where knowledge is power
• Learning stifled due to fear of failure - fear of risk-taking
• Fear of mistakes not yet made
• Generational gaps
• Empowering people to create their own learning

 

What is Takes to Support a Learning Culture (Advice from a different place on the continuum)

• Make innovation an expectation - reward, support and integrate into processes
• Leadership/management funds learning, makes it a priority and makes it accessible
• Learning culture must be at all levels - with respect, trust, communication and personalization
• People must lead by example - use of internal blogs; taks forces; converence attendance...with a diversification of learning methods
• Board makes staff development a priority (perhaps with a staff development committee
• Staff development is prized
• There is an open staff development policy
• When everyone is engaged in the process thru-out, it's easier to engage them in the meaning-making process/learning/evaluation
• Measuring the return on investment

 

A Big AHA

The shift in mindset we need to make is to ask: Where are we and what have we gained? Instead of: What have we lost?

 

Process the Exercise

 

What we’ve learned

•    Wiki (Learning Lab) + more input from “what it takes groups”?

•    Other resources on wiki

 

Q&A

 

Reflection

Think to yourself for 2 minutes about one or two things that you heard that you want to investigate more and maybe apply to your work. Share with person next to you

 

Bringing sense of closure to community learning experience

One Word Popcorn-style sharing.  Say name again and one word to represent what you are taking/how you are feeling as you leave.

 

"It has always been clear that there are no magic bullets for building learning organizations....  Yet much has been learned and continues to be learned about creating work environments that produce inspired results and generate fun while doing so."  --Peter Senge

 

 

 

 

 

 

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