Our Learning Organization
“A learning organization is an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future.” (Senge, 1990)
A commercial from the 2012 winter Olympics, well worth a watch (see this link), reminds us that it takes many falls and failures before Olympic success. Of course, we all know this. Whether we are a parent watching our 6-yr-old child at batting practice, a teacher listening to a kindergartner stumbling over a word, a 9th grader learning to golf, or a newlywed trying to recreate grandma’s meatballs, we know that learning from experiences, especially from those experiences that weren’t successes, is extremely beneficial.
We don’t always think about how this principle applies to organizations. Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline continues to be the most cited text about learning organizations. Since that publication, numerous articles proclaim the benefits of taking a learning stance. An article in Harvard Business Review (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, March 2008) cites examples of this approach from business, hospitals, and military organizations. At the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, a policy of “blameless reporting” resulted in “everyone working together to understand safety, identify risks, and report them with out fear of blame. … Over time, these learning activities yielded measurable reductions in preventable deaths and illnesses at the institution.” The authors also cite the U.S. Army’s After Action Review (AAR) process, “which involves a systematic debriefing after every mission, project, or critical activity. This process is framed by four simple questions: What did we set out to do? What actually happened? Why did it happen? What do we do next time? …Then the results are codified by the Center for Army Lessons Learned, or CALL. Such dissemination and codification of learning is vital for any organization.”
In Leicester, where I previously served as superintendent, an incident involving food borne illness (see goo.gl/n70e9h) provided an opportunity for that school community to apply their learning to reduce the risk of future issues. In short, nearly the entire football team, along with some adults, became sick during the school day, resulting from improperly handled food (#shepardspie) eaten during a team dinner the previous night. Following the quick identification of the source of the illness and the isolation and care of sick students, we set out to ensure that such a incident would not be repeated in Leicester. We knew that knee-jerk reactions, such as eliminating all potluck dinners or locking down dining commons after hours, would do little to help us to become an organization that serves the community well. Instead, we met with representatives from the board of health to review and revise protocols relating to food borne illnesses, loss of power (that may result in food spoilage), and other matters of mutual concern. What was learned was shared with the district safety committee to ensure that the protocols in all district schools were updated. The findings had professional development implications (Who might be invited to training on FOODSAFE when we provide this training to our food service employees?), curriculum implications (Do we include food safety in our health curriculum?), and communication implications (Should we distribute information about safe pot luck dinners?). National data suggests that one in every 6 Americans experiences food borne illness each year but we knew that we’d be able to reduce this statistic in our own town if we were, indeed, a learning organization.
This year, we have been thrown into uncharted territories with neither a map nor a captain who has previous experience on this journey. COVID-19 has and continues to have implications for our district’s finances, teaching and learning, and on the health and safety of our students and staff. Our approach is to take on a learning stance.
We had already forayed into technology-assisted instruction with the use of Google classroom, flipped classrooms, and online programs. We have applied the principle of organizational learning to this work, with structures in place, such as common planning time, to allow teachers to work together to share experiences with the use of technology or new instructional approaches. After experimenting with these new approaches, teachers are able to decide upon minor revisions for improvement. Their previous learning was applied to our design of Smithfield’s virtual learning plan. The plan was not devised by any one person but was, instead, expertly facilitated by our assistant superintendent, Sara Monaco, who worked closely with our district and school administrators. Principals, in turn, worked with teachers and paraprofessionals to further develop the plan to meet their individual school’s needs. We can’t stop there; like the U.S. Army’s After Action Review (AAR) process, we need to ask ourselves at regular intervals, What did we set out to do? What actually happened? Why did it happen? What do we do next time? Through such a process, our plan will continually improve.
The entire experience itself, from the development of a virtual learning plan and a continuity of operations plan to our cleaning protocols, the review of service contracts and employee assignments, and the work with our town partners for monitoring and decision-making relating to the impact of COVID-19 on Smithfield, will not be devoid of mistakes. Instead, we, as a learning organization, will take what is not perfect and learn from it. Our response to this crisis will continue to improve and any ad hoc plans developed at this time will be codified and included in our District Emergency Operations Plan so that, if this were to reoccur, we will be starting with both a plan and experience.
When things don’t go exactly as planned during this current crisis, please help us improve by providing specific, constructive feedback. Help us to be a learning organization. “continually expanding [our[ capacity to create [our] future.” (Senge, 1990)
Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday/Currency.
Garvin, D., Edmondson, A., & Gino, F. “Is yours a learning organization?” First published in the Harvard Business Review (March 2008). Available: https://hbr.org/2008/03/is-yours-a-learning-organization
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