Learning Together with Other People
The interpersonal focus resides at the heart of Peter Vaill’s reflections on learning within a whitewater world. For Vaill ((1996, p. 188), it is critical in a whitewater world to not only be clear about one’s mission and purpose, but also to be inclusive of other people: “the ability to keep members of the organization in touch with each other, to help people feel needed and significant, to combat people’s feeling of being cut off and isolated and the resentment that white water often causes. “ To once again quote R. W. Revans: “, “real people learn with and from other real people by working together in real time on real problems.” Ceremonial learning is effective because it occurs in a collective setting. ‘Just-in-time” learning is sustained and reinforced when multiple people are learning at the same time—usually in response to a shared challenge.
Collective Learning: Valid and useful learning requires a process of collective learning. We learn together, while navigating the whitewater environment in which mid-21st Century organizations operate. Ambiguity can be observed and personally experienced by all members of the organization. There are the distinctive (often cutting edge) lessons learned and insights offered by a variety of individuals, teams and task forces in the organization. In virtually all of these cases, the learning takes place at a second level—unlike what occurs in Models I, II and III. This second level is what Chris Argyris and Don Schön (Argyris and Schön, 1978) have called double-loop learning. Chris Argyris (2001) offers an important distinction between single loop and double loop learning:
“. . . learning occurs in two forms: single-loop and double-loop. Single-loop learning asks a one-dimensional question to elicit a one-dimensional answer. My favorite example is a thermostat, which measures ambient temperature against a standard setting and turns the heat source on or off accordingly. The whole transaction is binary.
Double-loop learning takes an additional step or, more often than not, several additional steps. It turns the question back on the questioner. It asks what the media call follow-ups. In the case of the thermostat, for instance, double-loop learning would wonder whether the current setting was actually the most effective temperature at which to keep the room and, if so, whether the present heat source was the most effective means of achieving it. A double-loop process might also ask why the current setting was chosen in the first place. In other words, double-loop learning asks questions not only about objective facts but also about the reasons and motives behind those facts.”
The challenge is that the users of information typically want the message they receive to be single loop in nature. They are usually allowed to engage this preference when working and learning in isolation. Unfortunately, a large portion of truly valid and useful information requires that the recipient(s) of this information do something different (double loop) rather than more of the same (single loop). As Argyris and Schön (1974, 1978) have repeatedly shown, this type of learning is difficult to achieve and is often associated with equally-as-challenging double loop change. This level of learning and change often requires broad-based support from and collaboration with other people working in the organization.
This collective support and the shared learning are based on a dynamic associated with organization character and culture. A Learning Organization must be created and sustained. As the name implies, in this organization an emphasis is placed on collective learning. Mistakes will inevitably occur in a VUCA-Plus world. We can’t avoid making mistakes. The key goal in a learning organization is to not make the same mistake a second time. We might not be able to live without mistakes—especially if our organization is seeking to be agile and creative. However, we can learn from our mistakes. If we don’t then a “stupid” organization has been created. Mistakes are repeated. Nothing is learned from history.
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