February 12 - Fables
Outlearning the Wolves: Surviving and Thriving in a Learning Organization
I think the fable provides a unique way for us to look at change, learning, and its role in any organization. It is much more powerful to use a story to illustrate an idea than to try to just "tell" or "dictate." The story brought to life the challenges of change. Often, middle management is quite resistant to marjor change ideas. I wonder why this is so? Perhaps because they often are in the role of being accountable meaning that it's their neck on the chopping block of things don't succeed or produce. Storytelling is an excellent vehicle for changing or reinforcing an organization's culture. As such, it relevant to those of us who are cultivating CoPs for our ARs.
Curly was an example of middle management--willing to go along with an idea, but not really wanting anything to change. This is true in the Community of Practice that I am trying to cultivate in my AR. Several of the participants are willing to go along with new ideas, but don't really want fundamental change. Each member of the CoP plays a role, but the CoP itself is an entity that grows, evolves, and changes. This means that each member is a vital component and the interaction among the members helps the CoP "live." It is through the interactions that we learn. Through the process of sharing ideas and knowledge, the sheep learned to deal with the wolves in an effective way. While it may appear that one or two of the sheep didn't play much of a role in the process, we learn at the end that each was vital--Jerome was vital to building the dam.
My mentoring project ties nicely to this fable. It is my role to facilitate discussion such as seen in this fable that assists the participant in engaging in problem-solving. Otto may have started the "ball rolling," but it was the sheep themselves that "danced" with each other to learn and grow in ways that allowed them to overcome their shortcomings and deal with the wolves. It would have been easy for Otto to just provide a solution to the problem, but that would not have contributed to learning of the sheep. The sheep learned that they could "learn." This was important as you never want success to be based on just one person. The sheep had two options: Find a way to be safe from the wolves or Prevent the wolves from being a threat to them. The first option is reactive and many times this is the path that many take in the name of solving a problem. However, the second option is proactive and removes the wolves as a threat--problem solved.
I also thought it was interesting to watch Marietta in her role. While Marietta did not have a specific answer for the sheep, she continuing asked probing questions to help the sheep think about the problem itself. This is something that I will need to become adept at, as it is important to draw all members into the thinking realm.