Why Create a Learning Culture?

This is why Toyota wants a "Thinking" Organization, and uses the PDCA problem solving/ structured learning approach to grow everyone's skills.

• what they should be doing = twi,(job instruction) standard work
• how they can do it better = pdca
• how they will know they have achieved desired results = built in feedback (quality at the source)
• reflection = hansei
• knowledge-sharing = yokoten
• part of the way they function on a day to day basis = standard work, daily work

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Organizations are cutting resources and headcount. Why is it important for an organization to create a learning culture? "It is precisely because they are cutting resources and headcount that organizations, nonprofit and for-profit, must find ways to be more efficient and effective with what they have... To maximize productivity they need to be continuously learning. They must learn what they should be doing, how they can do it better, and how they will know when they have achieved the results they want...This means making information feedback, reflection, and knowledge-sharing part of the way they function on a day-to-day basis... Doing more of the same, even if slightly better, is not the answer."

Systems Thinking: Part/Whole Interactions

Some of the tasty "food for thought" nuggets in this Ackoff video segment:

• Focus on the whole
• Only improve a part if it improves the whole
• Fundamental lesson (to be learned) is to understand how the parts interact; not on how each part acts separately
• The place to attack a problem is not necessarily where the problem appears

In subsequent posts, I'll relate each of these to the property of "flow."

Here's a hint. Check out the 4th Principle of Improving the Flow of Knowledge Work. You can find it in other posts in this blog. By the way, the principle applies to all work and it helps explain why the Toyota Production System is so effective.

Systems Thinking: Why Analysis Can't Answer Critical Questions About Systems

Here, Dr. Ackoff:

• distinguishes between gaining knowledge vs. understanding
  
• compares and contrasts 3 steps of "synthetic thinking" with "analytical thinking" (analysis)
• states that an "essential property of a system is that it cannot be divided into independent parts"
  

A key takeaway is that a system is not (equal to) the sum of its parts, but a product of the interactions (of the parts).

I'll create a summary comparison table of the 3 steps.

Systems Thinking: Analysis, Explained By Russell Ackoff

How Can We Learn New Ways of Thinking?

"Explain it to my like I was a 6 year old, okay?" might work for Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks.

But not for Einstein who (according to Ackoff) in this video segment is quoted as saying, "You can't solve the problems created by our current pattern of thought by our current pattern of thought."

Ackoff goes on to describe how what we call the scientific method began during "The Renaissance" (which I've just confirmed) took place a long time ago. The idea being that our current pattern of thought has been around a really long time and is underpinned by "analytical thinking."

3 steps of analytical thinking:

1. take "it" apart
2. understand what the parts do
3. assemble the understanding of the parts into an understanding of the whole

Relying on these 3 steps (as many of us have learned to do) will not help us answer many of the important questions about systems. So it's time to learn to think differently.

Thank You Dallas! ASQ Section 1402

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you about improving the flow of knowledge work. As I mentioned, I gave this same talk a week earlier at the ASQ World Conference. I must admit that a 45 minute drive tops a 3 hr flight. If only it had been breakfast as I am a "morning person."

I appreciate the interest, comments, and questions very much. I'm happy to continue or expand the dialogue here. Or, feel free to email me, or phone me if that is more convenient.

Click on the title of the post above and then CLICK ON THE "DOWNLOAD PAPER" TAB to obtain the set of slides I used for the dinner presentation. If you weren't able to attend or have questions (they really aren't self-explanatory), I'm happy to help in any way I can.

There are other "flow-related" goodies on that page as well, such as a the paper that more fully discusses each of the 7 principles, example of waste in knowledge work