Everybody’s reaction to Wikipedia has gotten warmer over time, as Wikipedia’s earned credibility Options

[thekohser]

Sue Gardner is kicking her fanaticism into high gear.

[Moulton]

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August 7, 2010 at 3:40 AM

One of the core tools for the success of an enterprise is the faculty for sober self-evaluation.

Peter Senge, more than anyone, has written brilliantly on how to build a successful “Learning Organization” that continually strives for “Ethical Best Practices” that are the hallmark of successful organizations.

See Peter Senge’s seminal book, “The Fifth Discipline: The Theory and Practice of Learning Organizations.”

Here, for example, are three core traits of successful Learning Organizations, according to Peter Senge:

1. Excel at seeing systems. Successful Learning Organizations recognize basic system phenomena everywhere — limits to success, shifting the burden to the intervener, accidental adversaries. In particular, they see the system independent of organizational boundaries.

2. Collaborate across boundaries with ease. Successful Learning Organizations know how to get the whole system in the room and respect the different interests and perspectives of all stakeholders, making it possible to build their social networks and realize breakthrough innovations.

3. Move easily from problem solving to creating. Fear and anxiety can definitely motivate action, but rarely does it encourage our best contributions or sustained effort. These leaders are both pragmatic – they’re always prototyping and experimenting – one definition of creating. Successful Learning Organizations are also oriented toward possibility, evoking inspiration and creativity throughout the system.

Sue, please take some time to examine the Five Disciplines that Peter Senge identifies as important faculties for any successful Learning Organization. The Five Disciplines are:

1. Personal Mastery is a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.

2. Mental Models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action.

3. Building Shared Vision is a practice of unearthing shared pictures of the future that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance.

4. Team Learning starts with dialogue, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into genuine thinking together.

5. Systems Thinking is the Fifth Discipline that integrates the first four.

Source: Wikipedia article on The Fifth Discipline

Regards,

Barry Kort / User:Moulton

This post has been edited by Moulton: