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How Learning Works
Recently, I had a long conversation with my fifteen-year-old daughter, Elise, about why she had to learn algebra. I had helped her with a…
A Practice Theory for Organizational Learning
Acarpenter once came to work on my house carrying four heavy boxes of tool. I was taken by one elegant hand saw. “Japanese,” he…
Learning From Everyday Conflict
Recently the president of a large professional services organization brought in an external consultant to mediate a conflict between two vice presidents. The relationship…
Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System
You are a claims processor working for a large insurance company. You are good at what you do, but although you know where your…
A New Path to Understanding Systems Thinking
Many readers will recognize this scenario: A group in your department is planning a highly complex project, but the conversations you’re hearing about it…
Managing Organizations As Learning Portfolios
Metaphors and images are powerful tools that mirror and shape how we perceive and interact with the world. The presumptions we carry about people,…
Large-Scale Projects as Complex Systems: Managing “Scope Creep”
C.Northcote Parkinson’s now famous adage, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,” may be overly optimistic. Unfortunately, work tends…
Emergent Learning in Action: The After Action Review
Since the Industrial Revolution, our organizations and society at large have held three biases regarding learning. First, the transmission of knowledge from an outside…
Systems Thinking as a Team-Building Approach
The chief information officer (CIO) of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, a research hospital with a large outpatient facility, faced a formidable…
Beyond the Basics of Team Learning: Integrating Process and Project
Suppose you’re a team leader who’s been asked to spearhead a major change initiative, such as the implementation of a key new software application.