Re: Stewarding the learning process

mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu
Sun, 29 Jan 95 14:29:44 EST

I am perplexed by Mariann's response to Jim's scenario of a group that
stewards its own learning. She comments that, "this scenario suggests that
the group will 'let' only those who serve group needs learn."

I hear Jim suggesting that everyone is given a great deal of lattitude to
learn, but when and how traditional training dollars are spent is decided
by the group as a group. The two differences I discern in Jim's scenario
from many organizations I observe today are:

1. Each member of the group is given a learning responsibility, including
belonging to different Internet groups and libraries and volunteering for
community service.

2. The HR organization is not in the intersection in deciding on training
expenditures.

What's interesting about Jim's scenario is that these individual charters
extend beyond "what capabilities I need to build to do my job," to include
"what we need to know as a collective about our environment and how I can
help us expand our group knowledge and capability."

IMHO, a prerequisite of a "learning-ful organization" is that members of
the organization can recognize what the learning needs of the whole
organization are in relation to its environment, not just the needs of
each individual in relation to their own job.

Thanks, Jim! Perhaps we can save the training dollars for learning
experiments or field study instead of picnics?

Marilyn Darling
mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu