>I seem to have a natural balancing process in my own learning strategy --
>after a certain amount of exposure to new ideas, I need to integrate and
>practice before I'm ready for more new information and frameworks, and
>vice versa.
>Do other members of this list experience this balancing pattern? And to
>tie it back to organizational learning, do you experience your
>organizations as having reinforcing and/or balancing loops that affect the
>ability of the organization to take in new information and ideas?
I've found that this is the only way to make lasting change, whether personal
or organizational. New concepts (to the person or org.) that underlie
behavioral or attitudinal/cultural change have to find their place with a
person's psyche or an organization's culture. These are places of incredible
complexity and integration, where all past influences live on in some way.
Anything new has to adapt to what's already there.
In people, this happens when we "sleep on" something, often taking a long time,
as well as an iterative conscious/subconscious process, to effect lasting
change. In organizations, something similar happens, but it's generally driven
by someone in power who pushes, pulls or otherwise doesn't let go of an idea
until others are practicing it routinely. In both cases the organism slowly
adapts to the new stimulus and gradually discovers how it connects with other
relevent elements. The change that occurs works both ways: existing practices
change to fit the new idea, and the idea acts as a model that itself changes to
fit the *whole* person or organization. It's synergy, I suppose.
Well, this ain't rocket science, but I find it's a useful insight. Personally,
using this model of change has caused me to realize that I can change, but it's
slow and I can deal with only one or two things at a time. Anything more
overloads my ability to integrate, and all that happens is I get frustrated.
David E. Birren
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Bureau of Management & Budget
Phone: (608)267-2442 Fax: (608)267-3579
Internet: birred@dnr.state.wi.us