Well, this is most interesting to me as well.
In my original post, lo these many months ago, I stated that my office was
in the midst of an organizational improvement effort designed basically to
do more with less and change a paralyzed hierarchical structure to a
flatter, more team-oriented one. We have consultants who are helping us
with this, and so far it has not been easy.
What the consultants are on paper being paid to do is to organize and run
a series of four training workshops for our staff of 100+ people, leading
us to develop a shared vision and mission and to develop some improved
teamwork, communication and customer service skills. What they are REALLY
doing is fundamental organization development, although very few people in
this organization (about 2%, including me), speak or understand that
language. They started out the first workshop with a quotation from the
Fifth Discipline, about what it was like to be on "great teams" and what
characterized a learning organization. They posited that what we as an
organization were about WAS in fact developing ourselves into a LO.
Well, I about fainted. I knew that I had discussed this with them but I
didn't know they were going to bring this concept in so directly. Whether
or not it said anything to the assembled multitude is another story (a
long story about resistance). But at least it was out there. And it is
not going to be silent in the future.
So I guess what I am saying is that it's not so remarkable to go into an
organization and start talking about this. What the LO is, after all, is
an organization with heart and values, an entity that has the capacity to
learn-- the fundamental elements of human survival (or thrival, perhaps).
I think what's important is that we stop separating life on the outside of
work from life on the inside--the LO is a way to bridge what have long
been different orientations and cultures about the "office family" and the
"real family". The danger of putting LO or other "labels" on what can
otherwise and easily be translated into common sense, ethics, and valuing
diversity, is that people get caught up in the name and not the underlying
message. And that's when they get scared or dismiss it as just another
management fad that will soon pass. And that's when we have to capitalize
on the fright and the resistance and turn it into positive energy. And
that is OD, the LO, Gestalt, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
So. This has been a relatively long and rambling post, but it's my first
since I introduced myself so I hope you will bear with me.
Susan Kaplan
Budget Officer, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
US Dept. of Commerce, Washington, DC
skaplan@OAserverA2.SSMC.NOAA.GOV