How to Build a Learning Organization

About this Presentation

Twenty-five years ago, Peter Senge wrote “The Fifth Discipline”, considered the seminal text for how to build a learning organization. With obvious benefits, and the recipe needed for success, why don't we see more learning organizations? That was twenty-five years ago!

As Ash Maurya pointed out in his new book, Scaling Lean, “The goal isn't learning, the goal is traction.” Without a process that helps us turn learning into momentum, a culture of learning gets us nowhere. Without a strategy to overcome the challenges of distributed decision-making, we still make most decisions in ignorance.

Let's dust off these old ideas in light of all the discoveries we've made over the last decade in Lean Startup, Agile, and Continuous Delivery.

What are the critical elements that are missing in our organizations that prevent us from building a learning organization? What are the key obstacles to success?

In this talk, we'll breakdown the concept of a learning organization into discrete system components and analyze the requirements like engineers. Then we'll discuss a strategy for overcoming the challenges and iteratively transforming our organizations into learning organizations. From the building blocks of culture, to the design of organizational architecture, we'll build a roadmap for learning how to learn together.

Want to learn your way to being an AWESOME company? Learn how to become a learning organization.