How to Teach Smart People How to Learn II

The fact is, more and more jobs--no matter what the title--are taking the contours of "knowledge work."

The propensity among professionals to behave defensively helps shed light on the second mistake that companies make about learning. The common assumption is that getting people to learn is largely a matter of motivation. When people have the right attitudes and commitment, learning automatically follows. So companies focus on creating new organizational structures-compensation programs, performance reviews, corporate cultures, and the like--that are designed to create motivated and committed employees.


But effective double loop-loop learning is not simply a function of how people feel. It is a reflection of how they think--that is, the cognitive rules of reasoning they use to design and implement their actions.

Companies can learn how to resolve the learning dilemma. What it takes is to make the ways managers and employees reason about their behavior a focus of organizational learning and continuous improvement programs. Teaching people how to reason about their behavior in new and more effective ways breaks down the defenses that block learning.

The fact is, more and more jobs--no matter what the title--are taking the contours of "knowledge work."

ACTION POINT: People at all levels of the organization must combine the mastery of some highly specialized technical expertise with the ability to work effectively in teams, form productive relationships with clients and customers, and critically reflect on and then change their own organizational practices.