Ivan,
We are in our infancy as we work toward developing learning communities,
or as you say, "harnessing the learning that is already going on in the
organization." Our goal is to learn from and with each other as we address
difficult issues and plan for a prosperous future in our county.
We are attempting to bring various interests in the community together
(business, education, government, non profit, etc.) to create understanding
and partnerships. This is not easy work, as often the various interests in
the community don't communicate very well or share the same vision.
We are channeling the learning toward creating a viable community that
benefits all of its members. This is done by surfacing mental models and a
sharing a commitment to learning together. We use many tools to accomplish
this in our work.
I don't think we could teach people the "whole thing, from scratch" as I'm
not sure any of us could capture the complexity or richness of whatever the
"whole thing" is.
Your thoughts on developing ideal conditions for learning is intriguing.
Say more about this.
Laura
Laura L. Bierema, EdD
Business Management Faculty
Washtenaw Community College
P. O. Box D-1
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
313/973-3871
bierema@aol.com