Learning and Change Mgmt LO6993

RICHARD WEEKS (rweeks@mj.org.za)
Fri, 26 Apr 1996 17:56:17 GMT

I have been following the various debates on this net with some interest.
The debate as regards leadership and leadership training in particular is
rather stimulating. In debating the concept of leadership with a fellow
consultant this morning we attempted to define where our paradigm of what
constituted effective leadership originated and what it looked like. (Just
the thing to do over early morning coffee.) The result: we came to was
that a host of learning experiences had generated our mental models and
that no single event or learning experience had established our prevailing
leadership paradigm. This could imply that leadership training will not be
an event but a series of events that will establish our mental models of
what constitutes effective leadership. What this translates to in practice
from a training perspective could be rather interesting.

This brings me to a next question, namely change management. If we accept
that all change requires a new way of thinking and of seeing the world
around us, or of the way things are done around here, this implies the
need for a change in our mental models or traditional paradigms that have
evolved over a substantial period through a commmon learning exprience. It
appears that these models will only change if we are subjected to a new
learning experience that is so great that the old models will be discarded
for no longer being relevant. In practice we can introduce new processes
and systems but unless people begin to act differently it will be a case
of business as usual. All to often is this not the case with some of our
training processes. With this in mind does this imply that all change
management in effect constitutes organizational learning? If so is
organizational learning and change management not two sides the same coin?
What does this mean for us in terms of change management practice?

The above are but a few ideas generated at random over coffee.

Regards Richard.

rweeks@mj.org.za

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rweeks@mj.org.za (RICHARD WEEKS)
 


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