RE: a student's perspective LO7171
In response to my diatribe on personal responsibility, Sherry said,
"I agree but would go further in that the only behavior I can change is my
own. I must point at me. As I live in that place, those around me see
something different, and some decide to point at themselves. Still,
irregardless of what others do, I can only change me. "
Sherry, I agree with that. One must always begin with oneself. Later,
you may identify opportunities to influence others. This LO forum is one
of many ways to influence others with your ideas.
What I was railing at was our addiction to pointing at institutions as the
culprits, and as a consequence, washing our own hands of responsibility.
This will never result in solving the problems we face.
There is a somewhat subtle issue here. As Deming said, people in general
are not the root cause of dysfunctional behavior, systems and processes
are. So his point was don't blame people. I agree with that. However,
once we acknowledge that systems and processes are dysfunctional, we have
to look around for the solution. Unfortunately, at that point, there is
no one here but us people. We may not be responsible for the problem, but
we cannot avoid responsibility for the solution.
My two cents.
--Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>