Malcolm Burson raised the need for some tension for learning to occur with
>Bill, Hal, and At have all applauded the notion of "safety" as a critical
>factor for learning. .... When I think back on my own journey, some of
>my most
>powerful learning moments have come precisely when I _wasn't_ safe: where
>the environment, or the participants, or the subject matter, were clearly
>UNsafe in some way or other, and thus a real challenge.
I owe the list some clarification and Malcolm neatly presents a leadership
dilemma -- how to provide 'safety' in an unsafe situation. My definition
of a safe environment is one of safety of self.
That is, I as a person or any of the 'Is' of the people who work with me
are safe from criticism. It is the feeling I get in a high performing
team that everyone else in the team is pulling for my success.
My work may be criticized -- but the critics' goals are to help me make my
work stronger. And, just as in the physically dangerous exercises of an
'outbound' program, my team mates seek to protect me.
This safety allows me to dare, to take risk, to confront my own fears and
inadequacies.
A note about reading this post. It is purposely written in the first
person. I want you to feel it is aimed by you at your self. Read it
aloud to yourself and emphasize the words I, me, and my. One task for
leaders is to create the conditions in which his or her people can feel
that they can dare, they can risk.
Aloha
Bill
--"William J. Hobler, Jr" <bhobler@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>