Replying to Bill Hobler and others
I'd like to capture some of the thoughts around this issue which have been
generated over the past week or so, in the form of a list of
characteristics associated with "safe learning environments." If I've
mis-understood what I attribute to any one of you, please feel free to
clarify.
I'm going to start with an assumption, not yet tested in this group: that
"safety to learn" begins in the perception of the (potential) learner, and
thus that it is the LO task to create, and be clear about the importance
of, this environment. To paraphrase P. Senge from the "Fieldbook," p.
193,
"No one can increase someone else's personal mastery [or, in this
case, "safety']. We can only set up conditions which encourage and
support people who want to increase their own." As I see it, the greater
the perceived safety, the greater the opportunity for learning;
correspondingly, if the risk of unpleasant consequences is too great, I
may be constrained from acting fully in order to learn.
Characteristics, then, of a "SLE:"
1) A SLE is one where my person is respected (a la Bill Hobler in
LO 12495)
2) Where challenges to my ideas and mental models are also
presented with respect, and with humility
3) Where there is incentive to risk and explore the possibility of
change and seeing things differently (thus Mike Scandrett-Smith in
LO12454,
>The challenge for any organization is to provide sufficient
>discomfort for individuals to stimulate their need for learning but
>sufficient support to enable that learning to take place.....;
Andrew Wong in LO12517, and Brock Vodden in LO12544)
4) Where experimentation is the norm and the consequences of
experimentation are known to be accepted and used for further\
learning, rather than blamed;
5) Where I know I can live through even negative consequences of
experimentation and learning (my job is not at risk if I make a
mistake, etc);
6) Where openness, directness, and honesty are known norms
(see B. Vodden's counter-example in LO 12544).
7) Where a "practice field" of some sort allows the learner to
avoid dangerous real-world outcomes on a temporary basis.
None of this is to suggest that there can ever be a perfect SLE, and I
particularly want to re-iterate what Leon Conrad wrote in LO12392: that
an SLE is not a "watering down" of perceived danger to the point where
there is no structural tension
I'm sure others can improve or supplement the list. Comments?
Malcolm Burson
Community Health & Counseling
Bangor, Maine
Malcolm Burson<mooney@maine.maine.edu
--"Malcolm Burson" <mooney@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>