Learning organizations: A primer for group facilitators

Argyris (1991) believes that people can be taught to see the flaws in their mental models. One way to do this is to practice the left-hand column technique. Below is a sample of a conversation from a real group meeting. The right-hand column includes the dialogue of the group members and the facilitator. The left-hand column includes the facilitator's thoughts and feelings as the meeting was occurring.

Argyris (1999) maintains that true learning occurs when the lefthand and right-hand columns begin to match. Once one has been trained in this technique, one can do it mentally during a conversation to assess what is being said. As a culture, we have to learn to say what we think and to take criticism without being on the defensive. People and organizations learn by recognizing mistakes and correcting them. No progress can be made if we pretend that the mistakes never happened.

Research performed by Argyris (1999) shows that Model II behavior is more effective. Predictions that flow from this model are:

* if individuals hold as governing values (1) valid information, (2) informed choice, and (3) personal responsibility to monitor one's effectiveness; and

* if they accompany these governing values with action strategies of advocating, evaluating, and attributing that are crafted to satisfice the governing values (e.g., craft the action in ways that encourage inquiry and testing of the validity and effectiveness of these strategies);

* then, they create consequences that facilitate learning (single-or double-loop) and that reduce organizational defensive routines in ways that the reduction persists (p. 305).

Double-loop learning "...is basically asking if we are doing the right thing" (Fulmer & Keys 1998, p. 26). It causes the organization to do more than just maintenance. The organization rethinks its set of values and begins to learn.

What an organization needs is "actionable knowledge." This is Argyris' (1993) phrase for a new set of mental models. These models would be validated through research and would be a series of if-then statements that would say something like: "...if you act in such and such a way, the following will likely occur" (pp. 2-3).

Actionable knowledge and mental models are hard to come by, though, in organizations where communication is limited and trust is shaky. In order for true innovation to happen people must come together and talk about the big goals of the organization and how day-to-day tasks carry out the goals and organizational mission. "You have to make sure that the goals of people at many levels of the organization are aligned, and that people get to know each other, before you can expect them to build trust," says Kanter (2000, p. 33).

Building trust through communication can be a major goal of facilitators working with groups that strive to be learning organizations. Facilitators can encourage work teams to talk openly and honestly, but opening up real communication can be a challenge in an organization where mixed messages are business as usual. Success on grounded communication, though, can break through barriers so that work teams can develop mental models that will lead to team learning.