How to build a learning organization

Twenty-five years ago, Peter Senge wrote The Fifth Discipline, the seminal guide to building a learning organization. Given their obvious benefits (and Senge's recipe for success), why don't we see more learning organizations? Janelle Klein explains how to build a roadmap for learning how to learn togetherfrom the building blocks of culture to the design of organizational architecture.

Twenty-five years ago, Peter Senge wrote The Fifth Discipline, the seminal guide to building a learning organization. Given their obvious benefits (and Senge’s recipe for success), why don’t we see more learning organizations? As Ash Maurya points out in his new book, Scaling Lean, “The goal isn’t learning; the goal is traction.” Without a process that helps us turn learning into momentum, a culture of learning gets us nowhere. Without a strategy to overcome the challenges of distributed decision making, we still make most decisions in ignorance. Let’s dust off these old ideas in light of all the discoveries we’ve made over the last decade in lean startup, agile, and continuous delivery. What critical elements are missing in our organizations that prevent us from building a learning organization? What are the key obstacles to success? Janelle Klein explains how to build a roadmap for learning how to learn together—from the building blocks of culture to the design of organizational architecture. Janelle breaks down the concept of a learning organization into discrete system components, analyzes the requirements like engineers, and discusses a strategy for overcoming challenges and iteratively transforming our organizations into learning organizations.