Learning Orgainization | Little Leadership Lessons

Take time to review actions at the end of project or events. This action enables leaders apply lessons learned the next time. The military thoroughly reviews and documents actions after every key event. As they begin their next planning cycle, leaders revisit those reviews to identify how to apply lessons learned to repeat effective actions and avoid repeating mistakes. Learning to analyze an event and gather important lessons is easy.

There are several principals to conduct post event reviews. Have all the key people at the table. Honestly document what was supposed to happen and what really happened. Analyze why the things that went well went well, and poorly; and why those things happened that way. Participant judge events, not people. Check egos at the door. File the review so it can be found and used later.

All the Key People

Key people does not mean everyone unless the event was small. Key people include the crucial leaders, contractors, organizers, observers, and key people from your red team. You want the people there who have the ability to make decisions during a similar future event that affect outcomes.

Document What Happened

This sounds simple but is not always easy. During this step top leaders may learn what

they wanted to happen is not what others understood was supposed to happen. When you talk about what was supposed to happen, you may have to break it down into several levels. What really happened is also not so easy. Not everyone saw the same thing for a variety of reasons. Things may have gone well in their part of the project because the logistics section fixed a problem before others know about it. If others did not see it, the problem still existed and should be documented and analyzed.

Analyze

Analysis during the review is nothing more than answering a bunch of relevant questions. What went well and why? What problems cropped up and why? How well did communications work? How did leaders make decisions at critical times? How well did the decision making process work? How did leaders solve problems? What things went well that could have gone better? How can we prevent the wrong things from happening in the future? These questions are just an example series, but a good start to any analysis.

Judging

When judging good, bad, success, and failure, focus on events and decisions, not people. If a leader made a poor choice at a key event examine why. The group may learn the leader lack important information, or had a poor understanding of the situation. PieJudge-Sarah R.jpg Focusing on why the leader made the decision allows him to learn from mistakes, identifies potential problems in processes outside that leader’s control and reduces defensiveness improving learning.

Egos

People do not like criticism. The offense perceived is proportional the size of the ego. The learning from observations that look like criticism is inversely proportional to the size of the ego. Avoid the problem; check egos at the door. This rule needs to be posted and enforced by the group facilitator. When an individual becomes defensive during discussions related to decisions or actions she made, it is an indicator she brought her ego with her. Stop the conversation. Restate the rules. Focus on the actions or decisions. These measures ensure maximum participation and learning occurs.

File the Review

File post activity reviews so others can find and learn from them. Taking time to review and identify lessons achieves nothing if filed forever. Dig out those reviews when you begin the next project planning cycle and learn.

A post activity review is an important process in any learning organization. Conduct reviews with all the key players after every major event or project. Identify what was supposed to happen and what really happened. Analyze the good and the bad of each event, action, and decision during the activity to identify important lessons. Judge decisions and actions to avoid offending and shut down learning. Check egos at the door to ensure everyone learns and participates. Adding a review at the end of every project or training event ensures lessons learned are available for use when a similar activity occurs next time.

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Photo Credits

All photos were found on flickr.com and used under a Creative Commons License.

U.S. Government photo-National Guard Bureau

U. S. government photo-USAID

Cars: Modified from two photos. Limo by caccamo. Small Car by Hsing Wel

Pie Judges by Sarah R

Leaders in learning organizations demonstrate two critical qualities: respect and forgiveness. Most people learning new skills make mistakes. People stop creating in organizations lacking tolerance for honest mistakes. Respect instills confidence for people to try new things. They their first attempts result in failure, yet respect acts as a safety net encouraging more attempts. As workers gain courage and skill, eventually succeed. Respect allows forgiveness; forgiveness spins the safety net of success.

spilled.milk-elycefellz Forgiveness is often seen as a weak, outward display directed at those who offend us. Unlike respect, viewed as strong, outward behaviors directed towards others, forgiveness is a strong, inward action directed towards ourselves. Holding grudges does little to change someone’s behavior. Instead, grudges harm the holder, preventing him from developing better relationships.

Years ago two people worked together in difficult circumstances. The leader treated him well and thought he earned the other’s respect. One day the leader became aware his previous employee blamed him for many things that occurred on the job. The employee held that hatred for years. The employee’s hatred of the leaders offenses did nothing to harm the leader who was unaware of his offenses. The hate attacked the employee everyday, preventing him from achieving greater successes in life. The leader moved on in life, building new and better relationships and increasing his successes. The leader was was hurt after learning of the grudge because he believed he did the best I could do at that time with his skills, knowledge, and abilities. He reached out seeking forgiveness from his former employee bur received no response. I suspect the employee still blames his former boss for many of the bad things that occurred during the time they worked together. The boss offended and was offended by others during that time. He carried grudges against some people for a while. He forgave some people and some people forgave him. One day the boss met one of those who offended him and realized they were clueless he was angry with them. He noticed the person moved on and felt no pain from his lack of forgiveness. In a period of reflection the leader realized forgiveness was not about the other person, but rather about him. Once he learned to forgive, life improved.

No matter how hard we try, offending others is inevitable. Often we do not realize our faux-pas and therefore see no reason to say, “I’m sorry.” For those who do not understand forgiveness carry their hate while the offender remains blissfully ignorant of their mistake. Forgiveness is a vital part of respect because acting respectfully to those we hate is hard. Forgiving requires releasing hatred.

Without respect, others lose confidence, fail to grown, or learn new skills. It is equally difficult to hold a grudge against someone we respect. Leadership is about influence. There are plenty of examples of leaders applying influence motivated by hate. History views those leaders as failures. People who learn to lead from a positive influence motivated by respect gain more power permitting even greater influence and success.

Many of the problems facing our nation and the world revolve around forgiveness and respect. Examples of extreme grudges include mass police murders in Baton Rouge, people protesting police violence coming under fire in Dallas as officers protect the crowd, terrorism in France, a military coup-d’etat in Turkey, Islamic extremism in the Middle East, Muslim against Muslim, Christian verses Christian, Jew fighting Jew, and each against the other because of hate and disrespect.

Violence is not an answer for past slights, insults, past violence, or perceived disrespects. Jim Collins talks about the fly-wheel effect in his book Good to Great. Acts of violence begin a downward spin of of the violence fly-wheel; every additional act increasing the fly-wheel’s momentum. Forgiveness acts as a break on the violence fly-wheel.

Treating followers respectfully creates a positive position for the leader to gain increased influence. Good leaders recognizes everyone makes mistakes. Instead of being offended by a follower’s error, a good leader forgives, respectfully corrects, and allows the person to try again. This cycle allows growth and improves the organization. Grudges hold back offended parties. Offended parties may seek to retaliate through acts of violence. Recognizing most people do not intend to offend us with their actions allow us to forgive. Forgiveness stops grudges and restores peace. Respect is the greatest gift we offer others; forgiveness is the greatest give we give ourselves.

Photo from elycefellz on flickr.com Creative Commons License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/