Organisational Learning Disabilities

When it comes to Learning and Development, it is common for organisations to be aspiring to be learning organisations. But, even before we aspire for such an elevated state, it would be better to get the basics right.

- Dipankar Das

When in an interview, Sam Palmasino, the then Chairman of IBM, was asked what kept him awake at night, after some reflection, he replied, the fear of missing a technology curve. Hence, it is not surprising that Toyota's famed concept of continuous improvement has morphed into continuous learning for most companies. And, when it comes to Learning and Development, it is common for organisations to be aspiring to be learning organisations. But, even before we aspire for such an elevated state, it would be better to get the basics right.

As management literature evolves, serious organisations realize that available knowledge is evolving and changing rapidly, and, one has to learn continuously to be able to just remain updated. IT and consulting companies, in particular, need to be on the cutting edge of the ever growing body of knowledge.

Organisational disabilities

And, with the publication of Peter Senge's influential The Fifth Discipline, the learning organisation has become a vision whose time has come. However, it is one thing to be aspiring to be a learning organisation, and, a different challenge altogether to continually remain as one. At the base, learning means making an effort to acquire a new skill or knowledge; in short, effort and focus. And, just as at the individual level, there are many a slip between the cup and the lip, things are no different in organisations as well. While learning disabilities in individuals is well documented, it is not so in organisations. However, organisations also suffer from debilitating learning disabilities, which stymie them into a fraction of what they could possibly become.