Connecting with the Core of the Business
Senge argues that lasting organizational change requires a connection with the organization’s identity and the work through which it creates value.
THE IDEA
5. CONNECTING WITH THE CORE OF THE BUSINESS
Respect for the mainstream organization can motivate people to become bicultural in their language and strategies, and to develop practice fields that will help them minimize conflict with formal management structures. But our fifth strategy involves a deeper level of connection, one that ultimately proves pivotal in developing guiding ideas and intentions. For radical new ideas and practices to take root within an organization there must be fertile soil. How to find this may not be apparent at the outset. Successful learning practitioners intent upon having a large-scale impact learn how to connect with the core of the organization—at the deepest levels of individual and collective identity—and how the organization most naturally creates value.
When to use it
Introducing a disruptive technology in a legacy company
Launching a culture change initiative in a government agency
Implementing a new pedagogical approach in a traditional school
Driving sustainability practices in a profit-driven corporation
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Implementing Agile in a Traditional Manufacturing Company
A manufacturing firm with a history of hierarchical decision-making wants to adopt Agile methods. Its leaders connect the proposed changes to existing commitments to craftsmanship and continuous improvement, then examine where the methods fit the work.
Project-Based Learning in a Standardized School District
A school district focused on standardized test scores introduces project-based learning. Leaders connect the proposal to the district’s mission of student success and discuss with teachers and administrators how it would support that mission.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What is the core identity of your organization, and how does it naturally create value?
How can you connect a radical new idea to the deepest values and practices of your organization?
What fertile soil (tools, relationships, structures) already exists in your organization for new ideas to take root?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Fifth Discipline The Art Practice of the Learning Organization (Peter M. Senge)