I'm in love with a problem, are you?
Are you in love with the problem of organisational knowledge and learning?
I wanted to share with you a message I am delivering in a couple of Keynotes and Masterclasses over the next few weeks. The message is a simple one, I love the problem of organisational knowledge and learning; do you?
I am truly in love with the problem of organisational knowledge and learning. This is a committed love, not a summer love. I don’t love the solutions. I love the problem. Loving a given solution can lead one to ignorant blindness, to the detriment of the social/community/societal good that the solution is supposed to benefit.
Nothing is discarded when one finds in love with a problem. As an example I was recently asked by a colleague whether nutrition could contribute to an improvement in learning in organisations. In a previous life, as a sports coach, I made sure that my players were provided with a nutrition guide to ensure they were best-prepared for matches; why could this idea not transfer to an organisational learning setting. I know a lot of work has been done in the area of nutrition and the impact on learning, but I personally have never run experiments in relation to performance improvement in relation to organisational knowledge and learning settings. So, why not?
Being in love with this problem, I find myself constantly at odds with people who live in the past or love a given solution; the reason being that organisations are still experiencing high levels of dissatisfaction at the executive and user level when it comes to HR, Knowledge Management and the creation of Learning Organisations. Stating the blindingly obvious, we have not achieved the solution and the problem most certainly still exists.
So, my question, are you prepared to fall in love with the problem of organisational knowledge and learning? If you are, you’ll find a whole new world waiting to be discovered.
