🌸 Management Future Notebook Monday (Issue 68) - Complete Preservation Edition: "Why Your Company Won't Become a Learning Organization" - An organization never learns more than its president
🌸 Management Future Notebook Monday (Issue 68) - Complete Preservation Edition: "Why Your Company Won't Become a Learning Organization" - An organization never learns more than its president
(Written by Akifumi Yasumura / Business Capability Development Co., Ltd.)
Today is Monday. It is the day we focus on the "axis of management."
■ Introduction
Many companies claim to be "learning organizations."
However, in reality:
• Failures are not shared
• Knowledge is not accumulated
• The same problems are repeated
There are many such "non-learning organizations."
Why are learning organizations not born?
The reason is surprisingly simple.
Because an organization never learns more than its leader.
■ Konosuke Matsushita was not a "manager who kept learning" but a "manager who created a system to make others learn"
Konosuke Matsushita left behind a vast amount of lectures and writings.
Management philosophy, views on life, history, society, and the nation—the volume is overwhelming.
However, the reason he was great is not his "amount of knowledge."
He did not write to teach his employees, but continued to write so that he himself could learn.
And there is one more extremely important thing.
🔹 Matsushita used "questions" to make his subordinates learn
It is said that in decision-making settings, he always said this:
"I think this way, but what do you think?"
This one phrase transformed the organization into a "place of learning."
• The boss does not give the answer
• Makes subordinates think
• Continue to learn from each other
• The quality of judgment improves
This is exactly what coaching is.
Matsushita was a manager who knew "how to turn learning into a system."
■ The reason why employees don't come to borrow books even if fine books are lined up on the president's office bookshelf
This is a scene seen in many companies.
Great books are lined up in the president's office.
But no employee reaches for them.
The reason is simple.
It is because the president does not "show them the figure of reading."
Conversely, in companies with managers like Matsushita who made learning a daily routine through questions, learning becomes an organizational culture.
■ The moment a manager stops learning, the organization's learning stops
The moment a president starts saying,
"It was like this in the old days"
"I understand from experience"
the organization closes itself off in the past.
However, under a manager who can say,
"I am still learning too"
"Let's think about the future together"
the organization begins to move toward the future.
■ The "time axis to learn" differs by position
• Section managers learn about "this year's industry and results"
• Department managers learn about "the business structure three years from now"
• Managers learn about "social changes 10 years from now"
Understanding this difference in time axis and systematizing learning is the first step toward a learning organization.
■ Editor's Note
Konosuke Matsushita was a manager who kept learning.
But more than that, I think he was a "manager who created a system to make subordinates learn."
Ask, make them think, and learn together.
For example, have them verbalize "what employees should do" regarding the future of AI.
Always ask "what you learned recently" in 1-on-1s.
And keep asking again and again. This is the president's job.
■ Today's Question
In your company, has learning become an "organizational culture"?
Or is it still left to the individual?
■ Cat's Tweet
"Companies with presidents who ask questions are generally strong, meow."
■ Conclusion
An organization never learns more than its president.
Organizational culture begins with the manager's "questions."
■Next Preview: Wednesday, March 18
"Why Managers Make Poor Decisions When They Don't Secure 'Thinking Time'"
■Appendix
■Click here for all Management Future Notebook articles
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