01-07-2008, 05:56 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Pondichery
Posts: 357
| |  Role of Leaders
Role of Leaders We have leaders at all levels of the Corps. These leaders create the learning organization. They drive the change. They bring strategic and operational learning into the centers of decision-making at the District level, at the Division level, and at the Headquarters level. Personal Involvement Leaders must integrate organizational learning into the agenda of their meetings. They must advance organizational learning into their personal schedules. If their schedules are filled with operational, short-term, reactive issues only, they are not leaders of learning. All leaders, no matter what level or how strategic or operational in their work, must take responsibility to understand and reinforce the learning organization. How they do this, how they work with other leaders, and how the learning they help create is distributed and used become the leadership process. That process will initially be described below and in the chapter on leadership for learning. Education and Use of Doctrine by Leaders Although important, establishing doctrine and distributing it is just a beginning. Operationally focused leaders concentrate on performance and actions they must accomplish now. We always have crises and short-term problems that require action. Learning may seem opposed to doing what must be done now. Many may not believe the way to increase the Corps performance and effectiveness is through continuous organizational learning. Leaders in Headquarters, Divisions, Districts, project groups, and various meetings need to discuss this doctrine. The concepts that underlie the learning organization require this discussion and dialogue. The concepts have to be "unpacked," thought about, and practiced, before their full meanings becomes clear. Some may believe the Army and the Corps are already learning organizations, and no more development is necessary. For leaders who see the development of a higher form of the learning organization as a means to increase innovative effectiveness and performance, creating a dialogue is a first step. Leadership Process Systematic organizational learning requires leaders to focus on all elements of the Corps culture. Strategic learning occurs when top executive leaders create a dialogue about values and goals with customers, stakeholders, and partners and ask "How can USACE best help you succeed?" They then align organizational strategy with this new learning. These top executive leaders then ask subordinate leaders with operational responsibilities to achieve these strategic goals. Experience and learning from operations are fed back to the top strategic level and are used to explore opportunities and refine corporate goals. This interactive dialogue between levels develops a learning-driven plan to transform the culture of USACE and align all systems, measurements, values, structures, planning, etc. Leaders with operational responsibilities implement functional changes and align project delivery teams with this new learning. Learning dialogue is an integral part of work with customers, teams, and frontline workers. Operational learning also comes from discovering internal and external best practice and innovations. Organizational alignment comes from this continuous interactive dialogue between strategic learning and operational learning. Learning from measurements (CSIs, PRBs, etc.) across the organization and from customers also guides alignment. Additionally, case studies provide systematic organizational learning. We select certain cases because they are prominent, well-known events in the life of the Corps. They may be about (1) the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of an initiative, (2) a public controversy that involved the Corps, (3) a notable response from a client, or (4) any example of the Corps competence as an organization that might challenge assumptions and offer learning. Knowledge Creation Process The Corps must integrate new knowledge into its institutional memory and centers of decision-making. Leaders must take responsibility for ensuring that learning from projects, initiatives, and organizational strategies is accessible across USACE. The knowledge management system is not just the network that stores the information. It consists primarily of the communities of practice, the experts in each type of work, who must filter, condense, and integrate the learning. The technology is merely a tool they use. The USACE Learning Network integrates leadership, business and communications, and technical learning. The Learning Network consists of three interrelated parts, each with a different, but important function. The first part, Communities of Educational Resources, expands the training function by customizing courses and training events to the needs of individuals and groups. Partnerships with universities and firms will allow the codesign of onsite customized offerings, distance learning (e-learning), or traditional courses. Internal Corps experts will also function as educators, trainers, and mentors. The second part of the Learning Network, Communities of Practice, consists of people who share a work practice, competence, or kind of knowledge. The Communities of Practice will filter, distill, and integrate learning from all over the Corps. The third part of the Learning Network is the web-based system accessible from anywhere that serves as the communications infrastructure for the communities. The popular word "network" suggests the Learning Network is a web-based system. But the communication system is no more than electronic pipes without the people who use them. The Learning Network can only be useful as a tool of a learning organization if both the "people" and the "pipes" are active and working. The people and the pipes must be developed concurrently through the collaboration of all leaders building the communities and the web-based system. The learning network encourages virtual sharing and consulting internally based on the latest knowledge and best practices. The Learning Network will also facilitate the assessment of individual and group learning and development needs, coaching and mentoring, and the integration of learning into the work process. All these elements of the Learning Network will help ensure that learning is readily available to all Corps employees for planning, decision-making, and increasing organizational effectiveness.
Last edited by pondy.queen; 17-07-2008 at 12:16 PM.
Reason: L changes
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