Personal Mastery - The first discipline of a learning organization

In my last article, I wrote about learning organizations and five disciplines that, when fully integrated, transform an organization into a learning organization. This article is dedicated to the first of these five disciples, personally mastered. Personal mastery is the foundation of organizational learning.

What is personal mastery?

The personal mastery defined by Peter Senge is "the principle of personal growth and learning." [ Fifth discipline , p. 141.] This is not just about ability and skill or spiritual growth. It is about creating an ideal future and moving towards it. People with a high degree of personal mastery are good at creating personal visions and accurately assessing their current reality of the vision. The gap between current reality and personal vision has driven them forward. This gap is often referred to as "creative tension". Personal mastery is about creating and maintaining creative tension and comfort in life and tension.

So how do you identify individuals with a high degree of personal mastery? The following is a list of the characteristics of these people:

• They have a special sense of purpose - a call.
• They certainly assess their current reality; in particular, they quickly realize the assumption of inaccuracy.
• They are good at using creative tension to motivate them to move forward.
• They believe that change is an opportunity.
• They are very curious.
• They highly value personal relationships without giving up their personality.
• They are systemic thinkers, that is, they see themselves as part of a larger system.

These people continue to expand their ability to create an ideal future. By doing so, they create the potential to consider organizational capacity building that can only be achieved by integrating all five disciplines of organizational learning.

How do individuals develop personal control?

Developing personal control is a lifelong process, and it is never too late to start. Many things that need to happen are related to changing the way we think and how we view the world in which we live and work. Here are some attempts:

• Think systematically: When you encounter an unexpected or unwelcome exit, try to consider which processes can do this, rather than looking for someone responsible. Systematic thinking is about the relationship between the whole and the various parts. It's also about finding patterns over time, not capturing them quickly.
• Assessing the current reality: In order to effectively assess current realities, you need to be well aware of your assumptions about the current situation. These assumptions shape our perception of reality, sometimes even the cloud. Assessing current realities requires a lot of reflection on your thinking process and the ability to identify your assumptions.
• Balanced advocacy and investigation: Most of us are recognized for safe discussion with our defenses. This means that we often don't hear what others are saying. By balancing advocacy and inquiry, we spend as much time as we can to understand others' opinions when explaining our opinions. Those who are familiar with personal mastery will gently explore until they fully understand the different points of view, while inviting others to question their own views and thinking processes.
• Creating a shared meaning: Creating a shared meaning takes the previous point to the next level. It involves finding common ground in various perspectives and expanding understanding of all participants. People with a high degree of personal mastery understand that they only have one piece of puzzle. Only by exploring the opinions of others can these puzzles begin to merge together to form a clear picture of the current reality.

Each of these technologies takes a lifetime to master. In fact, a person never really "arrives"; there is always something new to learn. Therefore, it is important to start with a small incremental step. It doesn't matter where you start, as long as you start with a place where you can feel progress and success.

How does the organization develop personal control?

Organizations must be able to be personally mastered at all levels to become a successful learning organization. However, it is important to remember that this is a matter of choice. It cannot be decided from a height. Efforts to do so can only be counterproductive, because employees may form a "personal vision" that they think the boss wants to hear.

The most important thing an organization can do is to help employees develop personal mastery and create an environment that is conducive to personal pursuit. Here are some ideas for doing this:

• Encourage inquiry and curiosity: In most organizations, people are rewarded for proposing solutions rather than asking for inquiry questions. The problem with this is that organizations often adopt quick solutions rather than taking the time to really understand the nature of the problem. Encourage employees to understand the nature of the problem in greater depth, especially recurring issues.
• Encourage employees to challenge the status quo: New employees are particularly good at doing this because they have no history of organization and are not integrated into their culture. Make the most of their new ideas and encourage senior staff to do the same. The results will be contagious.
• Change your assumptions about employee motivation: Most organizations, whether they admit it or not, use external incentives [money, recognition, fear] to motivate employees. Personal mastery is about intrinsic motivation, and under the right conditions, it will bloom. Create an environment that meets the belief that most employees are self-motivated and want to do their best.
• Becoming a model: Organizational leaders must practice their own personal control. By setting an example, you will send this important message.
• Long-term commitment: Individual mastery is not a single event or a one-day seminar. This is not an exact process. Every effort is made to help employees develop personal mastery and realize that benefits will increase over time.

By creating a secure and supportive environment, employees can develop their own personal controls, help them create creative tensions, drive them forward, and perfectly drive the organization into a learning organization.

In my next article, I will focus on the second discipline of the learning organization, the mental model.

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