A Managers Time Senge Chapter 15 THE FIFTH

A Manager’s Time Senge: Chapter 15 THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

How do manager’s create the time for learning? How do we expect people to learn when they have little time to think and reflect, individually and collaboratively? l Even when there is time to reflect, …. . . l n Most managers do not consider the impact their actions have had carefully n Managers are too busy contemplating their next move to consider why their previous policy did not pan out

What do American Managers do? They adopt a strategy l When it runs into problems, they switch to another strategy l Then to another and another l Possibly to 4 or 6 different strategies, without once examining why a strategy seems to be failing l Senge calls this the READY, FIRE, AIM atmosphere of American Corporations l

Learning takes time l When managing mental models, it takes considerable time to surface assumptions, examine their consistency, their accuracy, and see how different models can be knit together into more systemic perspectives

The example of Hanover’s O’Brien Doesn’t schedule short meetings l Only considers complex, dilemma-like “divergent” issues l Only makes 12 decisions a year l

Hanover’s O’Brien, Continued If a manager is making 20 decisions a day, the manager is looking at convergent issues that should be dealt with more locally or is giving insufficient time to complex problems l Either way its a sign that management work is being handled poorly l Prepared by James R. Burns

For top level managers l Their job should be consumed with identifying important issues the organization must address and helping others sort through decisions they must make

In the future, Senge suggests High-level managers will spend more time reflecting, modeling and designing learner processes l Because reflection and inquiry are integral to the development of valid mental models l

Managers must set aside time for thinking l The way each of us go about managing our time will say a good deal about our commitment to learning

Copyright C 2000 by James R. Burns l All rights reserved world-wide. CLEAR Project Steering Committee members have a right to use these slides in their presentations. However, they do not have the right to remove this copyright or to remove the “prepared by…. ” footnote that appears at the bottom of each slide. Prepared by James R. Burns