DOI: 10.3303/CET2290131
Paper Received: 4 January 2022; Revised: 2 March 2022; Accepted: 7 May 2022
Please cite this article as: Kerin T., 2022, Creating a learning organisation, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 90, 781-786
DOI:10.3303/CET2290131
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS
VOL. 90, 2022
A publication of
The Italian Association
of Chemical Engineering
Online at www.cetjournal.it
Guest Editors: Aleš Bernatík, Bruno Fabiano
Copyright © 2022, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.
ISBN 978-88-95608-88-4; ISSN 2283-9216
Creating a Learning Organisation
Trish Kerin
IChemE Safety Centre, Melbourne, Australia
tkerin@icheme.org
Leaders are a vital part of any organisation because they influence how the organisation acts and responds. It
can be said that leaders “manage the direction of the evolution of the culture” (Schein, 2017, p. 125). This
means it is within the gift of the leader to manage and develop the systems that help people learn within an
organisation. But developing a learning organisation goes beyond leaders just ensuring that people are
booked on training courses. There are several actions a leader can take to positively influence the
effectiveness of a learning organisation. When an organisation learns from past process safety incidents it can
take proactive steps to prevent the incidents repeating. This paper reviewed a range of literature on learning
organisations and developed some ideas for leader’s actions to enhance the creation of a learning
organisation. This paper is based on a research project undertaken by the author as a Master of Leadership
project.
1. Introduction
Leaders hold a specific and valuable place within an organisation. They are tasked with delivering results on
behalf of the organisation, however leading is often confused with managing. For this reason it is important to
define the difference between leading and managing. “Leadership is a process whereby an individual
influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2018, p. 5). Whereas “Management
can be defined as the process of administering and controlling the affairs of the organization” (Business
Jargon, 2021). There are some similarities in this, both are about working toward a common goal, the focus on
the affairs of the organisation. This paper focuses on the role leaders play in creating a learning organisation.
It will not address the role managers play specifically, though some of this is peripheral to the role of leaders.
When it comes to process safety incidents, there is no lack of quality lessons learned material. From the
various international databases to organisations such as the United States Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Bureau. This then raises the question, if there is so much material, why don’t organisations
appear to learn from it?
2. Threats to achieving a learning organisation
It has been identified that one aspect of failure to learn is due to “threats to failure to learn” (Stemn, Bofinger,
Cliff, & Hassall, 2018, p. 316). These threats are defined by Stemn et al (2018) as follows:
• Under reporting of detected incidents
• Lack of focus on smaller precursor incidents
• Inadequate incident descriptions
• Inadequate incident investigations
• Poor selection and implementation of corrective actions
• Lack of effective learning from incidents system
• Culture of blame, lack of trust
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These threats are within the influence of a leader to impact and improve, because they relate to either a lack
of resources (time and/or personnel), a culture of fear or a lack of focus from the leader on rectification. Table
1 describes the threats and possible causes.
Table 1. Threats to failure to learn adapted from Stemn et al (2018)
Threats to failure to learn Possible causes
Under reporting of detected incidents Fear of retribution or punishment if reported
Lack of focus on smaller precursor incidents Not enough time to report, fear of additional work
Inadequate incident descriptions Not enough time to report accurately
Inadequate incident investigations Not enough time to perform investigations adequately
Poor selection an implementation of corrective actions Not enough focus on fixing issues
Lack of effective Learning From Incidents system Not enough resource allocation on implementing
systems
Culture of blame, lack of trust Poor leadership and culture
Based on the above, it can be assumed that leader actions can assist in improving the application of learning
from incidents. To understand what these leadership actions could be, it is necessary to understand the
different models of a learning organisation. This paper explores four models. While they are all different, an
alignment was found between them. The models include The Fifth Discipline (Senge, 1990), 4I (Crossan,
Lane, & White, 1999), Elements of building blocks (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, 2008) and the 70-20-10
model (Lombardo & Eichinger, 2006). The alignment will be discussed in this paper, describing ways to
implement the actions and achieve better learning.
There are many other possible reasons that lessons may not be learnt in an organisation. One may be that
learning from incidents may be inhibited by hindsight bias. Hindsight bias is about failing to learn because the
“outcome knowledge which gives us the feeling that we understand what the past was all about may prevent
us from learning anything from it” (Fischoff, 1975, p. 298). “In simplified terms this means that once we know
the outcome of an event, we can see exactly what went wrong in leading to the outcome. We see this
information with the benefit of knowing the outcome, and therefore we do not see the events unfold in the
context under which they occurred. This clouds our judgement with information that was not known to the
people in the event” (Kerin, 2018, p. 17). New tools have been created to assist with this challenge by the
IChemE Safety Centre, but like any tool, a desire to use it is necessary for it to make a difference. A leader
action here could be making time and resources available to experience this type of activity.
3. Different models for developing a learning organisation
Thee is more to building competency than simply undergoing training. To develop competency there is a need
to first build knowledge. To build knowledge it is necessary to move through the “the process whereby
knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 38). This means that to
enhance the learning within an organisation, there needs to be a means to transform the knowledge into
learning. This is why when considering workplace training, there is usually both a written and a practical
component, to help transform the knowledge to experience.
The process of organisational learning first appeared in 1978 (Argyris & Schön, 1978), though rose in
popularity as a concept in 1990 through Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the
Learning Organization (Senge, 1990). This book covers five disciplines that he believes are necessary.
Further work was done in 1999 that defined the 4I framework of organisational leadership (Crossan, Lane, &
White, 1999). The understanding was further advanced in 2008 with the recognition of “building blocks of a
learning organization” (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, 2008, p. 110). The Center for Creative Leadership
postulated that there are three components to learning, being; learning from courses, learning from other
people and learning from on the job experiences and challenges. They further stated that these were in the
following percentages: 10%, 20% and 70% (Lombardo & Eichinger, 2006, p. 4). While there does not appear
to be research to establish these percentages, there is some alignment with the authors work experience. This
idea also incorporates the transformation of experience concept (Kolb, 1984).
3.1 How leadership impacts the learning organisation
As outlined previously, there are a number of theories that explore how organisations learn and include
elements of how leaders’ impact that learning process. For example, it is clear that transformational leadership
offers a set of actions that may assist in building the learning environment. This includes aspects like providing
inspiration, intellectual stimulation and challenging individuals to achieve more (García-Morales, Jiménez-
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Barrionuevo, & Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, 2012). Leaders also have a role in ensuring the organisation has context
for learning, is resourced and people are supported to develop their understanding (Berson, Nemanich,
Waldman, Galvin, & Keller, 2006). A key element to building a supportive environment to team members is the
existence of psychological safety, which appears in the elements of building blocks. Psychological safety has
been defined as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking”
(Edmondson, 1999, p. 350). This provides an environment where team members can raise concerns or
suggestions without fear of negative consequences.
Accepting that leadership is a process (Northouse, 2018, p. 5), it should be possible to identify the leadership
process steps in each of the 4 models and then seek to understand their prevalence in the workplace.
3.2 Fifth Discipline (Senge, 1990)
This theory covers 5 elements as describe below.
Systems thinking – it is important for leaders to understand the connectedness and help their teams see the
patterns.
Personal mastery – if leaders do not commit to achieving their best and putting the effort in, neither will their
teams.
Mental models – when a leader understands their mental models they are able to share them with others, but
also to understand their own biases, which may be inhibiting development of the team.
Building shared vision – a shared vision with the leader delivers commitment and engagement, moving
beyond mere compliance.
Team learning – if a leader ensures that all team members are part of the learning process, not only does
each individual grow, but the team as a whole grows.
3.3 4I (Crossan, Lane, & White, 1999)
This theory covers four elements, that range form internal focus to external focus. They are;
Intuiting – a leader should provide the time and space for each team member to have experiences and be able
to start to recognise the patterns present – this is an internal focus;
Interpreting – a leader should engage with the team and have conversations about the learning- this is a join
focus;
Integrating – a leader should develop shared understanding and agree how the learning can be incorporated –
this is a join focus; and
Institutionalizing – a leader needs to ensure the team have time and space to embed the learning within the
knowledge management system – this is an external process to embed the learning that has occurred.
3.4 Elements of building blocks (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, 2008)
This theory has nine elements that are needed to create the learning organisation as stated below.
Psychological safety – a leader provides a safe environment for the team to speak up or make a mistake
without fear.
Appreciate of differences – a leader welcomes differences of opinion to help build better solutions.
Openness to new ideas – a leader is open to new ideas, even when they did not think of them.
Time for reflection – a leader provides the team time to reflect on learnings to help transform the experience.
Experimentation – a leader encourages new ways of working.
Information collection – a leader values information and encourages collection of it.
Analysis – a leader encourages analysis of data and provides the resources to do so.
Education and training – a leader values training and prioritises it, ensuring refresher programs also take
place.
Information transfer – a leader encourages the sharing of information among the team.
3.5 70-20-10 model (Lombardo & Eichinger, 2006)
This theory has three phases of the learning process as defined below.
Learning from on the job experiences and challenges – a leader should provide opportunity for team members
to gain experience in a safe environment. This is said to be 70% of the learning process.
Learning through other people – a leader should facilitate mentoring and coaching within the team. This is said
to be 20% of the learning process.
Learning from courses – a leader should provide the resources for the team members to build knowledge.
This is said to be the 10% and foundation of the learning process, as it provides the background knowledge.
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3.6 Comparing the four models
Comparing each of these 4 elements and looking for commonality in leadership traits is done in Table 2.
Table 2: Comparison and alignment between different learning organisation models
Senge’s Fifth Discipline 4I Elements Elements of building
blocks
70/20/10 Model
Psychological safety Learning from other
people, Learning from
on the job experiences
and challenges
Systems thinking Interpreting Appreciation of
differences
Learning from other
people
Systems thinking Interpreting Openness to new ideas Learning from other
people
Systems thinking Interpreting Time for reflection Learning from other
people
Personal mastery Intuiting Information collection Learning from courses
Systems thinking Interpreting Analysis Learning from other
people
Mental models Intuiting Experimentation
Shared vision,
Team learning
Institutionalizing Information transfer Learning from on the
job experiences and
challenges
Shared vision,
Team learning
Integrating Active listening and
questioning
Learning from courses
Shared vision,
Team learning
Integrating Invite input Learning from courses
Shared vision,
Team learning
Institutionalizing Provide resources Learning from on the
job experiences and
challenges
Systems thinking Interpreting Ask probing questions Learning from other
people
This comparison allowed for the identification of some key leadership actions that are needed to build a
learning organisation. These are summarised below:
• Ensure psychological safety exists within the team
• Understand and value the difference and diversity within the team
• Be open to suggestions for new ideas
• Ensure time is available for the team members to reflect on the learning – to transform the
experience
• Provide resources for the collection, review and dissemination of information
• Be willing to try new ideas and experiment where safe to do so
• Work with others to find better solutions
• Listen to other people’s point of view
• Support the team members to achieve their goals
• Provide resources for the team to do their tasks – time and money
• Challenge the team and status quo
These traits can be categorised into five themes, as defined below;
• Encourage – how leaders encourage and support their teams;
• Challenge – how leaders challenge their teams to achieve better results;
• Resource – how leaders allocate adequate resource to support learning activities;
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• Experiment – how much leeway leaders give their teams to experiment when searching for an
answer; and
• Listen – how effective the leader is at listening to others.
Table 3 shows the themes with examples of specific actions that can be undertaken by leaders to support the
building of a learning organisation.
Table 3. Leader themes and actions.
Theme Actions
Encourage Ensure psychological
safety in the team
Understand and value
difference and diversity
Challenge Support team members to
achieve their goals
Challenge the status
quo
Resource Provide time to reflect and
transform experience
Provide resource to
collect, analyse and
share information
Provide resources to
team members to do
their work – time and
money
Experiment Be open to new ideas and
suggestions
Be willing to try new
ideas
Be willing to try new
ideas
Listen Listen to other’s point of
view
4. Ways to identify if these actions are present
There are a number of ways for organisations to identify if these actions are present. Two main ways are via a
team survey and via the leader reflecting on their actions themselves. In both instances is can only identify the
perception of how often or well these actions are undertaken.
The benefit of a survey is that it may assist in understanding the perception of how prevalent these actions are
from both the team member and the leader perspective. A survey could be developed exploring questions like
rating how the leaders feel their team’s perform tasks that the leader supports, and secondly by surveying the
rating of how the team feel their leader performs the supporting tasks. This would provide a comparison to
explore between the team member and leader perspective on how well the leader supports the actions. For
example the paired questions could be as follows for an action under the encouraging theme:
For the Leader
My team… Feel confident to share their opinion on why they believe an incident occurred
For the team member
My leader… Helps me feel confident to share my opinion on why I believe an incident occurred
This has the benefit of not only identifying if it is felt that the actions are undertaken by the leader, but also to
what degree the leader and team member are aligned. It is possible that a team member may not feel the
encouragement of the leader because they are not recognising the actions undertaken. These paired typed
questions can assist a leader to refine their actions so that the team members are aware of and value them.
5. Conclusion
Leaders are a key component of any organisation and the actions a leader takes has the ability to enhance of
impact the development of a learning organisation. For this reason, it is critical that leaders do all they can to
enhance and promote a learning organisation, so companies can learn from their own and other’s incidents to
effectively implement preventative measures.
Reviewing these initial four models has allowed for the development of a fifth model, which defines clear
actions that leaders can take to enhance the building and maintenance of a learning organisation. Further
research could eb undertaken to validate the effectiveness of the actions, and validate the model.
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lp-2022-abstract-109.pdf
Creating a Learning Organisation