The Learning and Performance Paradox
First I wanted to address the sense that many of you seemed to have yesterday that learning and performing are not dissociable. I think that’s right.
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Flexpertise and Productive Disruptions by Michelle Barton
Michelle began her talk by suggesting that in complex, dynamic and unpredictable situations, flexpertise resides in a process of collective knowing and not as a store of aggregated individual knowledge. Drawing from studies of wildland firefighters among others, we discuss how flexpertise can be created through operational processes designed to simultaneously engage different parts of the system to discern, interpret, and respond to dynamic conditions. We argue that organizational systems have patterned ways of behaving and relating and these patterns can be counterproductive in times of dynamic uncertainty. One aspect of flexpertise is the ability to halt dysfunctional momentum by deliberately introducing creative, productive disruptions—short sense-making breaks that interrupt a group’s habitual response patterns. When groups pause and reflect on their own patterns, they are better able to identify and apply relevant expertise when and where it is needed and to create new, adaptive solutions. Because flexpertise (in this case) is collective, cooperative, and fluid, there are also critical implications for managing the relational systems underlying operational processes and for leaders who want to build ‘flexpert’ systems. -
Leading for Complexity by Deborah Ancona
During the June 2015 LILA Summit, Deborah Ancona focused her presentation on distributed leadership. Deborah and her team have researched a lot of really cool organizations, but the question is: how do we create an organizational structure that supports innovative teams? What is it that enables these kinds of teams and distributed leadership to function? We live in an uncertain world. Innovation, agility, and speed matter a lot. We are moving into the “knowledge era,” characterized by flat, loose structures and decentralized leadership. Those organizations that have started out flat and loose also need to grow, and it’s a tough balance between too much and too little structure. -
Building Dynamic Capabilities by Maurizio Zollo
In this first talk, I’ll go into what dynamic capabilities are and why they are important… and then how. How do you know you have a dynamic capability and how can they be developed? I’ll also juxtapose different directions for strategy. As learning academics and practitioners, we need to make distinctions between the various strategic directions. You can apply dynamic capabilities toward multiple strategic directions and goals; how do you determine which to pursue? Finally, I’ll bring in sustainability. That is the ultimate challenge. It doesn’t get more complex than that. -
Flexpertise: A 10,000 Foot View as of February 12, 2015
This is a talk shared by David Perkins at the February 2015 LILA gathering. The idea is to provide a wrapper for some of the things that were shared at the October and February LILA gatherings. As David described, the talk has 4 themes: defining flexpertise, understanding it (why would we want it), valuing it (what is it worth), and fostering it (what do we do to get more flexpertise, when we want more of it). -
Wendy Wood Provocation: Habits in Everyday Life and in the Workplace
Day 1: Habits in Everyday Life Dr. Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California, presented the event’s first provocation by sharing her research on habits. In the talk, she explained what habits are, how they can become misaligned with our intentions, how they are often the default response (winning out over other behaviors), and how they often are useful. She opened by sharing her research on the habit of eating popcorn at the movies. We usually think we’re eating because we want to, like to, or somehow it meets our needs. But this...