LILA ~ Learning Innovations Laboratory at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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  1. Marga Biller

    APRIL 2020 SPEAKER PROVOCATION #3 (video): Michael Kenney – Communities of Practice

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    After you view the provocation, please add your comments to the bottom of this post.  Michael suggests you reflect on these questions: Does  your organization currently use communities of practice?  To what end? How do they hinder or help learning in your organization? Do your communities of practice have any characteristics that hamper learning? How might your organization improve your communities of practice to enhance learning and improve performance?   CLICK TO VIEW COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE       To access the PPT for the presentation, click here.
  2. Marga Biller

    Human and Artificial Cognition: Systems, Ecologies and Culture

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    How is digital technology shifting the way that we learn within organizations?How do we prepare ourselves and our organizations in local and global ecologies of change? How do we act in that tension between current demands and future demands? How do we do significant cognitive work with sophisticated technologies? Dr. George Siemens points out that we are beginning to think with technology –it is more than a tool that we use, it is a tool that uses and shapes us. As we look towards the future of organizational performance, we need to consider technology agents in addition to human employees and participant
  3. Using the past to create the future with Davide Ravasi

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    How do organizations use their history to understand and reform identity to support transformation?   Radical change can often be destructive so it is interesting to note how organizations look back to their history to create continuity in org identity while changing. Davide’s more recent research identifies the variety of historical mechanisms that organizations use to shape identity. One way is using collective memory – the shared memories of communities that get passed down, the rituals of remembrance, and symbolic objects and places to embody collective memory. For example, corporate museums are places that give quite a bit of evidence of...
  4. Who are we as an organization and how did we get there?

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    f organizational identity is a self-reflective relatively mindful answer to the question of who we are as a organization, were does this come from? Davide Ravassi's work into organizational identity has examined various aspects of an org such as the emotional conceptualization, what is central and distinctive, deeply held beliefs, and claims and narratives that are reflective in the commitments. Interestingly, he has found that identity is revealed through conflict – when resources are scarce, when there is urgency, when there is some event that causes disruption. Also, foundational traits are acquired at the beginning of the organization: they are early imprints.
  5. Who are we? Organizational Identity content and its effect on members’ identification.

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    Shelley Brickson – University of Illinois-Chicago   Shelley shared her work on organizational identity, which is a member shared understanding of what is central to an organizational character, distinct and relatively enduring about the organization. These can be “what we do” and/or “who we are.” The latter is more character-based and describes commitments, values, etc.   How does identity shape patterns of behavior? This is a driving question of her research.   First we should understand, “who is the organization?” This involves identity orientation. I key idea is that people have different senses of self: individualistic, relational, and collectivist.   Shelley’s work...
  6. Towards Collective Mindfulness – Michael Pirson

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    The world is full on complex problems, ranging from global warming to economic disparities, to ongoing ethnic conflicts. Michael reminded us that mindfulness approaches involve contemplative action, restoring harmony, and questioning status quo. Mindlessness approaches are easier and involves apathy and actionism, questioning harmony and resorting status quo.
  7. Insights from Interactions: How do teams manage complexity? with Mary Waller

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    Mary has studied what makes teams effective in a variety of dynamic contexts, such as flight crews, nuclear power plant engineers, hospital trauma teams, fire-fighting teams and emergency crisis teams. In her studies of interaction patterns she has identified some key lessons for leaders to keep in mind:   Setting the tone: interaction patterns emerge quickly and solidify.  Initial patterns of interactions influence the subsequent effectiveness during dynamism.  Teams that had reciprocal, balanced and consistent interaction patterns performed better in highly adaptive situations. In the thick of it: when teams face ambiguity, uncertainty, and incomplete data effective teams accept ambiguity...

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