Coach - and manager - learning

Coach (and manager) learning

Our simple and powerful UQ coaching framework conceptualises the coach as (1) performer, (2) leader, and (3) learner. The “coach as learner”, while crucial, is often overlooked or neglected. To counter this and emphasise the utility of conceptualising the coach as a learner, the next series of abstract summaries will focus on learning. The series commences with organisational learning on the basis that organisational settings significantly impact individual learning. Learning is not solely the responsibility of the individual. There is much that organisations can do to support (and thwart) the learning of their most important resource – people!

Parker, S. K., & Fisher, G. G. (2022). How Well Designed Work Makes Us Smarter. MIT Sloan Management Review, 66319.

Professor Sharon Parker’s work has highlighted the powerful role of work design (the tasks and how organised) for enhancing workers’ learning and cognition. The five dimensions of good work that support learning are: (i) job autonomy or the ability to make decisions, (ii) job complexity leading the challenging work, (iii) feedback (such as from satisfied customers, supervisors, or formal systems for example), (iv) the social context and ability to create meaningful relationships at work, and (v) the emotional demands of the job (a significant aspect of coach work).

Hutasuhut, I., Adruce, S. A. Z., & Jonathan, V. (2021). How a learning organization cultivates self-directed learning. Journal of Workplace Learning, 33, 5, 334-347.

Companies that practice Peter Senge’s five disciplines of organisational learning become a workplace that encourages employee self-learning. The five disciplines are personal mastery (a growth mindset), mental model refinement whereby our underlying assumptions are challenged and evolve, a shared vision, team-based learning (which will be covered next month), and systems thinking or the ability to see the interrelationships at the big picture level rather than simple cause-and-effect at the local level. The five disciplines lead to an organization where employees have a clear direction of what to achieve, perceive challenges as a trigger for self-growth, and have confidence that they will be supported by work teams in the growth process.

Zgrzywa-Ziemak, A., & Walecka-Jankowska, K. (2021). The relationship between organizational learning and sustainable performance: an empirical examination. Organizational Learning, 33, 3, 155-179.

An empirical study of nearly 700 Danish and Polish companies of varying size found a significant relationship between organisational learning and sustainable business performance. The results provide practical support for the previous two studies, with organisational learning processes having the greatest impact on sustainable performance (which as measured by economic, social, and environmental factors). Organisational learning processes included job design, systems thinking, team-based learning, learning from customers, suppliers, and network partners, supported by adequate resources.

Ivaldi, S., Scaratti, G., & Fregnan, E. (2022). Dwelling within the fourth industrial revolution: organizational learning for new competencies, processes and work cultures. Journal of Workplace Learning, 34, 1, 1-26.

A forward-looking paper proposing that organisational learning in the age of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will require the development of new technical, social, and personal capabilities. Managing creativity, resolving ambiguity, problem solving, team work, and systems thinking will be increasingly important. Based on a case study, the authors contend that organisational, team, and individual learning will be increasingly important as companies shift from an execution orientation to a learning and improvement orientation. Such cultural change is not to be taken from granted. The article concludes with an emphasis on the importance of developing “soft skills” as those uniquely human abilities that will support a sustainable hybrid system of humans and machines. Art and science.

Next month – team-based learning, followed by individual learning.