Posted by Kees van Langen on October 03, 1997 at 10:20:15:

In Reply to: Re: How to Facilitate Knowledge 'Sharing'? posted by Jackie on August 18, 1997 at 12:56:01:

Yogesh,
the power of relationships and interpersonal contact has always been at work in our organizations (for good or for worse). I believe that organizations have been successful because of this in spite of the strictures and quantitative nature of the systems and cultures we have created. People know instinctively that the only way that really works is face-to-face sharing and learning where there is an emotional exchange that has much to do with the emotional bank account that Covey speaks about. We all keep tabs of our relationships and share more freely and deeply with those we have a trusting relationship with. Rather than something to be reinvented, I believe learning can be enhanced as part of allowing, encouraging and rewarding creative and productive relationships that will happen spontaneously when people have common goals and destinations. We must help people unlearn some of the "competitive" habits and behaviors which are driven by artificial scarcity scenarios in which power issues over organizational resources play to large a role.
Entrepreneurial organizations tend to do a much better job of this than large organizations. Another model is the old journeyman system where master craftsman took apprentices under their wings and osmoted their learning to them over time as part of doing the work, rather than creating formal learning processes. In this process the master learned as much as the student because the exchange was critical to the quality and throughput of tthe work. Bad masters had inferior apprentices and therefore were pushed to the fringes of the business.
Currently it is not the sophistication of our hardware and software that are important drivers behind learning, though they may help. It is our emerging understanding of the primacy of life and the systemic relationships that bind us together that begin to drive the learning exchange at the tacit level. Enhancing the dignity of the individual (and his/her unique contributions) within the systemic relationships is the key to learning. Current economic models and culture do not assign individuals this place of dignity and respect - yet.

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