Hello and welcome to Module 4. Our last of this four module course on creating a culture of continuous learning on teams. I'm Ramya Kumar. I'm an organizational consultant, and an HR practitioner. I'm also a master student with the Organizational Dynamics Program here at the University of Pennsylvania. >> I'm a member of the team and I'm Alan Barstow. I'm the director of Organizational Dynamics at Penn. >> Thank you, it is great to be part of the team again, my name is Amrita Subramanian. And it was amazing that you could join us to module one, two, three and this is the fourth. And if you haven't you should go back. So, I've recently graduated from the same program as Ramya, Masters of Organizational Dynamics. And I'm currently an Executive coach and a consultant. >> Well, I'm Dana Kaminstein, I'm an Affiliated Faculty in the Organizational Dynamics program. And we're looking forward to engaging you in Module Four. >> And for those who have missed our Modules One, Two, and Three, most definitely listen to Amrita. And just take a look at what we have in there. So, for those who have missed our Modules One, Two, Three, here's what we covered. In module one, we discussed some very important concepts of framing and systems thinking. And how does impacts learning environment. And in module two, we pushed this conversation further to diagnose the learning environment how to apply different frames. What are the tools that we can use to diagnose our learning environment in teams and organizations? And in module three, we discuss in detail about some of the enablers and disablers for learning in teams, groups, and organizations. So what do we have for module four? >> Isn't it wonderful how far we've traveled, yes? >> [LAUGH] >> From self, my lens, my frame, to diagnostic, how do I see? How do I understand? How do I gather data to teams? What are the teams barriers? And now forth, at an organizational unit, how do we create an organizational environment that force us creativity, innovation, conversations, how this does happen at this massive, large scale? Which is very different from a unit of analysis of self. An individual, groups, and now this contains many things in this ecosystem, isn't it. So it's about discovery, it's about space, it's about creating a way to understand. When you don't know many things, and what you do know, you know your job. You know your role. You know where you fit in the organization. But how do you create? Whether you're an individual, you're a manager, there's constantly meetings. Because we all are and we've been there. But how do we do that? How do we balance what we don't know with what we know? What do you say to that? >> Absolutely, and it's good to understand this as a person, as an individual and as a team. But organizations need to enable the learning environment and enable change to happen. So that's something that we will discover and explore in this module. We are going to talk about, how then, can an organizational structure, or a system, or a process, enable learning in teams and groups, and in organization stamp cells. >> Especially when there's so much unknown, Alan. >> I think it's a clear progression. There's room in all of our organizations for instruction. Where we have experts who have been there before. And they can teach us or instruct others how to do things. Very important that doesn't go away. But we're dealing with culture and teams and organization and learning in situations that are unpredictable, uncertain. So there's a move from sort of certainty to uncertainty and ambiguous situations. That's what we're trying to find a way for a team to be affected it. How to deal with uncertainty? >> So many organizations and teams deal with uncertainty. As I'm sure you're familiar by trying to make it as certain as possible. I think of this sometimes as the cement solution. >> [LAUGH] >> That if we pour enough cement into the uncertain issue, that we'll build a structure and keep it stable. >> Seems like what we want to do is just make pretend it's certain. And deal with it with the tools we have. >> Right. And as the world becomes increasingly uncertain, I know that's a little bit trite to say. But our organizations, the markets, the teams that we operate in, are more uncertain than they've ever been. One of the things we want to talk about and we'll talk about as this module goes on. Is how to use that uncertainty to be creative? To build new ways of looking at things, etc.. And I'd like to just give one example before we move into a little more on that. And that is to recommend a book by two colleagues called Bullish on Uncertainty. And these two colleagues did a extensive ethnography of two investment banks. And one investment bank was trying to deal with uncertainty by having as much certainty as they could. And the other was embracing uncertainty. And interestingly enough, for example, they approached their teamwork very differently. So, the more traditional investment firm approached their teams by having a star expert on the team. Someone who was seen as they done this before, they were very well paid, they came in to the meetings as the star. The investment firm that embraced uncertainty took the opposite view. And they had a team but, everybody on the team was considered to be equal. And, when you started, when they on-boarded a new person, the person would say, well, what, how soon can I contribute? And they would say, immediately. So, they wanted that to happen in an emergent and creative way. As opposed to the bank or investment firm that was more structured. >> So Dana, as you're talking about emergent structures, as you're talking about uncertainty. I thought you brought out some very key differences. Between how change in a non-predictable, uncertain environment. How change is then perceived in this settings? How is it perceived in traditional setting versus how it is perceived in this complex adaptive systems. And complex adaptive systems may be a very complex word. But you see these adaptive systems all around you.
