Learning loops are described in detail in Leading at Light Speed. Download the podcast:
One CEO describes his experience leading people through change as follows: “It’s a race where you run the first four laps as fast as you can – and then you gradually increase the speed.” In order to lead at light speed, you have to accelerate the pace of learning inside the organization. It sounds easy, but it’s not. People are naturally resistant to changing their ways. The secret is what I call “learning loops.”
Learning loops are a process of sharing performance information with people and empowering them to make the changes needed to improve performance. They are similar to feedback loops except they are deliberately designed to achieve organizational change at maximum speed. It means giving the right people the right information at the right time – and sparking their creativity and innovation.
Learning loops should encourage change at the cognitive level. Think about what happens when you’re breezing down the freeway at a brisk 90 m.p.h. and you see a police car in your rear-view mirror. Your brain compares the data on your speedometer to the posted speed limit. Your brain sends an immediate message to your foot to slow down. In other words, data related to performance has been shared immediately with the people empowered to improve it. The right people have gotten the right information at the right time – and are motivated to improve! The learning loop has resulted in a change in behavior – and saved you a speeding ticket.
Learning loops depend on communicating information about performance in a way that’s easy for people to understand. How are we doing on customer satisfaction? how about service reliability? What about finance? Assuming you have a balanced scorecard in place, you can tie it to a performance dashboard that visually depicts whether the organization is achieving its performance goals. You can signify with green, amber and red areas of relative strength and weakness. You can provide detailed comparisons of past and present performance. Arming people with data that is reliable, easy to understand, and has sufficient background detail makes it easy for them to see where they need to make adjustments.
Learning loops need to be immediate. People need to know as quickly as possible what’s going on. It’s not good enough to have quarterly or bimonthly performance “updates.” Feedback needs to occur as soon as the information is available, so that people can communicate and adjust their plans in a way that can actually influence outcomes.
Learning loops need to be shared with people who have the authority and responsibility for improving the performance levels. Start with the people who wield the most influence – typically the members of the senior leadership team. As soon as information becomes available, they need to be talking about which targets are being met – and which are not. It’s not enough to email the report or publicize it on a web site. People need to hear the report as a group, think through the implications, discuss options and share ideas. If progress seems too slow, ratchet up the pressure. That’s how learning loops work.
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