Teaching Smart People How To Learn

TEACHING SMART
PEOPLE HOW TO LEARN

CHRIS ARGYRIS
BASIC DILEMMA
IN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
“SUCCESS IN THE MARKET PLACE INCREASINGLY
DEPENDS ON LEARNING, YET MOST PEOPLE DON’T
KNOW HOW TO LEARN”
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2 MAJOR MISTAKES THEY MAKE
TO B EC O M E L EA R N I N G O RG A N I S AT I O N
1. PROBLEM SOLVING
 Only focus on External Environment and not Internal
Environment.
 Internal Environment – Their behavior and how they can

contribute towards the problem.
In short, they are failing to understand that the way they use to
define and solve a problem can be the problem on its own.
 Follow single loop method rather than double loop method.
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2. MOTIVTION
COMMON ASSUMPTION
 The common assumption is that getting people to learn

is largely a matte of motivation.
 Company focuses on creating new

 Organisational Structures
 Compensation Programs
 Performance Review
 Corporate Culture
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SINGLE LOOP
TYPE OF LEARNING
Following a method to solve the problem without knowing

the real cause of the problem.
PLAN VERIFY
ADJUST
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DOUBLE LOOP
TYPE OF LEARNING
• Will go more deeply into the cause of the problem and feedback is
used to look at the past actions.
ASSUME PLAN VERIFY
REVISE
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HOW PROFESSIONALS AVOID
LEARNING
• 15 years of conducting in depth studies of management consultants.
• Reason for considering consultants:

 Epitome of Highly educated people with central role
 All have studied MBA from the top 3 Universities
 Highly committed to their work
 This gives the base to assume they can LEARN
• 90% responded “ HIGHLY SAATISFIED” with work.
FINDINGS:
• They embodied the learning dilemma
• Most enthusiastic about learning where often the biggest obstacle to

success.
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WHAT HAPPENED WHEN QUEST
FOR IMPROVEMENT TURNED TO
THEIR OWN PERFORMANCE??
• HOW THEY FELT?
 Embarrassed
 Threatened
 Guilty
 AS A RESULT HOW THEY REACTED?
 Defensive
 Blame others for any problem
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EXAMPLE
A P R E M I E R M A N A G I N G CO M PA N Y
 MEETING TO EXAMINE THE TEAM’S PERFORMANCE

 Outside Consultant whom they trust
 Entire meeting tape-recorded
 No subject was off limits – including his own behaviour
 Results
 Professionals expressed during three hours the mistakes
of the manager
 Professionals always set the fault on client rather than
themselves
 Did not want to feel embarrassed
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PARALLEL CONVERSATIONS
 Professional: “the clients have to be open. They must want to change.”
 Manager: “It’s our task to help them see that change is in their interest.”
 Professional: Maybe we need to have more meetings with the client.”
 Manager: “If we aren’t adequately prepared and if the clients don’t think we’re credible, how
will more meetings help?”
 CONCLUSION:
 By constantly turning away the focus from their behaviour the professionals bring
learning to a grinding halt!
 Managers understand the trap but does not know how to get out of it!
• To learn how to do that requires going deeper into the dynamics of defensive reasoning—and
into the special causes that make professionals so prone to it.
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DEFENSIVE REASONING
Theory of action
A set of rules that individuals use to design and implement

their own behaviour as well as to understand the behaviour of
others.
• 2 THEORIES:
 “Espoused” – What the employee wants to do.
 “Theory-in-use” – What the employee does in real life.
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 The four basic values of theory is use:
1. To remain in unilateral control
2. 2. To maximize ‘‘winning’’ and minimize ‘‘losing’’
3. 3. To suppress negative feelings; and
4. 4. To be as ‘‘rational’’ as possible—by which people mean
defining clear objectives and evaluating their behaviour in
terms of whether or not they have achieved them
• The purpose of all these values is to avoid embarrassment or threat,

feeling vulnerable or incompetent.
• Defensive Reasoning is a Closed loop because encourages individuals to

keep private the premises, inferences, and conclusions that shape their
behaviour and to avoid testing them in a truly independent, objective
fashion.
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DOOM LOOP & DOOM ZOOM
Occurs when a person who does not have much experience

with failure begins to fear that they are failing. This fear of
failure morphs into a bigger fear or fear of failure.
Successful people who feel that their feeling can zoom

straight in to feeling low – spirited very quickly
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HOW THE MINDS OF THE
PROFESSIONALS WORK WHILST
DEFENSIVE REASONING
1. When criticizing the company, state your criticism in ways
that you believe are valid – but also in ways that prevent others
from deciding for themselves whether your claim to validity is
correct.
2. When asked to illustrate your criticisms, don’t include any
data that others could use to decide for themselves whether the
illustrations are valid.
3. State your conclusions in ways that disguise their logical
implications. If others point out those implications to you, deny
them.
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LEARNING HOW TO REASON
PRODUCTIVELY
BREAKING THE VISOUS CYCLE OF DEFENSIVE REASONING
 Understand that they Strive to Produce
• They Value Acting Competently
• Their Self Esteem is dependent on

 Behaving Consistently
 Performing Effectively
With the help of these human tendencies an Organisation

can help teaching people how to reason in new ways.
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LEARN TO RECOGONISE
PRODUCTIVE REASONING
REASONING
• Identify the Inconsistencies • High Standard of Analysis
between • Analytical
• Espoused Theories & • Data Driven
• Actual Theories of Action
• “Tough Reasoning”
• Learn How to Identify What
• Collecting valid data
Creates Defences
• Analysing it carefully
• How to they contribute to
• Constantly testing the inferences
problems?
drawn from the data
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HOW ORGANISATIONS CAN IMPLEMENT
THIS WITH THE EMPLOYEES
• Managers at the Top Examine Critically and Change Their Own
Theories-In-Use
• Writing and Analysing the case on their own – help them
• Lead meetings based on performance evaluation.
• Thoughts About the Meeting
• Compare to past Reports.
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THANK YOU
QUESTIONS
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TEACHING SMART

PEOPLE HOW TO LEARN

“SUCCESS IN THE MARKET PLACE INCREASINGLY

DEPENDS ON LEARNING, YET MOST PEOPLE DON’T

KNOW HOW TO LEARN”

 Internal Environment – Their behavior and how they can

 Follow single loop method rather than double loop method.

 The common assumption is that getting people to learn

 Company focuses on creating new

Following a method to solve the problem without knowing

ASSUME PLAN VERIFY

• Reason for considering consultants:

 This gives the base to assume they can LEARN

• 90% responded “ HIGHLY SAATISFIED” with work.

• They embodied the learning dilemma

• Most enthusiastic about learning where often the biggest obstacle to

 AS A RESULT HOW THEY REACTED?

 Blame others for any problem

 MEETING TO EXAMINE THE TEAM’S PERFORMANCE

 Professional: Maybe we need to have more meetings with the client.”

A set of rules that individuals use to design and implement

• The purpose of all these values is to avoid embarrassment or threat,

• Defensive Reasoning is a Closed loop because encourages individuals to

Occurs when a person who does not have much experience

Successful people who feel that their feeling can zoom

 Understand that they Strive to Produce

• They Value Acting Competently

• Their Self Esteem is dependent on

With the help of these human tendencies an Organisation

• Writing and Analysing the case on their own – help them

• Lead meetings based on performance evaluation.

• Thoughts About the Meeting

• Compare to past Reports.

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