Chief Learning Officer - January 2009 - (Page 31) Often, learning executives only have pieces of the story, and even more often, they have to help create it themselves. Usually it looks like a snapshot in time, such as, “We need to improve sales in the next two quarters,” or, “There is a new infectious disease procedure that everyone needs to know about right now.” What do you do when you get the question: “How can learning help our organization be more competitive?” Observe “To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.” – Marilyn vos Savant, American columnist Some things are obvious, while others are not. But just saying observation is critical to “seeing” what’s happening in business is like saying we need air to live. On some level, everyone knows it. At the same time, executives are seldom taught how to observe; instead, they’re only told to do it. One of Boyd’s acolytes, Dr. Chet Richards, said, “physically we interact by opening up and maintaining many channels of communication … mentally we interact by selecting information from a variety of sources or channels.” How we observe is just as important as what we observe. In the OODA loop, observation is defined and examined in three categories: unfolding circumstances, outside information and unfolding interaction with the environment. Inside each of the three categories, politics, demographics, economics and technology are four areas that deserve attention. Politics change the rules of business, demographics change who participates and where they participate, economics determine the level of participation, and technology reduces the cost and increases the speed of participating. Since we constantly interact and interpret, our environment is in constant flux. Listening to what others say outside the organization, observing changing marChief Learning Officer • January 2009 • www.clomedia.com 31 http://www.clomedia.com
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