Loops of learning is go!

YAY! Finally, after a year in and out of COVID Lockdown, after shifting dates numerous times, I finally managed to bring a group of brain-bustingly, clever people together in a room to have a deep and meaningful about their thoughts on the crises of our time.

The night started at 7pm at V Wine Salon in Richmond, which was the perfect venue with amazing wine and nibbles supplied by Vianney, the co-founder and sommelier of this beautiful wine bar, supporting Oz Harvest.

The question for the night was "What is the greatest crisis of our time ?" and everyone had been primed to consider their answers beforehand. They were given 2 mins to give a summary of their thoughts and everyone listened carefully, considering how they would respond.

It was great to see the conversations pin-ball around for a good hour after each 2 minute teaser, before we paused for wine and nibbles. The group then split off and formed smaller groups for deeper, more intimate conversations that delved in to thoughts and thinking about he issues they had raised:

• resilience in children;

• misinformation;

• our apparatus for sense-making;

• greed and wealth;

• the complexity of the world created by technology; and

• the silos we've created to try and deal with complexity.

The night wrapped up with an amazing systems map by Deakin University research Andrew Brown that helped us worked out what the next conversation will be. Watch this space :)

My reflections on the night were really positive. I think we're on to something, but there is certainly room for improvement and I'm not sure yet where we're going... but we'll be back for another session in March (pending any COVID lockdowns!).

A permanent state of learning...

I was discussing diversity and inclusion with a friend who is a senior HR Executive. We were ruminating on the complex nature of change in this context and how much of a long game it is. Centuries of ingrained biases, learnt and embedded behaviours and shifts in power dynamics between the 'have's' and 'have-not's' need to be unlearnt and re-learnt. It's not easy and it's not a one solution fix.

This got me thinking about triple-loop-learning.

In order to enter a paradigm where we can shift from polarised thinking and be able to co-exist with an intermingling of ideas and philosophies that search for constant understanding and better ways, we need to reach a state where we can connect with our biases and values, while understanding our need to question, debate and review in a permanent state of learning.

I recommend reading this article about loops of learning from the “Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development” by Carter McNamara.

To faciliate change in complex systems and organisations Triple Loop thinking is imperative.