Personal Mastery and Effective Team Learning - Essay Example

Introduction Personal mastery is a term that is commonly used but is not well understood by many people. Some conceptualize the term as expertise that an individual gains through performing a task regularly. Others view it as a quality that belongs to the elite in education and management. Team learning is also a significant concept in organizations, and is credited for the success of many firms that use the teamwork approach towards accomplishment of workplace tasks. This paper presents a critique of personal mastery and team learning. It highlights some characteristics of the two concepts as they apply in the lives of individuals and organizations. Personal Mastery Personal mastery was viewed by Peter Senge as a creative approach towards an individual’s life rather than just being competent in various tasks. A person maintains creativity in all aspects of living and avoids being spontaneous in regard to the daily challenges that one faces. A person applies creativity to accomplish what he/she needs in life through personal mastery (Senge et al. 1999). A person needs to possess a clear vision and a sense of purpose in life to accomplish personal mastery. It is important to maintain a balance between the prevailing reality and creativity and also to be capable of lessening the negative aspects of conservative beliefs that hinder personal mastery and obligation to stand for the truth. Individuals engage in regular improvement to enhance personal mastery. In other words, there is usually no end to improvements, and an individual is in charge of his/her personal mastery. It involves always exploring new ways to expand personal knowledge, which as Amy Tan demonstrates in her talk, is accomplished through creativity. She believes that something may come out of nothing (TED, 2008). The individual needs to ensure that he/she learns new things often from different people in the day to day interactions. Such opportunities, though immeasurable may widen a person’s scope of thinking and approach towards learning. Francisco et al. (2004) argues that there are some learning opportunities that often seem too obvious. However, success in personal mastery requires significant attention for the less obvious learning opportunities. It is important for the learner to be in a capacity to search for the information and apply it to improve his/her performance. In essence, when one is able to learn fast, and adapt to the changes in the operating environment, the capacity to acquire essential skills is enhanced. The person expands his/her knowledge base through creativity. Personal mastery allows professional development and satisfaction in the day to day activities. Maurik, (2001) argues that it is important for an individual to view the workplace, the day to day interactions and the people with whom he/she interacts with in a different approach other than just focusing on the financial outcome only. In real meaning, contentment can be derived from appreciating all aspects of life such as interactions in the workplace, social places and the occurrences that present good learning opportunities. Personal mastery enhances decision making capabilities of individuals in the workplace. This is mainly due the fact that it enhances the development of an understandable vision in regard to a person’s mission and purpose in life. With a clear vision, it is possible to set clear and focused goals that can be accomplished in a straight forward manner. Leaders such as Richard Branson are renowned for generating a clear vision for their subordinates and facilitating the development of organizational goals through development of creative strategies that have enhanced the organizational competitiveness. His personal mastery is based on vision and utilization of the available opportunities to expand the scope of the virgin group (Michaelsen et al. 2002). For managers to accomplish personal mastery, they need to encourage open communication in the workplace so that they can learn from the interactions through observation of behaviour, understanding the feelings of employees through listening to their views regarding workplace issues, and reacting through informed judgment. When managers interact with the subordinates, they are able to detect signs of dissatisfaction and take the necessary steps. Again, creativity applies when the managers make important decisions regarding matters affecting the employees to the extent that their behaviours display a message of discontent (Oetinger, 2004). In essence, the issue could be anything. They could be dissatisfied by the management or other workplace issues. To discover their predicament requires creativity in connecting the managers’ observations with the indicators of dissatisfaction in the workplace. The managers further need to work hard to understand the issue affecting the workers especially due to the fact that many may not be willing to reveal their feelings. Emotional intelligence acquired through personal mastery allows the managers to understand complex issues that are deeply rooted in the minds of the subordinates. Strong leadership is enhanced by personal mastery, which also helps a person to acquire communication skills that are significant in the accomplishment of goals. It helps in making judgment based on reason. Continuous learning allows the person to make proper analysis of situations and to control emotions that may hamper the realization of individual goals. When a person engages in personal mastery, he/she is able to manage his/her emotions. It allows the development of emotional intelligence that is significant in coping with challenges. People who have accomplished personal mastery are able to turn challenges in to opportunities (Matur & Bunnell, 1998). They are also capable of accomplishing a work-life balance since they are able to manage their activities and use the diverse knowledge they acquire in their day to day interactions with other people as well as reading to make life meaningful. In other words, they do not succumb to challenges but rather, they are well equipped with information that allows them to maintain competence at all times. Such individuals understand the reality as well as their own weaknesses. They can not be stressed because their main task is to find out how they can capitalize on their strengths to cope with challenges Francisco et al. (2004). Mastery allows flexibility in the workplace as well as in activities outside work, which is a significant strategy for eliminating stress. Evelyn Glennie demonstrates personal mastery as she continues playing the musical instruments. She learns better ways of handling them with time as she explores the result of playing the instruments in different ways (Abe, 2007). Constant improvement facilitates behavioural change whereby an individual leaves the undesirable behaviours to adopt newly learned behaviour that is necessary for the accomplishment of personal goals. Personal mastery allows reflection in to the past and the present such as the way Glennie reflects on her past when she played tympani and percussion at 12 years of age. It was not apparent to the Royal Academy of Music that she could perform well in music, but her personal mastery allowed her to demonstrate her capability. Beardwell & Holden (2001) argues that personal mastery is significant in career development. It presents the individual with an opportunity to change career paths as well as improving the current career. It forms the basis of problem solving in business especially due to the fact that the operating environment is dynamic and changes occur quite often. For example, the global economic crises have affected many organizations in terms of market, overhead costs and many other factors that have led to some closing business awaiting the return of normalcy. Maurik (2001) argues that the organizations with leaders who have personal mastery have been able to adopt flexible practices that have enabled them to remain in business in spite of the financial crisis. Firms accomplish the integration of flexible working practices in their production processes through personal mastery among the leaders. In essence, there are no standard rules that a firm may apply to enhance flexibility of work. Rather, it is accomplished through personal mastery among the leaders. Through their interactions with the employees and managers from other firms as well as the knowledge acquired through learning, they understand what is best for the organization and what can help in maintaining a satisfied workforce. For example, firms such as Delloite and Pricewaterhouse coopers have demonstrated personal mastery in leadership through adopting flexible working such as working from home as well as maintaining strong organizational communication that enhances employee satisfaction (Bhatt, 2002). Such strategies are creative and demonstrate the ability of leaders to reason as to how they can utilize emerging technologies such as the internet to enable employees to work at home. Such strategies enhance work-life balance and employee satisfaction, which is significant for the organizational productivity. Leaders with self mastery have the capacity to help the employees to realize their talent and utilize their potential to the maximum. From personal experience, I have learnt that different people have distinct talents and that their abilities to perform different tasks are different. Pertinent literature made me learn to appreciate all aspects of diversity in humans. Past research has established that humans have various strengths and weaknesses, and that it is difficult for two people to be similar in all aspects of their lives. In essence, people’s ways of thinking can only be harmonized when they combine their views through exchanging knowledge. This understanding has been significant in helping group members to realize and utilize their potential and also to promote interpersonal relationships that help people to cooperate in accomplishment of tasks. Finger & Brand, (1999) observes that employees maximize their potential while working as a group since the combined strengths override individual weaknesses and hence the need to promote strong workplace relations. Personal mastery is influential to others to engage in continuous learning. Each individual is an essential component of a large group and therefore personal mastery is not an individual matter per se as the name implies. Personal mastery is characterized by a sense of purpose in regard to accomplishment of the desired goals. The individual sets goals that motivate him/her to learn. The goal theory of motivation explains the fact that when the employees are aware of the goal that they are intending to achieve, they are motivated to be effective in the accomplishment of tasks. The experienced employees ensure that they maintain good performance and are encouraged to make the right decisions that can facilitate realization of the goal. Leaders who encourage creativity are able to maintain a competent workforce. Employees derive enthusiasm from coming up with workable ideas that can be attributed to their ability to think critically. Failure to get such a chance to demonstrate inventiveness may cause low spirits in the workplace especially when the employees are used to rely on the leader for decisions (Michaelsen & Richards, 2005). The leaders who have accomplished personal mastery present their vision as a vocation rather than a suggestion. In essence, they are convinced that the goal can be accomplished and they always promote visualization of the reality in a positive way rather than a challenge. They tend to be inclined towards reality and they never tired of inquiring about the changes that occur in their environment. They adapt to the changes rather than preventing them from occurring. In essence, personal mastery generates a feeling of liveliness and hope, as well as the will to accomplish the goal while maintaining strong relations with others. Team Learning Team learning on the other hand is viewed as a strategy that is associated with Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Members of a particular team engage in activities that improve their capacity to reason. The learning team acquires information through standardized procedures that are focused on authenticating the group assumptions. The team applies strategies that allow members to visualize a wider scope in regard to the matters affecting them. The members of a learning team usually have strong communication strategies that allow information to be understood by all. Moreover, it is understood that listening is core to the accomplishment of team goals. The learning team usually strives to accomplish a shared vision, which helps in facilitating the accomplishment of results (Finger & Brand, 1999). Successful learning in teams is accomplished when groups of people congregate to solve a common problem or to pursue a common vision. Each member benefits from the eventual outcome and therefore he/she ensures that the team is successful. Moreover, the members understand that it is not possible to accomplish the tasks individually and hence there is a force that binds the team together. DePree (1990) observes that a team possess diverse skills and therefore they can accomplish different tasks and share knowledge to form a strong workforce. Michaelsen et al. (2002) observes that there is a possibility for people working in a team to discover their talents and utilize their potential maximally. In certain situations, members of a team discover that they can do better than their workmates when they try to work like them. Such workplace relations are significant in the accomplishment of the overall business goals. I have come to the realization that conflict resolution is accomplished when all members of the team are dedicated to the maintenance of harmonious relations in the workplace. They develop strong interpersonal skills that are also necessary for customer satisfaction. This is because when working in a team, every employee views the other as an integral part in the success of the group. In other words, a person acquires the conviction that if what a person does is what the others do and if the success of others is the success of an individual, he/she gains trust and confidence in the workplace and also works hard to ensure that he/she does not let the others down. On the other hand, members of a team that are focused on accomplishing a particular objective are likely to reach an agreement more easily than when working as individuals (Mullins, 2007). For that reason, there is usually harmony in the workplace and hence the group is easy to lead to success. Moreover, agreements can be reached without difficulties while each person owns the team objectives. Participative decision making enhances the success of learning teams. As Bhatt (2002) observes; policies are developed through the participation of every member. It is the practice whereby organizations combine individual learning in order to enhance learning among the employees. Through this strategy, an organization is capable of mobilizing its employees to find solutions to problems through sharing ideas and helping each other to develop in terms of knowledge. The employees as well as the management engage in constructive discussions which facilitate knowledge sharing. Members of each team are motivated for them to be resourceful in searching and communicating the knowledge acquired to others. The learning team integrates people from diverse backgrounds, and members view themselves as one unit that strives to accomplish a common goal. According to Michaelsen et al. (2002) team learning speeds up the process of implementation of tasks, which are shared among individuals other than being undertaken by one person. Teams present diverse skills that are useful in the accomplishment of tasks. Moreover, communication becomes effective due to the fact that members of the team are not threatened by victimization for airing their opinions. In other words, the opinion of one employee in a particular team is owned by all members and therefore they do not fear jeopardizing their position in the organization as they would do when speaking as individuals. The management can therefore learn on better ways of improving the conditions of the workplace. On the other hand, Michaelsen & Richards (2005) argues that since performance and reward management is not focused on an individual, there is the likelihood of employees focusing their efforts on the output of the whole team rather than personal accomplishments. This means that the employees may assist each other for effective performance, especially when dealing with customers because if an employee leads to dissatisfaction in a client, the entire team bears the responsibility, hence all of them ensure high commitment within the whole group. For this reason, non-attendance and employee turnover are minimal, and organizational goals can be accomplished more effectively. Successful team learning involves relevant stakeholders, and the members support each other to solve problems that affect all. They have a common way of exploring complex matters and members understand that the goals can only be accomplished as a group. For this reason, each member is highly valued in regard to the organizational processes. Peck (1990) observes that initiative is a significant characteristic for team learning. Members trust each other and the views of every person are respected. Communication is a significant aspect since it enables each person to be informed regarding the team goals and hence the members can engage in meaningful risk taking. Decision making in team learning is conducted rationally, and the members validate the significance of the conclusions to the accomplishment of team goals. Divergent opinions are not discarded after the final decision but are reserved for future reference whenever situations favour them. Conclusion Personal mastery is significant in the life of an individual and allows the accomplishment of personal and career goals. It involves continuous exploration of learning opportunities that are significant in the accomplishment of personal ambitions. It leads to the development of strong leadership that is significant for the accomplishment of organizational goals. It is characterized by a sense of purpose and clear vision in regard to an individual’s life. Team learning on the other hand is significant in the improvement of the IQ of a group of people sharing a common vision. It allows rational decision making and enhanced accomplishment of objectives. The diversity of skills in a team enhances knowledge sharing, and it is possible for people to discover their talents and learn to utilize personal strengths for the common good of the group. References Abe, K. 2007. 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