Congratulations on your purchase of this guidebook to your organization's future. Welcome to a future where your colleagues, your board, and your organization itself approach each day as an opportunity to get better, to improve, and to learn! This book, while short and easy to understand, will be your step-by-step companion on an exciting journey to becoming a learning organization. In these pages, you will find information on five locks that prevent progress in many organizations. These locks keep you, your staff and your organization from maximizing your potential. Perhaps you recognize some of these in your agency and hate the way they are holding you back: -Nothing EVER changes -Everything is always about the short-term -The new people we hire are smart, but don't "get" us very well -It's IMPOSSIBLE to get support for new ways of doing things -Everyone is busy doing their OWN thing-and we never know what that is! If you experience any of these nagging and demoralizing issues on the job, this book, Old Organizations, New Tricks will help you unlock potential you didn't know was there. The Five Keys you'll read about will lead you to -Examine the present, imagine the future, and move forward -See both the forest and the trees so you can thrive -Make choices now to reap large benefits later -Hire people who will fit in, contribute and stay around because they love working in your organization -Ensure growth opportunities to build a better team -Uncover and update operating practices that have outlived their usefulness -Use generative dialogue to uncover faulty decisions, before you lose time, money, staff, and community support -Guide, mold and cultivate a shared vision of excellence -Implement the lessons you and your staff members have learned from experiences in your organization And much more! Perhaps you know of a learning organization - one which is innovative and adaptable. It takes risks, and sometimes makes mistakes. But it sees each challenge as an opportunity to learn something important. As a result, it keeps getting better and better. This is a special type of organization, "where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together." These are the words of Peter Senge (1990, p. 3) who first coined the term learning organization and inspired tens of thousands of questions and answers about what it means for organizations to learn and exactly how we can help them to do so. This short report is also inspired by Senge's ideas, and it draws on the work of many others who have written about and studied this curious phenomenon before and after him. This report simplifies some basic characteristics of learning organizations and suggests practical exercises that you can implement right away in order to start leading your organization down a new path - a path that is not without potholes or forks in the road but which nonetheless moves onward and upward to higher ground. In this way, you can soon be the leader of an organization that never stops learning, but is continually committed to growth. You can unlock the potential of your organization to improve and grow by using the five keys presented here. As a review, here are those five keys to leading a powerful learning organization: Key 1: Expand your Horizons Key 2: Invest in People Key 3: Retire Outdated Paradigms Key 4: Cultivate a Shared Vision Key 5: Tap In to the Collective Be sure to look carefully for CAN-DO's other information products. You owe it to yourself to sign up on the email list to receive notifications on the latest products that will help you lead a better organization. Go to www.uta.edu/can-do to sign up now. When you do this, you'll gain access to an exclusive report, available for free
About the Author: Shannon Graves is a consultant with experience in nonprofit management, fund development, strategic planning, and community organizing. She specializes in bringing best practices to service systems and organizations through the effective and innovative development of policies, programs, and people. Dr. Hoefer is the Roy E. Dulak Professor for Community Practice Research at the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington. He directs the Center for Advocacy, Nonprofit and Donor Organizations (CAN-DO). He can be reached at rhoefer@uta.edu Dr. Hoefer specializes in translating cutting edge, best practice research into usable practice points for organizations. His passion is helping nonprofits succeed in providing high quality services to our communities. He has over 25 years of experience working in and with nonprofit organizations, assisting them in improving their services through program evaluation, advocacy, and management consulting. Dr. Hoefer has authored more than 30 published journal articles and 8 books and has given scores of presentations in the fields of nonprofit management, advocacy, program evaluation and policy practice. Find out more about CAN-DO at www.uta.edu/can-do