Learning organisation

I remember it as if it was yesterday. Two months earlier, I had started my new job as director and shareholder at the Interduct Group. Full of enthusiasm, I made the transition from Rabobank to running my own business. Proudly, I walked through the premises with their machinery. I also found it exciting to be responsible for so many people and their families.

My dream is to build a company where we treat people the way I want to be treated. That was my main motivation for going into business. This is how I would like to be trusted and given responsibility. I want to grow. I want to be respected for who I am and what I can do. And I want a certain amount of freedom to shape things the way I want. Who could possibly object to that? No sooner said than done. Right?

Wrong! Many people felt it was very confusing for them to suddenly become responsible for who was going to do which tasks, for hiring people and for what those people should then earn. People also appeared to be scared of making mistakes. And colleagues also said straight up that they did not feel comfortable making their own decisions, because then they could no longer hide behind (the decisions of) the boss. In short, I charged in like a bull wearing rose-tinted glasses into a china shop that had been the same way for a very long time. With the low point being the bankruptcy of one of our companies that was "in transition" during the financial and construction crisis. The darkest page of my working life. It felt like I had failed and it made me doubt myself.

So what next for my ambition to create a self-learning club of people? Could we do it that way? Or would project leader Marco from Loosdrecht turn out to be right after all? And do people see a link between the change I am looking for and bankruptcy? I was convinced it was due to other causes. Did other people see it that way? Lots of questions and no real answers. The confidence and energy was gone.

After six months of gazing in the mirror several times a day to see what I could have done differently, my confidence slowly returned. Colleagues were not making a connection between the bankruptcy and the steps we had taken towards becoming a learning organisation. Indeed, colleagues who worked at the company where we had filed for bankruptcy later thanked me for the trust we had placed in them. Although my sessions gazing into the mirror did teach me that we can do things differently.

1. We start by defining a dream ambition for our company.

This starts with questions such as: what do we want to create? Where can we make a contribution through our services and products? What do we actually add to society?

We had several meetings about this, bringing all our managers together. We are working to provide everyone with a sustainable, healthy and comfortable indoor climate: we made this our dream ambition. Of course, we will never complete this. What is crystal clear, however, is what our work is aimed at. A clear ambition generates energy in that same direction. What has positively surprised me are the many ideas and initiatives from our colleagues that now contribute to our ambition. And of course, some contribute more than others. That too is OK!

2. We then answer the question: what is our basic philosophy?

Who do we want to be? Where are we coming from? Where are we at home? Who and what helped us grow? What are our core values and guiding beliefs? How do customers, colleagues and suppliers see us? In other words, what is our "flavour"? And also, what team agreements do we make and how do we interact with each other?

Our managers answered these questions. The result is a set of core values and team rules. This worked best for them. And for me, this is the cornerstone on which we build and safeguard our culture.

Our core values are:

• respect;

• trust;

• autonomy;

• collaboration;

• development

These team rules help us:

• What is possible?

• Agreed is agreed.

• We are responsible for our communication and its consequences.

• Collaboration makes us stronger.

• We work according to a trio of principles: Complete, Correct and On-time.

3. Learning is done using a standard; our learning model.

This model consists of two axes:

1. the horizontal axis that ensures that the improvements we make deliver better value for our client or the end user. We do this using lean methodologies, such as flow charts, improvement boards, daily standups, 5S, VSM, multi-moment recording and one piece flow experiments;

2. the vertical axis is the motivation axis. Any improvement on the horizontal axis should also bring a smile to our colleagues' faces. That means more autonomy (freedom), a better connection with the team or our ambition, and better mastery (skills and resources) to do your job well. We are currently investigating how we can measure motivation or team flow in teams.

We build on these pillars every day to create a self-learning organisation. It's a bumpy road. We regularly hit a bump when our colleagues are working flat out. The reflex to act counter to our basic philosophy then re-emerges. Reminding people of our values and team rules then helps. What is great is that people become increasingly aware of their behaviour. And it is so good to see colleagues making a conscious choice to adjust their behaviour. As a result, the road becomes less bumpy. We even have stretches where we can cruise along smoothly. We do make sure that the cruise is controlled!