In today’s competitive environment, organizations must respond quickly to an ever changing marketplace. Quick response requires:

1. The swift grasping of new knowledge and information; and
2. The rapid application of that knowledge to competitive market situations.

Paying attention to how new ideas and actions will impact other key areas and aspects of the organization is key to proper application and utilization of new knowledge. This way of conceptualizing knowledge is called systems thinking. According to Peter Senge, author of the book The Fifth Discipline, systems thinking is the ability to see interrelationships rather than simply recognizing that some things are related. In systems thinking, both individuals and organizations recognize and understand the differences between causation, correlation and interrelation. Systems thinkers learn that when one component in a system is changed it will always impact one or more other components in the system.

It might seem like we are splitting hairs here, but when an organization truly embraces a systems thinking approach to learning, they are recognizing that the interrelationship between often quite disparate components must be factored into the learning process.

Why is this important? Because the competitive learning organization will look at the acquisition and utilization of knowledge quite differently than more traditional organizations. Like traditional organizations, they will see learning as a mechanism for the development of individual knowledge. However, unlike traditional organizations, they also see learning as a dynamic process that can and should impact and change the very system that it is supporting. This concept is often referred to as dynamic action learning.

Dynamic action learning requires individual learners to apply their knowledge to real problems or situations that directly impact the organization. It is a systems approach to learning and as a result of the learning, the system is also changed.

Dynamic action learning coupled with systems thinking is one of the keys to gaining and maintaining a strategic advantage in a competitive environment.

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