8.4.4 Leading learning from being adaptive to generative
The role of the transformational leader is therefore to build workplace situations where everyday activities can be structured to enhance the depth, breadth and speed of learning. Enhancing an organisation's learning capability entails accelerating both individual and collective learning cycles. This requires learning to be much more than a contrived response to immediate needs. It must be managed as part of the long-term imperative to be competitive and responsive to changing social and market demands. McGill, Slocum and Lei (1992:5-17) illustrate this point by suggesting it is important to understand the difference between the organisation's ability to adapt (adaptive) and the organisations ability to learn (generative). The ability to learn gives the generative organisation a competitive advantage over the adaptive organisation, which is said to be 'learning disadvantaged' because while adaptive organisations may be able to transfer skills they cannot do so in a manner that enhances their sustainable capacity to change.
Figure 3 Managing learning to promote generate or adaptive change
The figure above illustrates how organisational learning can be used to generate enhanced depth, speed and breadth of learning (Redding, 1997:485). Adaptive learning (McGill et al., 1992) does provide opportunities for greater focus on process improvement. While McGill, Slocum and Lei illustrate how adaptive practices can support process improvement but they also argue such organisations are still 'learning disadvantaged' when responding to environmental factors.
Generative learning can be used to enhance organisational strategic readiness. In more stable environments organisations might promote adaptive learning in areas where they undertake a 'controlled' change process or need to fill skills gaps across multiple people or jobs. These approaches can still promote continuous quality improvement and meet incremental changes.
Research suggests generative learning is more able to assist organisations to develop through a sustainable capacity to learn and to change. Such learning can be focused at a process or systems level (Redding, 1997:485). However, learning becomes much more than an intervention controlled and targeted towards adapting actions to meet performance ends; it becomes a strategic capability.
Transformational leaders need to identify and reinforce the factors that enhance not only adaptive learning but also generative learning. It is on this base that greater competitive advantage can be built for those organisations seeking to be agile and responsive.
Transformation is not achieved through interventions that cause spurts of improvement; rather it is embedded in how people think, act and view their contribution to the organisation. Generative learning is cross-process and systems-level issue that addresses not just how 'things are done', but how people and shared visions adapt to change and improve the speed, depth and breadth of learning.
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