Bulldozer00's Blog

Chris Aryris is a giant in the field of organizational development. LinkedIn e-colleague Gene Bellinger recently posted this classic Argyris article, “Teaching Smart People How To Learn“, to his “Systems Thinking” group. In the missive, Mr. Argyris gives a great example of double loop learning:

I have coined the terms ‘‘single loop’’ and ‘‘double loop’’ learning…. To give a simple analogy: a thermostat that automatically turns on the heat whenever the temperature in a room drops below 68 degrees is a good example of single-loop learning. A thermostat that could ask, ‘‘Why am I set at 68 degrees?’’ and then explore whether or not some other temperature might more economically achieve the goal of heating the room would be engaging in double-loop learning.

Because of the Law Of Impermanence (LOI), it’s inevitable that what worked in the past won’t work at some unknowable time in the future. The top half of the figger below illustrates the LOI in action. On the left, we have a successful org or individual happily humming along. The successful “entity” repeatedly performs actions that lead to success. As long as the external environment doesn’t change, this self-reinforcing loop of success can be sustained for quite a long time. However, since the LOI is constantly and relentlessly operating in the background, insanely doing the same thing over and over again will eventually guarantee failure. The failure may occur instantaneously like a broken axle while driving on the freeway, or it may manifest gradually like an excruciating death by a thousand cuts. Bummer.

Possibly the only way of keeping the LOI at bay is to institute double loop learning. The figger below shows the painful, transformational process of adding a second action-result-reflection loop to the system. By adding the skill of reflection, deteriorating results can be detected and action can be periodically tuned to accommodate a changing world.

Just because “deteriorating results can be detected and action can be tuned” doesn’t mean they will be. The forces against truthful org and individual reflection on poor results are formidable. Denial, angst, and fear, which are all dysfunctions of the individual and collective human ego, conspire against improving system robustness and viability via change. Reorgs, appointing the same people to funky new titles, bumping up compensation/perks, cutting costs, and attempting to apply all other textbook management tools amount to wrapping bandaids around a massive hemorrhage. Double bummer.

The hardest aspect of getting a double learning loop into operation is connecting the “Reflection” node back to the “Action” node so that actions can be changed. As I know too well, it’s relatively easy to reflect on one’s actions while exhibiting the same insane behavior over and over and over and over………..

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” – Frank Zappa