Healing OrganisationThe Learning and

| trL I by Sohail Inayatullah| .-1Sr I

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practice is the idea of the learningorganisation. What this means is thatwhile it is always important to map theuncertainties of the future, to produce avisionary mission statement and devel-op a clear strategy, these are not suffi-cient factors for business success. Whatis essential is to create an organisationthat reflects upon itself and learns.Managers and employees must be con-stantly engaged in questioning theproducf raw materials, process andoutcomesand outcomes-indeed, theentire core business and competenry.This move from core business to corecompetenry is part of the shift from aproduct-based organisation to a learn-ing-based organisation.

Something MissingHowever, there is something miss-

ing in this approach. Even though alearning organisation is about teambuilding and other participatoryprocesses that create more efficaciousorganisations, they do not touch onthe crisis of the postmodern employ-ee. This crisis is essentially aboutwellbeing and connection, about hav-ing meaning in one's life and workingin an organisation that sustains life.

While working recently as a futur-ist for a State government departmentto develop a vision and a map of itsalternative future, I found resistancefrom some of the mid-level managers.

One manager insisted on repeatingstories of the brutality of the real world.Anothe4 when asked to provide ametaphor for his branctu said he felt likea speck of dust swept away by the latestMinistry to take over the portfolio. Athfud felt there was too much change.The continuous sfress of adapting to a

quickening future had led to changefatigue. At heart, the issue was trauma-not only from the extemal world butfrom inside the organisation as well.Frustration with factors beyond the con-trol of the individuals had led to angeq,both towards colleagues and themselves.

I realised that merely giving bettertools to create preferred futures, whilecritical, was not enouglU since the emo-tional dimension is often not adequatelyaddressed in visioning exercises.

Instead, I invited a gestalt therapist tofacilitate. He asked a range of questions,such as: What is your image of health?What is your image of sickness? What

Enoironmental Earth health. Whatthings are you and the organisationdoing to create a better more sustain-able Earth (for example, recycling,energy efficiency, contributions to lessprivileged people, UNICEF)?

C-osttric health. In the spiritual dimen-sioru the leaming organisation is onlyhalf the story. It speaks to our intellectualselves and the part of the organisationfocused on knowledge innovation. Tosurvive rapid technological and demo-graphic drange (agrng and multicultur-alism), organisations must find ways toleam about leaming. But there is anotherdimension to ourselves-the right brairyif you will. This inner side hates endlessconflicts with employees and the emo-tional traumas that result. It desires innerwellbeing. Hierarchy is one of the struc-fures questioned, creating more conflictas the pyramid begins to flatten and thestructure is challenged by new ways ofknowing, doing, and being.

Ahealing organisation is the secondhalf of a learning organisation.

If we have been defined by nation-hood and business over the last 500years, there is evidence that health andhealing will define us for the next 500years. Along with the triple bottomline of people, planet and prosperity,perhaps health is the fourth dimen-sion, or even more likely, the factorwhich supports the entire enterprise.

What are the obstacles to creating ahealthy self and organisation? One pre-dictor of your future health (along withbehaviour) is your image of health-how you see yourself in the future.Reality and image reinforce each other.

What steps do you wish to take tocreate a healthier self and organisation?We know that visionary companiesrefurn over time 15 times as much inshare-holder value as traditional com-panies. They are living organisations,defined not as structures and functionsbut as biological organisms focused onsurvival and'thrival', developing theirinnate potential (Arie do Geus, TheLiaing Company : grorath, Iearning andlongeuity in business). Moving from sur-vival to thrival means creating ahealthy organisation. EE

Prcfesnr Inayahtllah is n political rimtistlt'ututu researcher assciat-ed with a wriety of uniztetsitia,inchding tlte Queutslmd UniuetsitVof Technology,the Unioasrty of tlte Swtshine Cnost andTamkmgUnhnrsity,Taizum. He cnt fu rcachecl at: untnttmetat'uhoe.org

ACTION: Horq cay you become a learning andhealing organisatioi?

are some obstacles in the way of health?The CEO pay, colleagues, governmentpolicy and too much whinging weresome responses. Then he asked ques-tions such as: In what ways is leadershipbehaving in healthy ways? What aresome things you can to today to createyour image of a healthy organisation?

This exercise had shifted the man-agers' intention towards health.

Health Defined in Five Ways.Indiaidual health. Are you feeling

fulfilled? What are you doing to createa healthier life?

Group health. Do you get along withothers? Do you support others at work?Do they emotionally support you?

Organisational health. Are the mea-sures just profit, or are there others,such as the triple bottom line?