As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” From those times in ancient Greece up to the present, Heraclitus’ words still ring true. Indeed, the certainty behind them has become even more apparent in the fast-paced, knowledge-driven world, where change happens in the blink of an eye.
Accordingly, the top management experts around the world emphasize that the best strategies are the ones that assume a VUCA environment: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Even from everyday experiences, the reality of VUCA is validated, thus requiring a framework to excel in ever-changing and formless situations.
“The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization,” noted Dr. Peter Senge, arguably the world’s foremost authority on systems science and a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.
In his pioneering book entitled “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization” – a book which has since become a required reading for nearly all Ivy-League curriculums – Dr. Senge defined learning organizations as those that encourage adaptive and generative learning, encouraging their members to think outside the box and work in conjunction with other’s strengths to find the best answer to any problem. “As change is unending in nature, so should learning be,” he said.
Due to the phenomenal success of “The Fifth Discipline,” countless companies worldwide made institutional changes in order to transform themselves into learning organizations. Soon, however, there was a clamor to learn more from Dr. Senge, specifically how to sustain the momentum of their efforts. In response, Dr. Senge wrote a follow-up book, “The Dance of Change”, which details how to overcome the ten most common challenges that undermine a company’s attempt to change and become a learning organization.
Since then, Dr. Senge has authored and/or co-authored nearly 20 best-selling books and manuals, and has toured extensively throughout the world in sold-out seminars. In 2011, he held his first conference in the Philippines, but was unable to conduct a follow-up due to his jam-packed schedule.
Seven years later, Dr. Senge will once again visit the country to share his expertise with current and future leaders. In a conference entitled “Dance of Change in the Age of Complexity”, Dr. Senge will delve deep into learning organizations, systems thinking, the Five Disciplines, and his other theories and its applications to create high performing organizations.
The three-day event is presented by The Rizal Academy for Innovation and Leadership and will be held on Feb. 21 to 23 at Shangri-la Fort in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The conference is seen to be beneficial to companies and businesses, schools and government agencies, with keynote speakers from each sector imparting their knowledge with attendees.
Senge’s “Deep Dive” sessions will happen on the third day and will serve as a synthesis of all the topics learned throughout the event.