Leading Organizational Learning

• People want to belong and feel a sense of pride in their jobs, orga-
  nizations, and associates.People come to work hoping that this com-
  pany will be a great company where they will be able to make a
  maximum contribution. Initial experiences are compelling, and
  people need to see that the company is worthy of their commit-
  ment. At times they will turn down promotions, transfers, or new
  jobs based on a desire to stay a part of something they are proud of
  or to avoid moving to a place where the opposite is true.


• People are diverse and desire to be treated as unique individuals
  in the workplace.They crave to be recognized and appreciated for
  the individual strengths and talents they bring to the team. Too
  often organizations look at people with the approach of what works
  for the majority or who most closely fits the “organizational mold.”
  Harnessing the energy that comes from individual strengths can
  make a formidable team more capable of delivering results at a
  phenomenal level.


• People desire to feel important, needed, useful, confident, suc-
  cessful, proud, and respected.People do not like to feel unimportant,
  interchangeable, useless, fearful, anonymous, or expendable.

The Time for Action: Now

The evidence is overwhelming that building more inspired teams
will require most leaders to rethink their leadership. To do so, they
will have to resist the temptation to seek out simple contingency
models and instead opt for a career filled with self-examination and
self-discovery. Because good methods for examining our thinking
have not fully evolved, leaders must participate in a dialogue that
can help them challenge their basic assumptions about effective
leadership.
This journey must begin with a comparison of espoused beliefs
and day-to-day leadership choices. By evaluating the inconsisten-
cies in words and actions, they will be better able to identify the
changes they must make in order to lead authentically. Our fervent
hope is that the time that McGregor envisioned, when significant

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