Personal masteryConcepts and methods from Peter Senge’s “The Fifth Discipline” & ‘’ The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook ”

Mostly people seek physical and intellectual development, very few emotional / personal advancement

There is no tradeoff between higher virtues in life and economic success, on the contrary [!]

Vision without sense of underlying purpose is just a good idea. Conversely, purpose without vision has no sense of appropriate scale.

Purpose: “advancing man’s capability to explore heavens” Vision: “a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s”

Some background info

• “There’s an ease, effortlessness about the way they get things done” – Bill O’Brien from Hannover Insurance

• “They’re more committed, have more initiative, have deeper sense of responsibility, learn faster” - Kazuo Inamori of Kyocera

Observed Characteristics of people with “Personal Mastery”

Reactive orientation towards life

Creative orientation towards life

The Concept of Personal Mastery is all about empowering people

So how does it work?

Constantly clarifying what

is important for me

Constantly learning

seeing Current Reality more

clearly

“Creative Tension”

“Creative Tension” seeks resolution. It is a source of energy and motivation. After you’ve

defined these two, CT seeks a resolution, towards Vision or back to Current Reality

We have an exercise for this

But there is a “Structural Conflict” between your vision and your deep beliefs of

INABILITY and UNWORTHINESS of having your vision realized

• People mostly use 3 strategies to deal with “Structural Conflicts”– Lowering the vision– Doing things due to fear of failure, “Conflict Manipulation”– Overpowering resistances to reach goals through “Willpower”

• All these 3 strategies have weaknesses:– Becoming agree on mediocrity– Living in constant fear of failure– Overwhelming yourself and using too much emotional resources for

success, acting without finding high leverage points (remember Pareto principle?)

• Dealing with the problem of “Structural Conflict” - It needs to be removed! Not coped with.

• How? – as these conflicts are the results of deep beliefs, they can be removed via changing those beliefs

• Trough:1. Commitment to the truth (this is the strongest technique

psychologist have found yet, better than any “formula”)2. An using subconscious mind for our advantage

• Commitment to the truth– don’t lie or deceive yourself, be absolutely honest about your

shortcomings, weaknesses, mistakes.– Two traits play important part here – Courage and Humbleness– Meditation helps us learn to “govern” our mind

• Using subconscious mind (or you don’t need to figure it all out)– Subconscious (in comparison with conscious) mind has a capacity that is

larger by a factor of ten or more – Thus, it has more power to deal with complexities, if activated it performs

most of the “dirty work”

• A rapport can be created between conscious and subconscious parts of mind– Subconscious has no objectives, doesn’t determine its own focus– It is very receptive of our genuine desires, because they are part of the subconscious– It is subject to directing and conditioning [!]– It is responsive to clear focus– In our normal, highly active state of mind the it is overwhelmed with contradictory thoughts

and feelings– Einstein “I have never discovered anything with my rational mind”

• How do you direct and condition it?1. You need to focus on intrinsic desires, most people do not differentiate means with ends,

when you blend these two subconscious has no way of prioritizing2. Making explicit choices

• A team needs to be created to lead transformation to Learning Organization

• A workshop is needed to introduce LO and Personal Mastery, Organizational Learning consultant is a good idea

• Exercise needs to be performed twice per year

How - to

• “To encourage personal mastery an organization must invest intelligence, time, and attention, taking trouble to design new elements into infrastructure”

• To empower people in an unaligned organization can be counterproductive, people need to be having same “shared vision” and same “mental models”, otherwise fostering personal mastery can increase stress and conflicts

• In Beckman Instruments USA practicing “personal mastery” technics took 6 month to start the results showing up

• Ideas of resistance will occur:– Why do we need to talk about this stuff? Isn’t it obvious? Don’t we already know this?

• (One executive vice president said “I’ve lost some good people through this program, I’m here to find out what has been going on in my organization” at the end of the course he said – the reason is that my employees felt they weren’t free to pursue their own vision at that company. Solution is in reworking structures – discussed on page 220)

Keep in mind

• First Part

• Imagine achieving a result in life that you deeply desire (can be anything, regardless of the fact that you are or not in a position to achieve that). For example living in a place or a house you really want to, or having relationships you truly desire.

• Write down – how does it look like? What does it feel like? What words would you use to describe it? (it’s OK if you don’t see your self being in this company)

• To each of the sections below ask two questions – If I could have it now, would I take it? What does it bring me?

Personal Mastery exercise – understanding what you really want

• Second Part• Questions to be answered:

1) Self-image: if you could be exactly the same person you wanted to be what would your qualities be?

2) Tangibles: what material things do you want to own?3) Home: What is your ideal living environment?4) Health: what is your desire for health, fitness and anything to do with your body?5) Relationships: what types of relationships would you like to have with friends,

family, others?6) Work: what is your ideal professional or vocational situation? What impact would

you like your efforts to have?7) Personal pursuits: what would you like to create in the arena of individual learning,

travel, reading or other activities?8) Community: What is your vision for the community or society you live in?9) Other: what else in any other arena of your life would you like to create?10) Life purpose: imagine that your life has a unique purpose-fulfilled through what

you do, your interrelationships, and the way you live. Describe that purpose, as another reflection of your aspirations

• Example of such dialog:My goal right now is to boost my incomeWhat would it bring you? - I could buy a house in North CarolinaWhat would that bring you? - For one thing it would bring me closer to my sisterWhat would that bring you? - A sense of home and connectionBut did you put down on your list that you wanted to have more of a sense of home and connection? - No I didn’t, I just now realize what lies behind my minor desires, major one is sense of home and connectionAnd what would a sense of home and connection bring you?A sense of satisfaction and fulfillmentWhat would that bring you?Nothing else, I just want that, this is what I am striving for, and all the rest – higher income, a house in North Carolina, being close to my sister – these are means to the major desire

• Many components of your vision lead you to same three or four major goals.

• Almost all people believe to have values which we believe to possess and there are values in action that actually govern our behaviors (exceptions are people who possess personal mastery)

• Step 1 – what I value the most:From the list select 10 most to you important ones, you can add any if you want

Understanding your guiding values

Achievement Ethical practice Location SecurityAdvancement and promotion Excellence Loyalty Self – respectAdventure Excitement Market position SerenityAffection (love and caring) Expertise Meaningful work SophisticationArts Fame Merit StabilityChallenging problems Fast living Money StatusChange and variety Fast-paced work Nature Supervision othersClose relationships Financial gain Being around people who are open and hones Time freedomCommunity Freedom Order (tranquility, stability, conformity TruthCompetence Friendships Personal development (living up to fullest use of my potential WealthCompetition Growth Physical challenge WisdomCooperation Having a family Pleasure Work under pressureCountry Helping other people Power and authority Work with othersCreativity Helping society Privacy Working aloneDecisiveness Honesty Public service InvolvementDemocracy Independence Purity Job tranquilityEcological awareness Influencing others Quality of what I take part in KnowledgeEconomic security Inner harmony Quality relationships LeadershipEffectiveness Integrity Recognition (respect from others, status) ReputationEfficiency Intellectual status Religion Responsibility and accountability

• Step 2 – Elimination

Now that you identified ten, imagine that you are only permitted to have five values. Which five would you give up?Now imagine you are permitted four, delete oneNow imagine you are permitted three, delete oneNow imagine you are permitted two, delete oneNow imagine you are permitted one, delete the otherThe one left is (or should be the one that you truly care about). Don’t worry if you have doubts, its like that for the beginners, gradually as you test yourself you come to realize what is truly important for you

• Step 3– ArticulationTake a look at the top three values on your list1. What do they mean exactly? What are you expecting from yourself –

even in bad times2. How would your life be different if those values were prominent and

practiced?3. What would an organization be like which encouraged employees to

live up to those values?4. Does the personal vision which you drew forth reflect these values? If

not, should your personal vision be expanded? Or are you prepared to reconsider your values?

5. Are you willing to choose a life? And an organization in which these values are paramount?

• Organization or a group leader thinking of installing shared vision and personal mastery principles needs to consider these questions for him:

1. What would you personally want to see your organization become?2. What kinds of customers could it have?3. What sorts of processes might it conduct?4. What reputation would it have?5. What contribution would it make?6. What sorts of products or services would it produce?7. What values would it embody?8. What mission would it have?9. Who would be its clients and customers?10. What would its physical environment look like?11. How would people work together?12. How would people handle good and bad times?13. If you created such organization, what would it bring you? How would it allow

your own personal vision to flourish?

Will be glad to help if you have questionsanasrashvili@gmail.com