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  • November 2015
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

Why Organizations Don't Learn: Our Traditional Obsessions—Success, Taking Action, Fitting In, and Relying on Experts—Undermine Continuous Improvement

By: F. Gino and B. Staats
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

For any enterprise to be competitive, continuous learning and improvement are key—but not always easy to achieve. After a decade of research, the authors have concluded that four biases stand in the way: we focus too heavily on success, are too quick to act, try too hard to fit in, and rely too much on experts. Each of these biases raises challenges, but each can be curbed with particular strategies. A preoccupation with success, for example, leads to an unreasonable fear of failure, a mindset that inhibits risk taking, a focus on past performance rather than potential, and blindness to the role of luck in successes and failures. Managers, therefore, need to treat mistakes as learning opportunities, recognize and foster workers' capacity for growth, and conduct data-based project reviews. To counter the bias toward action—and the unthinking perpetual motion and exhaustion that ensue—leaders can schedule more work breaks and make time for reflection. They can redress the tendency to conform, which stifles innovation, by encouraging workers to cultivate their individual strengths and to speak up when they have ideas for improvements. And they can develop and empower their employees to solve problems instead of turning automatically to outside experts.

Keywords

Organizations; Learning

Citation

Gino, F., and B. Staats. "Why Organizations Don't Learn: Our Traditional Obsessions—Success, Taking Action, Fitting In, and Relying on Experts—Undermine Continuous Improvement." Harvard Business Review 93, no. 11 (November 2015): 110–118.
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About The Author

Francesca Gino

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Mary Caroline Tillman at Egon Zehnder: Spotting Talent in the 21st Century By: Francesca Gino, Bradely R. Staats and Anne Marie Green
  • You Need Two Leadership Gears: Know When to Take Charge and When to Get Out of the Way By: Lindy Greer, Francesca Gino and Robert Sutton
  • Authentic First Impressions Relate to Interpersonal, Social, and Entrepreneurial Success By: David M. Markowitz, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Jeffrey T. Hancock and Ryan L. Boyd
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