Are you still scattering "fertiliser" on barren soil? Beyond "One-and-Done" Training. The Science of Cultivating "Soil" for an Autonomously Evolving Organisation
- P-Lab. Admin
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
1. Deciphering the Trap of "Fertiliser" Through Systems Thinking
In promoting SDGs or developing transformational leaders, many companies tend to start by teaching the "correct answers" (a deductive approach). In The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge warns against reliance on such easy solutions, describing it through the systems archetype known as "Shifting the Burden" [1].
To use an agricultural metaphor, this is like scattering chemical fertiliser on exhausted land. While fertiliser (injecting knowledge from the outside) acts as a "symptomatic treatment" with immediate effects, over-reliance on it weakens the organisation's inherent ability to grow on its own (fundamental solution capability). As a result, you create a dependent organisational structure that withers unless you keep applying fertiliser.
For example, if you feel that "training effects are hard to perceive" or "behavior in the field changes only temporarily" despite repeated employee training, it is highly likely that this phenomenon (dependence on symptomatic treatments) is occurring within your organisation.
2. The "Inductive Approach" as a Fundamental Solution
Of course, there are certainly situations where chemical fertiliser (immediate correct answers) is necessary to save a crop that is about to wither. However, "true growth," where an organisation evolves autonomously, arises not from external inputs, but from "inductive learning" from within.
Experiential learning and PBL (Project-Based Learning) aim to weave meaning from each individual's raw experiences and make them part of the organisation's DNA. This is a "fundamental solution" approach that cultivates the "soil itself" rather than relying on external inputs. The "Learning Organisation" that Senge describes refers to a field where this soil (the consciousness and relationships of its members) is rich, and where people continually expand their capacity.
A rich soil doesn't just mean a good atmosphere. In an era of rapid change, it means becoming an organisation that doesn't wait for instructions but discovers and solves problems on its own—a highly resilient organization. This is the greatest asset in Human Capital Management.
This process of "soil cultivation" deepens through the following three stages:
3-1. [Experience] Shaking Up "Mental Models" (Restoring Agency)
In lecture-only training, participants tend to become "bystanders." However, in the immersive environment of a simulation game, their own actions affect the world in real-time.
The tangible sensation that "my choices change the future"—this is one of the characteristics of "Agency" [2], as conceptualized by Bandura. When participants gain this, they become aware of their fixed "mental models" (stereotypes about themselves or the world) and prepare to break free from them. This is the first step toward "Personal Mastery," which Senge emphasises.
3-2. [Reflection] Diving into the Valley of the U and Touching the Source (Presencing)
The "reflection" conducted after the experience is a time for "Presencing" (connecting to the source), as shown by Otto Scharmer in Theory U. Here, we shed light not only on logical analysis but also on the sensations before they become words (the non-verbal realm).
"Why couldn't I move at that moment? What sensations were appearing in my body then?"
By picking up on somatic discomforts ("Felt Sense" [3]), we stop the replay of past data (Downloading) and touch the source of our deepest values.
3-3. [Dialogue] Shared Vision and the Quality of Relationships (Team Learning)
The insights that well up from within are sublimated into a "Shared Vision" for the entire organisation through dialogue with others. What is needed here is "Team Learning" as Senge describes it, and turning the "Cycle of Success" [4] by Daniel Kim.
By listening to each other with "Empathy" [5]—imagining each other's backgrounds—the vague sensations felt during the experience take on "contours." As the quality of relationships (the soil) improves, the organisation advances to a stage where it co-creates a "Possible World"—one that does not exist on the extension line of the past.
The difference lies between memorising given correct answers and finding your own convincing answers through trial and error.
Bibliography
[5] Carl Rogers, The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(6)
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