From the organizational learning work of Chris Argyris and Donald Schön (Organizational Learning, 1978), Bo Hedberg (How Organizations Learn and Unlearn, 1981), and Paul Nystrom and William Starbuck (To Avoid Organizational Crises, Unlearn, 1984).
Audits a firmly held belief against its actual evidence and lowers confidence to match, then adjusts the beliefs and actions that rested on it.
When to reach for it
When evidence has turned against a long-held view, or a team keeps acting on a conclusion whose support has worn thin.
How it runs
- Name a belief held with notable confidence.
- List the evidence that actually supports it.
- Compare the confidence with the support, and note any gap.
- Lower confidence to match the evidence.
- Adjust the beliefs and actions that depended on it.
- Log the change to see where overcommitment recurs.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective, 1978
- How Organizations Learn and Unlearn, Handbook of Organizational Design, vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 1981
- To Avoid Organizational Crises, Unlearn, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 12, 1984