Newfield's Philosophy and Approach to Organizational Learning

The world of business is changing, and it’s changing in fundamental ways.  More and more people, inside and outside the business community, are coming to a similar conclusion: The old rules of business, organization, and leadership, the ones that got us here, are not the ones we need to move forward.  They do not appear to be taking us where we want to go, particularly if where we want to go is a world with more sustainable and more equitable commercial practices, increased environmental health, and improved living conditions for larger and larger numbers of our fellow human beings. 

The new rules are in the process of being written now, by men and women everywhere, leaders and managers who are actively refocusing the goals and the impacts of their organizations.  What it means to be an effective leader today has clearly shifted, as has our entire social / political / environmental landscape.  Our commitment as a company is to support these individuals and organizations in their unprecedented efforts.

A new kind of leadership is emerging—one that requires greater awareness—one that allows us to see how the kinds of relationships we have developed with the rest of reality so far have denied the profound interconnectedness of the world.  We share the view with many that in a variety of ways and at a variety of levels, this disconnection “is reflected in the present ecological disaster, moral disorientation, and spiritual emptiness” (Laszlo, E. (2004). Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions).

We at Newfield believe that without a foundational shift in awareness (or consciousness), any learning pursued by an individual or organization is ultimately going to lead to more of the same: blind exploitation of resources (intended or unintended) and organizational relationships validated only by the achievement of profits. 

We believe that what is so critically needed is a new understanding of learning accompanied by new practices that allow organizations to sustain and nurture a "triple bottom line"—those that value profit and people and the planet. 

Key Changes in the World of Business 

Along with many others, we believe that a transformation is already well underway in the world of business.  The 60s and 70s saw the birth of the first “green” movements around the world, while the 80s and 90s witnessed the end of the Cold War and the movement away from centrally-controlled economies.  During that same time, a series of environmental disasters (Bhopal, Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez) and social disasters (Tienanmen Square massacre, Rwanda atrocities, conflicts connected to the former Yugoslavia, the monetary meltdown of Argentina, etc.) around the globe had the impact of triggering a critical re-thinking of human rights, markets, big business and corporate responsibilities.  It seemed large numbers of people were seriously questioning and taking a new look at the impact of business on the quality of our lives and the ways we live and work together.  More people also began noticing and questioning the impact of many global financial institutions and the social and ethical implications of historically high levels of Third World indebtedness.  

As we’ve moved through a period of intense globalization and increased corporate power (as well as some highly-publicized episodes of corporate greed and corruption), we see a shifting toward responsible globalization.  As a result we are seeing today the evolution of new roles, responsibilities and relationships among the social, private, NGO and governmental sectors.  And we are also witnessing, within more and more individuals and organizations alike, a shifting of awareness and a growing desire for wholeness, integration, and connection. 

The Bigger Picture 

In societies and cultures everywhere, new practices and new ways of thinking emerge in order to address concerns that the existing ways of doing things somehow fail to take care of.  Clearly, we are in such a period now.  For the first time in human history we are dealing with truly global issues that require a new level of thinking and a new level of cooperation. And the large—and growing larger still—impact of business upon the broader environmental, social and economic landscapes simply cannot be ignored.  As the famous economist John Maynard Keynes predicted years ago, for much of the Western world economic development has reached a point where the key focus has moved away from meeting simple survival needs.  For growing numbers of us, our attention—and particularly, our attention in the world of business and commerce—is now free to turn to the larger questions of how, in the midst of such relative abundance, we are to live “wisely and agreeably and well.”

It’s clear that these social and economic concerns are directly connected to business and business practices around the globe, and that in order to begin to address them effectively, the world of business simply must be involved in a significant way. 

New Directions

It is in this environment that we welcome the birth and growth of more and more organizations aligned with fundamentally different priorities.  We are today witnessing a growing need for a new type of leader and a new type of organizational pioneer, men and women (like you) who recognize the fundamental interconnectedness and inherent unity that characterize our world.  We need more leaders and managers who have abandoned the mechanistic metaphor and instead view organizations in much more biological, organic and evolutionary ways.  We need more leaders and managers who value balance between profit-making and global sustainability and who embrace a “whole systems” approach to organizational and social change.  We need more people everywhere who are capable of building and rebuilding trust and inspiring commitment, as well as promoting innovation and integration at a number of levels.  And for this, we are bringing new practices, paradigms and tools for designing and bringing forth the workplace cultures, organizational relationships and personal development that are required for success.

Learning Is One of the Fundamental Keys

We know that organizations and individuals must continually learn in order to be successful.  This is what innovation, adaptability and sustainability are all about.  Curiously, we accept easily that everything around us is changing and we know that we must learn new things, but we somehow don’t think that learning itself must change.  We are fixed in a consumerist approach to learning that equates it to the acquisition of more concepts, more skills and more data, oblivious to the fact that that interpretation is the product of a particular recent era of human history, the Industrial Revolution. Changing this understanding of learning has proven to be very difficult because this type of learning has been extremely successful in many ways.  In particular, it has served as the engine behind 250 years of Western industrial, technological and scientific growth and development.

Learning trust, for example, or empathy or gratitude, does not involve information and data analysis in the same ways that learning markets, strategies and products do.  The entire realm of moods and emotions is central to the new understandings and new relationships which are required here, yet our ways of approaching learning in these areas have been utterly inadequate for the task.  Learning to live in longer timeframes, learning to move through difficult events and situations, learning to listen—and listen deeply—to the concerns and perspectives of those who may be quite different from ourselves—these are all growing, not diminishing, in importance. 

Learning to update beliefs which may have served us in the past but no longer serve us today, learning to take responsibility for them as our beliefs in the first place (as opposed to “the way things are”), learning to let go of simplistic either/or, black/white ways of understanding a complex world—these are all profoundly important and are also not at all well-suited to the traditional, quantitatively-oriented approach to learning.  Learning to see and hold new possibilities, learning to design and create a culture of commitment and a culture of trust, learning to create a space where each individual employee can grow, develop and contribute as fully as possible, learning to facilitate “creative conflict” that yields both superior decision-making as well as strengthened relationships—all are incredibly important and point to our need to somehow un-learn or re-learn a great deal of what we have been taught about our organizations, our employees and ourselves.

Newfield's Focus 

At Newfield our focus is on continuing to design new learning practices to support the courageous who aim to be a new kind of leader, at whatever level in their organization.  We bring profound change to the individual and team level in an organization and we do this in a safe yet provocative context. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with you if you have declared that more of the same kind of learning in your organization is insufficient to navigate the complexities and uncertainty you are facing. 

For more information, email Carolyn Keyes Carstens or phone +1.303.449.6117.

© 2008 The Newfield Network, Inc.  This is an unpublished work by Julio Olalla, Terrie Lupberger and Chalmers Brothers and is protected by copyright law in the United States.  It cannot be reproduced, copied or lent to other people or institutions without express written consent of the Newfield Network.  For more information, phone +1.303.449.6117.