A previous post covered Peter Senge's conception of a learning organization. Personal Mastery is a major element of a learning organization to which every employee should aspire. Personal Mastery is a phrase used for high levels of the discipline of personal growth and learning.
For a company to continue to grow and be successful, they must be learning organizations. Learning organizations learn only by their individual members learning. Employees that strategically and consistently learn optimize their potential and reach high levels of personal mastery.
Employees with high levels of personal mastery are more committed and take more initiative. They have a broader and deeper sense of responsibility in their own work. If hiring professionals do not measure potential hires about their love of learning, they probably should do so. Companies need employees that love to learn.
Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline) writes that personal mastery is a discipline with a series of practices and principles that must be applied to be useful. Personal mastery begins with personal vision. Most people have ambitions, goals, and objectives, but that is not vision. The cornerstone of personal mastery is the ability to focus on the ultimate intrinsic desire, not just the secondary goals to achieve them.
A CEO may desire to have the greatest amount of market share in their industry. This sounds like a vision, but it is just an intermediate goal to get the company to where they want it to be. The ultimate destination for the company is the vision--being the leader in their industry in reputation and every measurable matrix.
For the individual, vision must be understood in terms of the idea of purpose. "Purpose" is the individual's sense of why they are alive. However, purpose and vision are different. Purpose is a general direction and vision is a specific destination. Purpose is abstract and vision is concrete. Vision tends to be internal and purpose is external. Vision is something you desire for its intrinsic values, not because of where it takes you relative to others. Vision is not a career, although it may include it. Vision is what you want to create of yourself and the world around you. It is what you envision for your life. Vision is a mental picture of the way things could be in your future.
Personal mastery comes as we begin to fill the gaps between our vision and the reality that exists now. There are always gaps between our current reality and our vision. The high school student wants to become a doctor, but they see the gaps between where they are now and their ultimate vision. Sometimes these gaps are so insurmountable the person gives up on them before they begin. But these gaps can also be a source of energy and motivation. If there were no gaps, there would be no need for learning or personal mastery.
Senge calls the energy where the gap exists, creative tension. When our vision is different from our reality, the gap can be resolved in two ways: (a) take steps to bring reality into line with the vision, or (b) lower the vision to bring it into line with reality. Adapting the vision to the reality is not much of a solution because it brings other problems, but it is surprising how often this happens. When we take steps to bring reality in line with the vision, our view of failure changes and brings out a capacity for perseverance and patience. Failure is just an opportunity for learning and growing. Effective use of creative tension leads to a shift in our view of reality. Current reality becomes our ally. An accurate, insightful view of current reality is as important as a clear vision.
So What?
Your employer, whether they tell you or not, wants you to continue learning and developing. (Ok, there may be an insecure employer or manager that is content right where you are, but they are interested primarily in themselves, not the company.) A good employee takes control of their life and career an personal mastery is a step to taking control of your career.
Going Further
1. Describe the vision you have for your life. Career is only one aspect of your life, what is the vision for your life?
2. Describe the reality that your find yourself in.
3. Describe the gaps that your see between your current reality and the vision for your life.
4. What things do your need to do and learn to bridge these gaps?
5. What can you start doing today that will get you closer to the vision you have for the future?
Employees with high levels of personal mastery are more committed and take more initiative. They have a broader and deeper sense of responsibility in their own work. If hiring professionals do not measure potential hires about their love of learning, they probably should do so. Companies need employees that love to learn.
Peter Senge (The Fifth Discipline) writes that personal mastery is a discipline with a series of practices and principles that must be applied to be useful. Personal mastery begins with personal vision. Most people have ambitions, goals, and objectives, but that is not vision. The cornerstone of personal mastery is the ability to focus on the ultimate intrinsic desire, not just the secondary goals to achieve them.
A CEO may desire to have the greatest amount of market share in their industry. This sounds like a vision, but it is just an intermediate goal to get the company to where they want it to be. The ultimate destination for the company is the vision--being the leader in their industry in reputation and every measurable matrix.
For the individual, vision must be understood in terms of the idea of purpose. "Purpose" is the individual's sense of why they are alive. However, purpose and vision are different. Purpose is a general direction and vision is a specific destination. Purpose is abstract and vision is concrete. Vision tends to be internal and purpose is external. Vision is something you desire for its intrinsic values, not because of where it takes you relative to others. Vision is not a career, although it may include it. Vision is what you want to create of yourself and the world around you. It is what you envision for your life. Vision is a mental picture of the way things could be in your future.
Personal mastery comes as we begin to fill the gaps between our vision and the reality that exists now. There are always gaps between our current reality and our vision. The high school student wants to become a doctor, but they see the gaps between where they are now and their ultimate vision. Sometimes these gaps are so insurmountable the person gives up on them before they begin. But these gaps can also be a source of energy and motivation. If there were no gaps, there would be no need for learning or personal mastery.
Senge calls the energy where the gap exists, creative tension. When our vision is different from our reality, the gap can be resolved in two ways: (a) take steps to bring reality into line with the vision, or (b) lower the vision to bring it into line with reality. Adapting the vision to the reality is not much of a solution because it brings other problems, but it is surprising how often this happens. When we take steps to bring reality in line with the vision, our view of failure changes and brings out a capacity for perseverance and patience. Failure is just an opportunity for learning and growing. Effective use of creative tension leads to a shift in our view of reality. Current reality becomes our ally. An accurate, insightful view of current reality is as important as a clear vision.
So What?
Your employer, whether they tell you or not, wants you to continue learning and developing. (Ok, there may be an insecure employer or manager that is content right where you are, but they are interested primarily in themselves, not the company.) A good employee takes control of their life and career an personal mastery is a step to taking control of your career.
Going Further
1. Describe the vision you have for your life. Career is only one aspect of your life, what is the vision for your life?
2. Describe the reality that your find yourself in.
3. Describe the gaps that your see between your current reality and the vision for your life.
4. What things do your need to do and learn to bridge these gaps?
5. What can you start doing today that will get you closer to the vision you have for the future?
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