Core Disciplines to Master

By: Dr. Bill Anton

In his book The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge identifies the core disciplines that must be mastered to create a learning organization. What distinguishes learning organizations from traditional authoritarian types is the mastery of these disciplines: personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.

Personal mastery is the discipline of developing our personal vision by focusing our energies and developing a clearer view of reality.

Mental models are the deeply ingrained beliefs and generalizations that influence how we interpret the world and how we take action. Mastery of these two disciplines can be greatly facilitated by individual coaching.

Building shared vision refers to the need for a vision to be shared, if not co-created, by all members of the organization.

Team learning is the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter in a genuine “thinking together” (e.g., a dialogue). Mastery of these two disciplines can be aided with individual coaching but requires structured group participation as well.

Systems thinking, the fifth discipline, is the recognition that organizations are bound by an invisible fabric of interrelated actions.