Transformational Learning

I also believe Transformational Learning Theory provides a power model for describing and analyzing how people and institutions respond to change, and thus, has  important implications for thinking about administration and organizational leadership.

In Immunity to Change, Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey argue that successful growth for both individuals and organizations hinges on first recognizing the ways in which we regularly undermine—even block—our own development; often in ways that run directly counter to our stated beliefs and goals. Based on more than thirty years of research on the psychodynamics of adult learning in academic and professional contexts, Kegan and Lahey suggest several reasons why this happens.

First, we often mistake the kind of change needed when facing new situations—employing technical solutions (changes in policies, practices, procedures) when adaptive ones (changes in perspective, values, relationships) are what is really required. Second, Kegan and Lahey argue that mental development in adults actually occurs in distinct stages, and subsequently, not everyone in a given group or organization processes information in the same ways. Because of this, actions taken by (or on behalf of) one group or unit can often be misinterpreted by those in another.