“You’ve got to see the web” That is the new paradigm for solving world poverty articulated by Jeff Sachs in his new book “The End of Poverty” It is a comprehensive approach to overcoming the obstacles that keep one third of the world’s population in abject poverty.[1] To read the article click here.

“"Life doesn't come with one problem neatly separated from the rest. Specialization is helpful, but you've got to see the web," he says. Sachs labels this comprehensive approach "clinical economics." It's an idea he gleaned from his wife Sonia Ehrlich, a pediatrician.

It’s a paradigm shift that I think has application to a whole host of problems we face in a very complex world that is growing even more complex by the minute. The call for “seeing the web” needs to be heard across all disciplines of knowledge.

It is a call that Peter Senge has issued in his book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.

This book has the ability to bring transformation to the thinking and action of anyone who will take the time to reflect deeply on the principles and truths he teaches. His basic premise is that, through Organizational Learning, companies and individuals can achieve “the results they truly desire”.  He quotes Archimedes “Give me a lever long enough… and single-handed I can move the world.” For Senge this “lever” is a learning organization, that is, an organization that incorporates five disciplines: system thinking; personal mastery; mental models; building shared vision; and team learning.

Systems thinking is a way of looking at the world that sees the story and the patterns behind the complex web of inter relationships and details. These patterns, Senge refers to as “archetypes” The Fifth Discipline is the discipline of discovering these archetypes and making them explicit so one can evaluate the assumptions and the thinking that underlie them.

The second discipline, Personal Mastery, is the ability to see clearly the vision, where one wants to go, and the current state of reality, where one is presently located, and then, to manage the tension between these two pictures.

The third discipline of Mental Models uses a process of reflection and inquiry that gets at the truth about current reality so one can see clearly about how to move towards the vision.

The fourth discipline of building shared visions, is the process of capturing people’s attention by the discovery of a common idea of the future that generates commitment from followers.

Once a shared vision is articulated, team learning, the fifth discipline, will help refine the vision through dialogue, the capacity of members to think together while suspending assumptions.

Organizational learning is not a new concept. Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus mention it in their book Leaders, The Strategies for Taking Charge. However, the approach taken by Senge has fostered a whole community dedicated to the Learning Organization, The Society for Organizational Learning.

There is much that the Christian community can learn from Senge’s work especially with respect to Mental Modeling. Paul refers to “speculations… raised up against the knowledge of God and … taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) These speculations and thoughts are “mental models” that need to be exposed to the light of God’s truth as well as the truth about current reality. 

One of these “mental models” is the dichotomized thinking the church has with respect to Christian service and calling to the Lord’s work. The New Way to Work I present in this online journal overcomes this old mental model. I am attempting to build a shared vision of a new way to work that embodies the Christian faith. So I encourage dialogue along these lines.