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How I Met Your Mother 


I'm all for positivity and good vibes for this week's journal as I'm feeling a bit "guilty" for asking and convincing my team to decide on something that I was so sure of doing in yesterday's rollover, but now and seeing the results made me question myself as to whether it was a great decision or not at all useful and helpful for us in the long run. As for the quote above, "that certain decision," I hope isn't a mistake. I have thought about it logically (I felt that it aligned with our strategy and goals) in making it and I do hope that it will benefit us in the future rollovers. It has to. It needs to. (big grin) I think that it's sensible to make calculated risks from time to time, not just in the simulation, but in our lives as well. Moving forward... 


Learning never stops. If you make mistakes now and everything isn't okay, it's all good because it's not the end. 

(c) pinterest 

Not only are mistakes proof that you're trying, it's also the smartest and best way to learn so you won't have to make the same mistakes again. 

In this week's reading by Chris Argyris, Teaching Smart People How to Learn (1991) talks about two kinds of learning: single loop learning and double loop learning. 



Argyris mentions that "highly skilled professionals are frequently very good at single-loop learning...professionals are often bad at double-loop learning, because many professionals are almost always successful at what they do, they rarely experience failure. And because they have rarely failed, they have never learned from failure. So whenever their single-loop learning strategies go wrong, they become defensive, screen out criticism, and put the 'blame' on anyone and everyone but themselves. Their ability to learn shuts down precisely at the moment they need it the most." (Argyris, 1991) I just found this interesting and I would like to believe that I'm a double-loop learner, because my issue was if I've done the right thing in convincing my team to make a very risky (I'd like to put it as a calculated risk) decision with me or if it was totally a mistake. I didn't really blame anyone else, but myself as I convinced them to make that decision with me. I really don't know if it is worth it until the next rollover. I would like to believe and I would want to be very good at "double-loop learning" and I'd like to think that it's how I learn and that's how I want to learn. "Double-loop learning is- this cyclical process of applying a new strategy to achieve an expected or desired outcome may occur several times and we may never succeed. Running out of strategies may push us to re-evaluate the deeper governing variables that make us behave the ways we do. Re-evaluating and reframing our goals, values and beliefs is a more complex way of processing information and involves a more sophisticated way of engaging with an experience." (Romero-Pereda, 2012) When I make decisions, I take into consideration how I am "feeling" towards the issues faced, I'd also like to believe that I think of my decisions in a logical manner somehow ((big grin)) and how it can affect other members of my team and our performance and if it aligns with our goals and strategies. The thing is that this certain decision can both impact our team positively or negatively, but whatever the effect is, we can always do something about it and learn from it. What I would want to do about this issue is to think about it critically (if it is really really worth it), calculate and evaluate the risks and consequences of it. This particular decision can be undone, but the thing about mistakes as seen above is that it has to be done, in order to know if it really is a mistake or if it isn't after all. 

The best thing about MikesBikes is that we learn from experience, might it be in the simulation itself or outside of it, such as the readings that we cover every week and the journals that we write. I'd like to believe that this is enough motivation for us to keep on learning. In MikesBikes I'm sure we all try our best to win, learn and grow through experience. As mentioned in Argyris' reading: "There seems to be a universal human tendency to design one's actions consistently according to four basic values: 

  1. To remain in unilateral control.
  2. To maximise "winning" and minimise "losing."
  3. To suppress negative feeling
  4. To be as "rational" as possible - by which people mean defining clear objectives and evaluating their behaviour in terms of whether or not they have achieved them. 

The purpose of all these values is to avoid embarrassment or threat, feeling vulnerable or incompetent." (Argyris, 1991) Most of us probably experiences all or some of these, but I feel like it's just human nature to do so and what must be done is to not be afraid of making mistakes and to think that besides the fact that mistakes are proof that we are trying, it is also a way for us to learn and to improve. (smile) 




  1. Hey Camille! This is kinda awkward, having to asses my own teammates work (tongue)

    But honestly (without any bias) this has been a thrill to read, and possibly the best journal i've seen so far! Firstly the presentation is great, the incorporation of quotes and pictures really brings some life to the journal. As for your content, it was great (smile) I basically can't pick any holes in this whatsoever. I don't know what else to say except keep doing what you're doing!

    On another note don't feel bad about our rollover results, we still hold a major portion of market share. If we were a political party we'd be the majority government by a long shot (relevant) (tongue) Also we've set the stage to implement our strategy, and we're going to power through the next rollover for sure (smile)

    See you on Tuesday!
    Edward James

  2. Hi Camille, (I will try to be as objective as possible (big grin)):

    I think the key problem you have identified were the uncertainty between short term performance of our team versus the long term performance we could had in the future. By linking it the Mike's Bike simulation, due to the fact that the results did not lived up to your expectation and therefore second doubts were raised to the previous strategies. Essentially this is a good thing because as mentioned in the double loop learning process, we can learning from this set back and come up with better strategies. You have showed a high level of blooms taxonomy, by implementing the problem to your current situation in the mike's bike team. You have mentioned some of the possible ways to confront this problem and that is to re-evaluate the deeper governing variables, which is nice, but can be improved if you offered some more specific examples of how you want to do that in the context of your team.


    Overall a impressive journal, the pictures and quotes made the journal more enjoyable to read, keep up the good work and see you on Tuesday.