Unlearning: The Hidden Key to Organizational Transformation
Issue 206, April 3, 2025
Let us count the number of times we have heard this: “But we’ve always done it this way,” Or this: “It’s always worked in the past.” And this: “Why would we change? We’re good at what we do.” These aren’t cliches, they are tried and true working operational strategies for many organizations. At 2040 we are dedicated to meaningful change and transformation and we know how hard this process is. We have written extensively about what’s holding you back, letting go, unlearning, and an entire guidebook on change and transformation, The Truth About Transformation. We understand the barriers, pitfalls, and vulnerabilities of change. And the source is us, the human factor.
The Weakest Link
What if your organization’s greatest asset, its experience and its history, is actually its greatest liability? The billion-dollar question is how to change work processes ingrained over time that are comfortable, stuck in the past or so static that they no longer produce results. The next question is how to move an organization and its workforce away from the trap of habit and repetition and move it forward.
First a warning. When systems and strategies aren’t working as well as they used to, most organizations react with familiar knee-jerk solutions. They change organizational models in a revolving door control strategy replacing centralization with decentralization or vice versus. They fire people. They move people around. They return to what seemed to work in the past. They assign blame. Then they rewrite their strategic and operational plans, again.
However, what nearly all organizations don’t do is change their fundamental beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. They don’t unlearn bad habits; they simply double down on them. This topic is particularly relevant right now as many organizations are being forced to change given new US Federal mandates, guidelines and orders — or in response to what they think might come down the path. Imposed change is like an unexpected electric shock. You didn’t see it coming and are left shaken. Necessary change from within is different: It is by choice but often doesn’t address the core causes of dysfunction or poor performance. It addresses the veneer of change, not the systemic breakdowns. Which brings us to unlearning.
The Challenge of Unlearning
Organizational unlearning is the deliberate process of letting go of outdated knowledge, practices, and beliefs, even visions and structures that no longer serve the organization’s purpose and/or goals. Those practices keep an organization experiencing the same problems over and over again resulting in an ingrained foundation with many cracks and structural hinge points of failure.
Continuous improvement and learning can be helpful in identifying where infrastructure cracks exist. But our default is typically to fix any cracks by applying a shiny new process that doesn’t really address the reasons the foundation is cracked in the first place. If your foundation is broken, you need to ask yourself if it’s strong enough to rebuild on. And if it’s not, how do you unlearn how you built it?
Of course, unlearning is more challenging than learning because it requires acknowledging what made you successful or even functional in the past may be holding you back. While learning adds new capabilities and skills, unlearning demands dismantling established mental models and behaviors that have become embedded in organizational culture. It takes energy and a fresh perspective and most importantly, it takes turning away from the past to activate a new future.
We know that organizations struggle to let go of things they have learned and perfected, especially false or outdated information. Memory is a powerful deterrent to change. So are pride, hubris, stubbornness, and ignorance. We work with many clients who know they need to change and say they want to change. But something interesting happens in this process: the energy and will to change are short-lived, impediments and roadblocks become too numerous, the culture pushes back, and eventually, those grand plans and visions fade away.
This case study happens more often than you’d imagine. A CEO wants to please all her stakeholders. She knows that transforming her organization will make it more competitive and makes a strong case with her board that her executive team is working on plans for significant change. She oversees the team with a different intention: Don’t rock the boat. She insinuates gradual, gentle change and wants to make her team happy, knowing that many of them are close to board members and she wants to keep her job. She ends up caught in a web woven with cross purposes. The board becomes increasingly frustrated while the executive team remains sanguine and loyal to her. If you were chair of the board, what would you do? How would you empower change that has become a political stake in the ground?
Here’s another case. A marketing director realizes that existing strategies for content and event marketing are no longer working well. A new digital manager has implemented an SEO protocol to increase visibility and response with the organization’s audience and potential customers. The director takes personal ownership of all marketing messaging and considers himself a domain expert on effective wordsmithing. The imposition of SEO has him baffled. Instead of clever headlines and content, he has been asked to write informed by SEO recommendations that are delivered through a GPT search for keywords based on search traffic. He scoffs at this practice considering that AI is just talking to AI, and it has nothing to do with human intelligence and impulses. How would you convince him to unlearn an attitude and behavior that is so ingrained he can’t see how to learn another approach? This is the unlearning of ignorance.
Non-Change Agents
Several key attitudes make unlearning difficult. We suggest that when you consider these behaviors you might apply them to the dynamics of family, groups and inter-personal relationships in addition to organizational change. They are, after all, universally human factors.
Cognitive biases. Confirmation bias leads people to favor information that supports existing beliefs and practices.
Emotional attachment. People become emotionally invested in the approaches they helped create.
Identity ties. “This is how we do things” becomes “this is who we are.”
Success traps. Past triumphs create a commitment to the strategies that produced them even when they are no longer relevant.
Organizational memory. Practices become codified in processes, training, and systems
Roadblocks and barriers. Impediments prevent progress, deflating change agents to eventually acquiesce.
Course Correction
So, what are you going to do?
There are a few great examples of organizations that have dramatically changed their mindsets and deeply rooted behaviors to learn a better way to serve customers.
The classic case is Netflix which was a DVD rental-by-mail service. It pivoted to streaming in the mid-2000s and later invested heavily in original content. The outcome was to become a global entertainment powerhouse.
IBM shifted from hardware to software, then to AI (Watson) and enterprise consulting. The result is it survived while other hardware makers struggled.
Nintendo was a playing card company in the 19th century and moved into toys, arcade games, and later home gaming consoles. Today it is a gaming giant with global franchises.
Nokia started as a paper and rubber company and pivoted to become a telecom giant with mobile phones, then pivoted again to focus on networking equipment after smartphones disrupted its market. It is still a major player in telecommunications.
Marvel was a struggling comic book company that almost went bankrupt. It created its own movie studio (MCU) instead of licensing characters and today is a billion-dollar entertainment empire and part of Disney.
American Express started as a freight and mail delivery service. It shifted to financial services and then became known for credit cards; now it is one of the most recognizable financial brands.
How Can Any Organization Navigate Unlearning?
The basis is fundamental change. Here’s an R3 formula: Recognition (identifying what needs to be unlearned), reflection (understanding why), and reframing (developing new perspectives). Next, honestly audit organizational practices to identify outdated approaches. Then create safe spaces for experimentation where failure is viewed as valuable learning. And recruit younger employees to mentor executives on new technologies and approaches. Determining a sound achievable vision, communicating that vision and forming a shared purpose enables employees to understand and embrace the new vision. Clear communication of the vision helps identify what is no longer relevant and needs to be unlearned.
Leading Unlearning
Legitimate, lasting change starts at the top. It takes vision matched with operational expertise and personal empathy to transform an organization. Effective leaders are models of vulnerability by acknowledging when they need to unlearn something. They remove structural barriers to unlearning (like outdated performance metrics). They are also hyper-sensitive to the people who will implement change by creating psychological safety for questioning established practices. They reward employees who constructively challenge the status quo. And they lead an organization forward by telling new stories that help reframe organizational identity.
Here is a simple nine-step guide to help an organization unlearn bad habits, attitudes, and behaviors by fostering a culture of continuous learning, adaptability, and accountability. It takes an effective leader to facilitate this process, one who has created and promoted the organization’s new vision, set the strategic direction and correlated both to a sound operational plan.
Create awareness. Effective leaders first recognize and acknowledge harmful behaviors or outdated habits within the organization. They use data, case studies, and real-world examples to illustrate the consequences of these behaviors. Further, they encourage open discussions where employees can share perspectives without fear of retaliation.
Set clear expectations. Leaders clearly define new behaviors, attitudes, and habits that align with the organization’s vision, mission, and values. They establish guidelines and standards that reinforce positive change.
Lead by example. Effective leaders model desired behaviors consistently. When they exhibit accountability, adaptability, and open-mindedness, employees are more likely to follow.
Provide training and development. Great leaders offer unlearning workshops, coaching, and mentorship programs to help employees shift their mindsets and develop new skills. They use behavioral psychology techniques to replace negative habits with positive ones.
Encourage psychological safety. Leaders create an environment where employees feel safe to take risks, challenge old ways of thinking, and experiment without fear of punishment. Plus, they promote open communication and feedback loops to reinforce learning.
Implement systems for reinforcement. Unlearning is supported by changing policies, incentives, and performance metrics to align with new behaviors. Leaders reward and recognize those who demonstrate progress and commitment to unlearning negative habits.
Hold people accountable. Effective leaders consistently address resistance and non-compliance while providing support for those struggling with change. They establish peer accountability where teams encourage each other to uphold the new standards.
Promote a growth mindset. Leaders encourage employees to see challenges as opportunities to learn rather than threats. And they share success stories of individuals or teams who have successfully unlearned harmful habits.
Continuous reinforcement and adaptation. Changing behaviors is an ongoing process. Effective leaders continually reassess and refine unlearning strategies and regularly check in with teams to ensure that progress is sustained.
The Key to Transformation
Unlearning is the deep way to change and transform an organization sustainably. Our very human nature wants us to hold onto certainty and predictability and avoid confrontations. Our personal default is to be comfortable, and organizations are the same. In a highly dynamic ever-changing environment, our defaults feed the very potential for failure. We know it’s hard, but for true transformation, we must change and unlearn to meet the day and be prepared for the future. When you get into the right mindset, unlearning can be invigorating and a revelation of why we hold onto what no longer works. You might be pleasantly surprised; we have been!
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Get “The Truth about Transformation”
The 2040 construct to change and transformation. What’s the biggest reason organizations fail? They don’t honor, respect, and acknowledge the human factor.
We have compiled a playbook for organizations of all sizes to consider all the elements that comprise change and we have included some provocative case studies that illustrate how transformation can quickly derail.