Society for Organizational Learning · Singapore

Learning together for systemic change and social well-being

SoL Singapore is a non-profit membership society dedicated to the interdependent development of people and institutions — through research, capacity building, and practice.

Part of the global SoL network

GASC Member Community Singapore Chapter

Research

Disciplined pursuit of discovery and understanding through collaborative inquiry.

Capacity Building

Enhancing people's capabilities individually and collectively, drawing on research insights.

Practice

Applying and growing know-how within organizations to improve institutional performance.

Global Network

Connected to the worldwide GASC community, sharing learning across cultural and generational boundaries.

Why SoL Singapore exists

Fundamental Purpose of SoL

"The purpose of SoL is to discover, integrate and implement theories and practices for the interdependent development of people and their institutions. We hope to enable people to connect with their deepest aspirations so as to facilitate collaboration for systemic change and social well-being."

How we are together

We believe this is achieved through ways of being with one another based on trust, openness, imagination, genuine caring and collective intelligence — enabling us to see the larger systems we are creating and continually evolve them in line with our highest aspirations.

Action and reflection

We are defined by our actions, and the quality of our actions is married with the quality of our reflection. Our network consists of and attracts living examples from learning communities nurturing systemic change.

Join Our Community

About SoL Singapore

We believe organisations
can be a force for good.

A community of practitioners, leaders, and changemakers learning together — so that the way we work becomes better for everyone.

1997
SoL founded globally
20+
Countries in our network
∞
Conversations that matter

Not just another professional network

SoL Singapore is a community built around a simple but radical idea: that the way organisations learn — or fail to learn — shapes the world we all live in.

We are an independent, non-profit membership society, part of the Global Association of SoL Communities (GASC). We bring together people from all sectors — business, education, healthcare, civil society — who are committed to making change happen through deeper learning.

Whether you are early in your career or a seasoned leader, whether you run a startup or a government agency — if you care about how organisations and people grow, you belong here.

"The purpose of SoL is to discover, integrate and implement theories and practices for the interdependent development of people and their institutions."

— SoL Fundamental Purpose

We are self-organising, self-governing, driven by volunteer leadership — a community that belongs to its members, not the other way around.

What draws people to SoL

People come to SoL for different reasons — and find more than they expected.

You want to grow differently

Not through another certification or course — but through real conversations with people who are wrestling with the same questions you are.

You want a different kind of network

One built on genuine curiosity and shared purpose, not business cards and LinkedIn requests. Connections that go deeper than your industry.

You want to be part of something bigger

SoL Singapore is connected to a global movement across 20+ countries — your local community has a global reach and global partners.

You want ideas that actually work

SoL is grounded in rigorous research and real-world practice. We bridge theory and action — learning communities that create on-the-ground change.

You want to shape the future of work

The way we organise, lead, and collaborate is changing. SoL is where people actively designing better organisations come to think together.

You want to be heard and valued

As a member-led community, every voice counts. You are not an audience — you are a co-creator of what SoL Singapore becomes.

Part of a worldwide learning movement

SoL Singapore is one community within the Global Association of SoL Communities — a network of independent societies spanning every continent, sharing knowledge, hosting each other's members, and collaborating on the questions that matter most.

SINGAPORE
Share knowledge globally
Connect across cultures
Mentor new communities
Fund research together
Bridge generations
Drive systemic change

Our strategic partners

Organisations we collaborate with to build capacity for systemic change across Singapore, the region and the world.

The Presencing Institute

Co-creates innovation labs, delivers capacity-building programmes and conducts action research worldwide to support and scale profound societal innovation.

ELIAS

Emerging Leaders Innovate Across Sectors

Creates platforms for leading and innovating on the scale of the whole system. Co-created by the Presencing Institute, the MIT CoLab and the MIT Leadership Center.

United in Diversity

Universitas Indonesia · MIT Sloan Management · Sinar Harapan

A not-for-profit established with Indonesian leaders from business, government and civil society, building trust for our common future.

Ready to be part of this?

Join a community of curious, committed people building better organisations — and a better Singapore.

Our Foundation

Guiding Principles

The values and beliefs that orient everything we do as a learning community.

The global SoL community aims to appreciate the work of people around the world engaged in collaborating for systemic change — and to enable them to connect within larger learning communities that both honour and leverage their work. These eight principles guide how we operate.

01

Drive to Learn

All human beings are born with an innate, lifelong desire and ability to learn, which should be enhanced by all organisations.

02

Learning is Social

People learn best from and with one another, and participation in learning communities is vital to their effectiveness, well-being and happiness in any work setting.

03

Learning Communities

The capacities and accomplishments of organisations are inseparable from, and dependent on, the capacities of the learning communities which they foster.

04

Cross-Boundary Collaboration

Learning communities that connect multiple organisations and link across cultural and generational boundaries can significantly enhance their capacity for profound systemic change.

05

Aligning with Nature

It is essential that all organisations and networks of organisations evolve to be in greater harmony with human nature and with the natural world.

06

Well-being and Performance

Sustained high performance in any social system comes through creating high levels of social well-being.

07

Core Learning Capabilities

Organisations must develop capabilities to sense emerging realities; understand complex, interdependent issues; engage in reflective, generative conversation; nurture shared aspirations; and learn through conscious experimentation.

08

Positive Systemic Impact

All learning is manifest in action and results. We aim to achieve practical, on-the-ground innovations for healthier social and ecosystems.

Our Community

A learning community of Singapore

Organised around knowledge creation and dissemination — spanning theory and practice, individual and institutional learning.

Three pillars of our community

SoL communities are organised around a basic pattern of knowledge creation and dissemination. Together, these three activities define the knowledge-creating process in the broadest possible sense.

Research

Disciplined pursuit of discovery and understanding. We approach questions about organisations and learning with rigour and curiosity.

Capacity Building

Enhancing people's capabilities individually and collectively, building on insights, methods and tools emerging from research.

Practice

The application and increase of know-how within organisations to improve institutional performance in the real world.

What our community does together

  • Provide volunteer leadership from community members
  • Accomplish meaningful initiatives together
  • Share learning across a broad network
  • Foster connections and conversations
  • Welcome and mentor new emerging communities
  • Organise research projects and meetings
  • Bridge across cultural and generational boundaries
  • Enable progress not possible in isolation

Become part of SoL Singapore

Each SoL Community is driven by its own meaningful purpose — a change agenda to which members are wholeheartedly committed. If you share our belief in learning as a force for systemic change, we would love to hear from you.

Events

Gatherings and learning sessions

Where our community comes together to share, reflect, and grow.

Ongoing series

Every month 3rd Wed 8:00–9:30 PM SGT
Next session Wed 21 Oct 2026 Chapter 5 · 8:00–9:30 PM SGT
Book club Ongoing Online via Zoom

SoL SG–VN Book Club: The Fifth Discipline

Hosted by the SoL Singapore and SoL Vietnam communities

A monthly journey through The Fifth Discipline by Dr Peter Senge, explored in a facilitative and collaborative way. Each session combines chapter discussion with small breakout groups, connecting the book’s ideas to real workplaces and leadership.

Book cover: The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge

About the book

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge (revised and updated edition, Currency Doubleday, 2006). The book that introduced the learning organisation and the five disciplines at its heart, and the founding inspiration for SoL.

The five disciplines we explore

  • Personal Mastery
  • Mental Models
  • Shared Vision
  • Team Learning
  • Systems Thinking

Go further: Member for Member learning groups

For those ready to go deeper, learning groups hosted by experienced practitioner members offer mentoring, peer learning and space for real-world experimentation, helping turn insight into sustained practice.

Sessions so far · 2026

  1. 17Jun
    Chapter 1Shared Vision & Team Learning
    Members
  2. 15Jul
    Chapter 2Organizational Learning Disabilities
    Members
  3. 19Aug
    Chapter 3Plus a “Beer Game” simulation presentation by Sean Lee
    Members
  4. 16Sep
    Chapter 4
    Members

Recordings and full notes are shared with book club members after each session.

Hosts: Peter Seah and Poorani. Registration is currently closed. To join a future session, contact the hosts through the event page.

View event page

More gatherings will be announced here. Check back soon.

Watch recordings of our past eventsTalks, conversations and workshops on SoL Singapore’s YouTube channel Visit channel

8 past gatherings

26–28 Sep 2025
Watch the event video
SoL Global annual gathering Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

A Gathering of Presence, Purpose & Potentiality

Personal Mastery for Collective Impact: Generating Connections and Actions Toward a Flourishing Future

The annual gathering of the global SoL community: a generative convening where systems awareness met community connection. Seasoned practitioners and emerging voices came together to reflect, learn and co-create around one of the most important questions of our time:

How do we live, lead and learn in ways that honour life, now and for generations to come?

Programme highlights

  • Embodiment work, cross-cultural exchange and dialogue with expert practitioners, thought leaders and researchers
  • An interactive half-day session with Adam Kahane on Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems, the only Asian stop on his global book tour
  • Connection with a thriving community committed to evolving leadership and collective learning
  • Transformative conversations hosted in the warmth and vibrancy of Vietnam
  • Time to deepen personal practice in a space of shared exploration

Part of the legacy of the Society for Organizational Learning, for those committed to deep learning, purposeful leadership and regenerative collaboration.

Nov – Dec 2024 3 sessions · Wednesdays
Learning series Online webinars & onsite workshops

The Fifth Discipline: Theory & Practice

Led by SoL local and global practitioners

A series of learning classes in which experienced SoL practitioners from Singapore and around the world shared how they apply Peter Senge’s five disciplines in real organisations. Each session combined input from the facilitators with group conversations and activities to help participants practise the disciplines themselves.

The sessions

  1. 27Nov
    Theory, Practice & Purpose for LeadershipWith Sheila Damodaran. Why the five disciplines are a leadership guide for mastering dynamic complexity, where cause and effect unfold subtly over time, rather than a tool for managing detail.
  2. 11Dec
    Shared Vision, Session IWith Tara Kimbrell Cole and Antonio Linares-Güemes. What is your personal vision for your professional life, and how does it align with your organisation’s mission?
  3. 18Dec
    Shared Vision, Session IIFinding genuine alignment and holding creative tension between culture and vision, beyond intellectual and aspirational talk.

Facilitators

  • Sheila Damodaran
    Sheila DamodaranFounder, LOPN; past SoL Singapore member. Has applied The Fifth Discipline with governments and organisations across Asia and Africa since 1996.
  • Tara Kimbrell Cole
    Tara Kimbrell ColeFounder and past President, SoL Singapore; Global SoL Board member.
  • Antonio Linares-Güemes
    Antonio Linares-GüemesPast Chair of the Global SoL Board; SoL Spain. Author of six books on the learning organisation.

Guest moderator: Luca Codeluppi, SoL Italy and Global SoL Board member.

29 Apr 2023 · 3 days
Master class Hanoi, Vietnam

Sustainability AcceleratorPro Master Class

Organised by Compass Education in partnership with Sustainability Asia and Impact Velocity

A three-day, hands-on master class for sustainability change agents, held at the Hanoi Club. International participants joined Vietnamese practitioners to learn and practise the Accelerator toolkit together, with plenty of peer-to-peer learning along the way.

Programme highlights

  • Intensive training in the Accelerator toolkit for sustainability, created by Alan AtKisson
  • A live case: participants applied the VISIS Pyramid and Amoeba scenario tools through role play, built around a real Vietnamese company
  • A cohort of around 28 people, bringing international participants together with about 14 Vietnamese practitioners
  • Advance “Readings for Change Agents”, including work by Alan AtKisson and the late business thinker Dr C.K. Prahalad

Organising partners

Compass Education in partnership with Sustainability Asia and Impact Velocity
Saturday 23 Oct 2021 10:30am–12pm SGT
Watch the recording
Author talk Online

The Web of Meaning with Jeremy Lent

A presentation and discussion with award-winning author Jeremy Lent on how we can shift our collective worldview toward a more viable way of living on this planet. The session took its title from his new book, The Web of Meaning, published a few months earlier.

It was his second conversation with the SoL Singapore community, following January 2021’s talk on moving toward an ecological civilization.

How can we shift our collective worldview for a more viable existence?
Book cover: The Web of Meaning by Jeremy Lent

About the book

The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe (2021), published by New Society Publishers in the USA and Canada and Profile Books in the UK and Commonwealth. It draws on modern science and traditional wisdom to explore how we might find our place in the universe.

Jeremy Lent

About Jeremy Lent

Author of The Patterning Instinct and The Web of Meaning. His work explores how the stories and worldviews we live by shape our relationship with nature and with each other, and what it would take to build a more life-affirming civilisation.

Saturday 30 Jan 2021 10:30am–12:30pm SGT
Author talk Online

Moving Toward an Ecological Civilization with Jeremy Lent

The first of two conversations with Jeremy Lent

As collective awareness of humanity’s sustainability challenges grows, how we respond across business, the economy and wider society goes to the very essence of our existence. This discussion explored the implications of that shift and the “patterns of meaning” beneath it, alongside Jeremy Lent’s work on an ecological civilisation and his books.

What do we move toward? What are the right steps? How did we get to where we are now?
Book cover: Ecocivilization by Jeremy Lent

The book on this theme

Ecocivilization: Making a World That Works for All, Jeremy Lent’s book developing the ideas explored in this conversation: what an ecological civilization could look like, and how we might move toward it.

Jeremy Lent

About Jeremy Lent

Author whose writing investigates the patterns of thought that have led our civilisation to its current existential crisis. His book The Patterning Instinct traces how humans have made meaning of the cosmos from hunter-gatherer times to today. He is founder of the non-profit Liology Institute, dedicated to fostering an integrated worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on Earth.

Saturday 22 Aug 2020 11:00am–12:30pm SGT
Watch the recording
Workshop Free

Mental Models Workshop

Part of SoL Singapore’s Organizational Learning Workshop Series · Online

An interactive workshop to explore how we understand the world, and the impact that has on our collective reality: building awareness of how we create the reality that drives the events in our lives.

How do the assumptions we carry shape the reality we create together?
Illustration of a head in profile filled with tangled coloured strings

About mental models

One of the five disciplines of the learning organisation in Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: the deeply held assumptions and images of the world that shape how we see situations and how we act. Surfacing and testing them is key to learning together.

Garrett Weiner

Facilitator: Garrett Weiner

Organised and led this workshop as part of SoL Singapore’s Organizational Learning Workshop Series.

Saturday 25 Jul 2020
Watch the recording
Webinar Online via Zoom

In Conversation with Fritjof Capra

A live online conversation with Dr Fritjof Capra, a global leader, advisor and prolific writer on ecology and systems thinking. Participants from across the SoL community sent in their questions ahead of the session, and many were put to Dr Capra during the conversation.

The recording remains a rich introduction to seeing the world in terms of relationships, patterns and context rather than isolated parts, and to what that means for how we organise, lead and learn.

What can living systems teach us about how organisations and communities learn and change?
Dr Fritjof Capra

About Dr Fritjof Capra

A physicist, ecologist, educator and activist, Dr Capra has helped define how integrated living systems operate in nature and society. In 1995 he co-founded the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, and he sits on the faculty of Schumacher College in England.

Book cover: The Systems View of Life by Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi

The textbook & online course

The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision (2014), co-authored with Pier Luigi Luisi, is where Dr Capra synthesises much of his work, bringing biology, cognition, society and ecology into one systemic view of life. It is also the basis of his online course, the Capra Course.

Keep learning · selected books by Dr Capra

  • 1975
    The Tao of PhysicsExplores the parallels between modern physics and the mystical traditions of the East. His first and best-known book.
  • 1982
    The Turning PointTraces the shift from a mechanistic worldview to a holistic, systems view across science and society.
  • 1988
    Uncommon WisdomConversations with remarkable thinkers who shaped his ideas, from Werner Heisenberg to Gregory Bateson.
  • 1996
    The Web of LifeA new synthesis of living systems, drawing on self-organisation and Maturana and Varela’s theory of autopoiesis.
  • 2002
    The Hidden ConnectionsExtends the systems view to social life: networks, organisations, leadership and learning.
  • 2007
    The Science of LeonardoPresents Leonardo da Vinci as a systemic thinker who saw the patterns connecting art, science and nature.

Explore further

Wednesday 15 Apr 2020 9:00pm SGT
Watch the preview conversation
Webinar Online via Zoom Free & open to all

A reflexive conversation on humanity and our cultural biology

An exclusive talk and dialogue for the SoL Singapore community with world-renowned Chilean biologist Professor Humberto Maturana, reflecting together on humanity and the ideas of “cultural biology”. Participants were invited to put their questions to Professor Maturana in an open Q&A.

Professor Humberto Maturana

About Professor Humberto Maturana (1928–2021)

Chilean biologist with a doctorate from Harvard University and postdoctoral studies at MIT. His work explored the origin of living beings (autopoiesis and natural drift), the biology of language and knowledge, the origin of the human (the biology of love), and cultural biology: the cultural-biological matrix of human existence and evolution.

Ximena Dávila Yáñez

Ximena Dávila Yáñez · opening thoughts

Studied under Professor Maturana at the University of Chile in experimental epistemology, and with him founded Matríztica in 2000. Her work, “unitary epistemology”, explores the cultural biology of language, cognition and loving. Her article “Liberating Conversations” was shared with participants as preview reading.

Sebastián Gaggero

Sebastián Gaggero · facilitator

Chilean sociologist with studies and practice in social action-research in the field of human communities and the generation of well-being. At Matríztica, his work focuses on the cultural biology of human existence and on understanding our collective experience and connection to nature.

Events from the wider community

Gatherings, courses and talks from the global SoL network and the wider systems-thinking and organisational-learning community that our members may find valuable. These are organised by other groups, so please register and ask questions with them directly.

Nothing listed right now. We’ll share events from across the network here as they come up.

Get in Touch

Connect with SoL Singapore

Whether you are curious about membership, have a question, or want to collaborate — we would love to hear from you.

Reach us directly

SoL Singapore is a community of people who believe in the power of learning together. We welcome enquiries from individuals, organisations and anyone who shares our commitment to systemic change and social well-being.

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"We are defined by our actions, and the quality of our actions is married with the quality of our reflection."

— SoL Fundamental Purpose

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