An organization has not learned something simply because the people involved understand it now. Learning becomes organizational when experience changes something the next person can inherit: a decision rule, a standard, a handoff, an escalation path, a piece of operating history, or another condition that lets the organization respond differently next time.

Work can move from one person to another without becoming truly transferable. This Insight examines the conditions that let the next person act without repeatedly going back upstream for context, authority, clarification, or approval.