The characteristic of living systems to continuously renew themselves and to regulate this process in such a way that the integrity of their structure is maintained. It is a natural process which supports the quest for structure, process renewal, and integrity. By reexamining and clarifying various aspects of their vision, values, purposes, and outcomes, these organizations improve communication, share progress, and better align collective goals with those of individuals.
Loops suggest returning to the same place.
Spirals, however, imply a recursive process. They are not intended to define bottom line, summative, or terminal conditions or behaviors. Instead, they can be cyclical guides to learning and continued progress. Feedback spirals are in and of themselves learning devices employed throughout a learning organization. They can easily describe the learning processes for a school's decision-making team, the professional teacher who continually improves instructional practices in the classroom, or a student working on a particular project.