I’m recognizing that there’s an opportunity to provide more support for implementing the Revolution. So I’ve been thinking through what sort of process might be a way to go about making progress. Given that the core focus in on aligning with how we think, work, and learn (elements we’re largely missing), I thought I’d see whether that could provide a framework. Here’s my first stab, for your consideration:
Assess: here we determine our situation. I’m working on an evaluation instrument that covers the areas and serves as a guide to any gaps between current status and possible futures, but the key element is to ascertain where we are.
Learn: this step is about reviewing the conceptual frameworks available, e.g. our understandings of how we think, work and learn. The goal is to identify possible directions to move in detail and to prioritize them. The ultimate outcome is our next step to take, though we may well have a sequence queued up.
Initiate: after choosing a step, here’s where we launch it. This may not be a major initiative. The principle of ‘trojan mice‘ suggests small focused steps, and there are reasons to think small steps make sense. We’ll need to follow the elements of successful change, with planning, communicating, supporting, rewarding, etc.
Guide: then we need to assess how we’re doing and look for interventions needed. This involves knowing what the change should accomplish, evaluating to see if it’s occurring, and implementing refinements as we go. We shouldn’t assume it will go well, but instead check and support.
Nurture: once we’ve achieved a stable state, we want to nurture it on an ongoing basis. This may be documenting and celebrating the outcome, replicating elsewhere, ensuring persistence and continuity, and returning to see where we are now and where we should go next.
Obviously, I’m pushing the ALIGN acronym (as one does), as it helps reinforce the message. Now to put in place tools to support each step. Feedback solicited!
Hi Clark
Will need for assessment be triggered by performance issues – either gaps or sustained parking on a plateau ? Slow or stunted career progression might be another trigger. Is my thought on right track ?
Looking forward to growing exchange of ideas.
Cheers / Anand
Anand, I’m thinking at the strategic level, so I’m thinking that assessment is undertaken as the first step in moving forward. It’s not reactive to a trigger, but instead proactive on a path to productive change. And the process is cyclical, so that we’re in a continuous process of assessing, learning, initiating, guiding, and nurturing. Make sense? Thanks for the feedback!
To quote David Greenfield on how he gets organizations to become more agile, “To change someone’s mind, first ease their pain.” I think any framework for change has to start with pain, e.g., a performance issue. Assessment can uncover issues. Assessment can determine the scope and impact of a perceived issue. But pain is the motive force. Assessment provides the strategic guidance. IMO.
Chris, I guess the pain I’m drawing upon is the fact that right now L&D is largely irrelevant, and that they’ll eventually be unmasked as charlatans unless they start trying to right the boat. And I’m trying to point that out ;). The book starts out eviscerating the status quo, as do my talks. And in an earlier post I similarly pointed to the failings. I take your point and am hoping that some are seeing the writing on the wall and avoiding the potential pain, but I’m also aware others won’t be ready until they’re under threat. Hopefully that’s not too late. I think the assessment might help identify unknown pains, but you’re right that there will have to be some motivator. Thanks for the feedback!
Clark – your post is as on point as I’ve come to expect from you. In my experience a lot of people neglect the nurturing part of the process, which leads to their efforts being slowly erased – would you agree?
Several reasons why initiatives fail. Too big a change, not enough sharing of the vision, not recruiting buy in, not aligning incentives, not detecting/rewarding behavior. And not anticipating trouble, not scaffolding the change, not supporting the long term change, etc. But yes, I suspect also a major problem is to neglect the nurturing, scaling it from one unit to another, leveraging into new areas, undermining the long term potential.