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As a coach or trainer, you know the scene: You're at a conference or scrolling LinkedIn, bombarded with frameworks and methods. Each promises to be revolutionary, essential for your clients' success. Design thinking. Appreciative inquiry. Emotional intelligence assessments. The parade of options never ends.
You feel frozen, uncertain how to evaluate what's worth your investment. Which approaches are truly essential?
It's like walking into a specialty kitchen store – rows of gadgets, each designed for an increasingly specific purpose. Do you really need separate tools for pitting cherries, spiralizing vegetables, and peeling garlic?
During a recent Global Dexterity certification course, this parallel between frameworks and kitchen tools crystallized for me.
Just as a skilled chef doesn't need every gadget to create exceptional meals, an effective learning professional doesn't need every framework.
What you need are a few versatile tools you can use with confidence.
Here are my key insights for fellow learning professionals on managing your framework collection:
- Master Your Essential Tools First. Just as a chef needs to master knife skills before attempting molecular gastronomy, identify and deeply internalize your core frameworks. For example, I believe Global Dexterity can ideally be an essential tool – a framework that helps people adapt their behavior across cultures while feeling authentic and effective. Like a chef's knife, it's versatile enough to handle many situations, yet precise enough for specific cultural challenges. These core tools should be ones that: (a) Address recurring challenges your learners face, (b) Can be adapted to multiple situations, and (c) Have stood the test of time in your field.
- Be Selective About Specialized Tools. For example, within the broader field of cross-cultural adaptation, there are times when we need specialized frameworks for specific challenges. These are like my kitchen's kitchen scale – not needed for every meal, but invaluable for specific purposes. When evaluating specialized frameworks, ask yourself: Does this solve a problem that my core frameworks can't address? Is the learning curve worth the specific value it provides? How often will I realistically use this with my learners?
- Regularly Declutter Your Framework Collection. Just as important as selecting frameworks is knowing when to let them go. We need to be willing to let go of frameworks that no longer serve us effectively. I regularly evaluate my teaching tools by considering: When was the last time I used this framework? Has it been superseded by something more effective? Does it still resonate with today's learners?
- Consider Your Learning Space. Just as kitchen counter space is finite, your ability (and your learners' ability) to absorb and retain frameworks has limits. My experience is that most participants can effectively internalize 2-3 key frameworks per intensive learning experience. Trying to teach more often leads to cognitive overload and reduced retention.
- Focus on Integration, Not Collection. The most effective learning professionals I know don't just collect frameworks – they integrate them into a coherent approach. They understand how different tools complement each other and can move fluidly between them based on learner needs. It's like knowing when to use the whisk versus the stand mixer, and how they work together to create the final product. Many coaches and trainers have found creative ways to integrate Global Dexterity with tools they already use – combining it with personality assessments like Myers-Briggs, cultural frameworks like Hofstede's dimensions, and even strength-based approaches like Gallup's StrengthsFinder. These combinations help learners understand not just the what of cultural differences, but how to bridge them in practice.
In the end, frameworks are means to an end, not the end itself. The goal isn't to have the most extensive collection of tools, but to have the right ones that you can use expertly to serve your learners' needs.
