How 'rapid' can rapid behavioural change be?

An open letter to business / organisation leaders – particularly those SME’s that sometimes miss out on cutting edge people development

?“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” *

It was the year of Band Aid, Ghostbusters, Michael Jackson being burned in a pyrotechnics accident, and when Margaret Thatcher was almost killed in the Brighton bombing. 1984 was a memorable year for many reasons. For those of us interested in helping people change their behaviours for the better, the publication of ‘Experiential Learning’ by David Kolb was a game changer. Although, I must admit it has taken some time for his theory to be incorporated into a seamless pragmatic application - because knowing ‘about’ something is never the same as being able to us that something most effectively. Perhaps I’m a slow learner, but despite over a quarter of a century of full-time coaching it was only relatively recently that the mental dots relating to Kolb’s breakthrough in the understanding of learning joined up those of creating rapid and sustainable behavioural change in the workplace.

I’ve recently submitted my PhD thesis for review on ‘Considerations in adopting life coaching in the workplace’. Over the 7 years or so of research and data collection some things became blindingly obvious. Despite the now billions of $’s and ￡’s poured into training initiatives to create ‘coaching cultures’ in the workplace, few appear to have been ultimately successful. I could write chapter and verse on why that is so, (indeed I have in the thesis) but suffice it to say at the heart of every failed initiative is the failure of supervisors, managers, and leaders to learn – and by ‘learn’ I mean the achievement of permanent changes in behavior, skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes that come from an identifiable psychological and/or social experience. They might acquire new skills and knowledge. They might even experience something new, but the sad fact is that in many cases there isn’t permanent change. However good, engaging, enjoyable, entertaining, and educational the training has been, real learning (as I’ve defined it) hasn’t happened unless behaviour changes – and changes permanently.

With the experience gained from the wonderful people I’ve worked with and learned from over the past few decades as well as the invaluable, albeit hair-greying stress of completing a PhD, I hesitate to say it, but I think I might have ‘cracked it’ – and as is usual with such things the potential solution to sustained learning and permanent change isn’t as complicated as one might think. Here's my pitch: I’m suggesting that the consistent application of something that labelled itself as ‘5 minutes to change?’ is potentially all it takes. It’s not a model, but a methodology that aligns Kolb with workplace coaching tools. As far as models go, I have produced a new model for organisations to better deliver coaching activity in my thesis, but the ‘5 minutes to change’ is different. ‘5 minutes to change?’ is more of a tool. One that when applied will I believe - ‘do what it says on the tin’! In 5 minutes it will change behaviour, and when those 5 minutes are repeated and repeated, that change will become permanent.

Clearly, I’d like to test this in the real world and while I’m aware that a few successes won’t ‘prove’ anything, it would still be terrific to see sustained changes in behaviour happen for real, and to experience the rapid performance improvements I believe will happen. I'm particularly interested in smaller organisations that might not normally see themselves as having the resources to take on a wholesale change in operating culture - because this will be a perfect fit for them. Therefore, if you find this of interest, have a need in your business or organisation to see rapid changes in performance improvement, and can influence the adoption of a tool that might just be the answer you’ve been looking for, then please message me. I can’t pretend that I’ll make it happen without some cost attached (I must live after all), but I promise it’ll be a partner not a consultant, and I’ll be as focused on achieving real performance improvements as you are.

1984 was 40 years ago. Kolb didn’t only write about learning styles he wrote about them being applied as a cycle, and ‘5 minutes to change?’ combines tried and tested coaching techniques with his work so that both the style and cycle are employed effectively. It’s not rocket science, but it is firmly grounded in the scientific method. My contact details are below and on my profile. I hope I hear from you soon.

Martin Goodyer,

[email protected]

* Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall