Knowledge is highly overrated...

'I Know' as an influence on getting things done

CFO: 'Suppose our employees leave after we train them?’

CEO: 'Suppose we don't train them and they stay?'

With any change management proces, the question arises of whether someone knows what to do or where to start. Another possibility is that that person already knows (or thinks they know through previous experiences) what the result is of an action and therefore doesn’t even try. If you're satisfied with the current situation or never try doing anything differently (experimentation), then you’ll never know if a certain action will have a better outcome. And not knowing what awaits you, will make you insecure and scared. After all, the unknown is unpopular.

Learning takes the form of a cycle; see figure 3.3. The sequence is as such:

● ???? from unconsciously incompetent via,

● ???? deliberately incompetent, getting to know your flaws, and

● ???? consciously competent, developing skills, to

● ???? unconsciously competent, routinely performing what you've learned.

As the figure shows, we develop our qualities from unconscious incompetence through conscious learning to conscious competence. Ultimately, this leads to new unconscious capabilities. People who can increase their awareness, thereby increasing their ability to perceive are much more effective than people who are unconsciously reading, learning or working. Thus the greater your awareness is, the greater your agility to learn will be.?

‘Many people talk about resistance to change without realizing that their own behavior is the biggest obstacle.’

How many employees and managers do you know who are unaware of their behavior and their lack of skills? In 2015, scientific research showed that men mainly overestimate their qualities, while women often underestimate their qualities. They don't do this consciously, but it's ingrained in our genes. Men and women appear to be built differently. Jacqueline van de Wiel ;-)

Learning in levels

Gaining knowledge, e.g. by reading a book, is only step 1 of three steps to take to play a level higher. You also have to process that knowledge and make it your own. Then you have to share the knowledge with others to take it to the next level. So augmenting your knowledge has three steps:

1. Acquiring audiovisual knowledge through various forms of content. For example, by listening to an audiobook, reading text, viewing an illustration, model or presentation.
2. Processing the acquired knowledge and practically applying it. Simple examples are the application of knowledge in a calculation, a case description or taking a test. But it becomes even more effective when you try it out in practice. You can read a book for three years about how to swim, but you will have to go into the pool one day to see if you have understood it.
3. Sharing with others. This last step is not for everyone, nor is it systematically taught at any educational institutions. Being able to explain something with precision to others increases the comprehension of the matter, whether in the form of a self-written summary of an audiobook, a blog post on a website or a presentation to your colleagues. Not only does this last step require you to organize the knowledge in a logical way for yourself, but you will also receive feedback on what you write or talk about. This feedback often leads to new insights.

Whether or not people do something is therefore influenced by them knowing. But also the lack of knowledge, the wrong information or a bad previous experience determines whether we do or fail to do something. The reason we are afraid of a wasp is that we know (knowledge) that it can badly sting us. So knowledge can also be crippling or a hindrance.

'I Can' as an influence on doing

The most physical aspect of doing is being able to do it. Where wanting and knowing mainly take place in people's heads, being able to be the physical and tangible proof of an action or activity. The actions of all individual organizational members together determine the potential impact and capacity for change of an entire organization. The impact that employees have on the capacity for change of an organization depends on their competencies, talents, character and skills. Some people are 'born leaders' or are tremendously good at arithmetic, making or selling things. Competencies, talents and skills are closely intertwined and can be cultivated or developed. But character is more difficult to influence. Yet character, in turn, strengthens an employee's competencies. People with a strong will and a good dose of courage can change organisations. They may rightly be called the game changers of organizations.

Organisations that want to actively protect their position on the business playing field will constantly have to invent, make, sell and improve new products. A different set of skills is required for each process within this action loop. This set contains the skills that employees must possess or develop to increase the change capacity of an organization; see table 3.5.

Within each process there is a competency that is also needed in the subsequent process; see also figure 3.4. This is a 'transferable characteristic', which makes it possible for people who are involved in different processes to speak 'the same language'. It is also a factor that people often appreciate within each other. You could say something that 'binds' people. From the process of improving the process of thinking, there are even two: being ‘creative' and 'conceptual thinker'. From inventing to make is the 'conceptual thinker'. From creating to selling is both 'customer-oriented' and 'results-oriented' and from selling to improving is 'being able to listen' and 'customer-oriented'.

For an organization to really become agile, you need to create teams that compliment each others talents. If you only have 'thinkers' on your team, it will be hard to get stuff done. This happens a lot in Universities and schools... Surprise? Not so much. If you only have 'makers' (I'm Able), you will have a stock-pile of product that will never be sold. If you only have sellers (talkers), people would be drinking coffee all day long convincing each other how great their product is ;-). And finally, if you only have improvers... people will only be dreaming how the world could be better with the NEXT version of your service, product or proces, instead of producing what you invented recently and actually selling it to the market place. So, if you want to make an impact on your playground, make sure that in every team, you have thinkers, makers, sellers and improvers and level up continuously in each proces... never stop, keep moving. Keep on moving don't stop no (Soul to Soul... ;-) #gamification of business #selfimprovement #teamwork