Creating A Plan for Change

Do You Consider How People Learn?

March 15, 2011 - Calgary, AB – Leading change in an organization means everyone needs to learn what’s new so they can adopt and sustain the change. The interesting thing about this is everyone learns in different ways. Recognizing the way people learn is a critical success factor for putting together effective change management plans.

How we learn is impacted by how we perceive or take in new information as well as the manner in which the new information is processed and integrated. Businesses can look to Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) to understand more about how we learn.

To set the stage, an individual’s way of perceiving and processing information is affected by their learning style. There are five key elements that shape how we learn:

• Personality type – How we reflect on what we need to learn.
• Academic training – How our early educational experience shaped our learning style.
• Career choice – How our career choices, work environment and professional organizations impose values and beliefs on the way we think.
• Current role – How we become more skilled at the things we do most often.
• Current tasks / problems – How we repeatedly use a particular set of skills / competencies.

Add to this everyone’s preferred learning mode which influences their ability to enjoy and succeed in learning situations. In order for change to be truly adopted and sustained companies must offer flexible and targeted learning opportunities which address all four learning modes:

• Diverger – These people are interested in personal meaning. They learn from specific experience and by personal reflection. Their slogan is “Every Think Counts!”
• Assimilator – These people are interested in facts. They learn by reflection and by thinking. Their slogan is “I Think Therefore I Am!”
• Converger – These people are interested in how things work. They learn by thinking and doing. Their slogan is “Just Do It!”
• Accommodator – These people are interested in self-discovery. They learn by doing and learning from specific experiences. Their slogan is “Charge!”

Now add the final layer that influences how we learn - our preference for sensory intake, or in other words, which senses we are most comfortable relying upon when taking information in. These senses are:

• Reading and writing
• Listening
• Interacting with others
• Observing
• Hands-on application

Change can only be truly realized when each person involved in a change has a thorough understanding of it, and has been given the right-fit opportunity to learn and understand it. In the end, creating a plan for managing change is not as intuitive as it seems. With the different people, groups and roles involved, coupled with the diverse ways that people learn, a fair amount of creativity and flexibility is required. It should not be a surprise then the highest potential for success rests with the most targeted, and therefore the most effective, learning opportunities presented during the process of change.

AFI is a consulting firm based in Calgary, Alberta. Specializing in organizational change management, AFI consultants are Prosci ADKAR certified change management professionals. We help leaders make distinct, lasting and significant improvements to the performance of their organizations.

For more information or to request an interview:

Cathy McIsaac
Managing Partner, Agility Factor Inc.
info@agilityfactor.net
403.266.2338