Strategic Transformation Begins With You℠

Strategy is about how to turn goals into reality. Strategy is fundamentally about change and transformation. Change is adaptive, usually resulting in incremental adjustments over time, but preserving the foundation with which one started. Transformation is the creation of something new or a profound shift in being. Strategists are often called upon to be the creators, objects and vehicles of change and transformation.

Change is hard as evidenced by a recent survey showing that roughly 70% of change efforts fail or are derailed. Transformation is even harder. Change and transformation require a more sophisticated type of thinking than that with which most people are familiar. Reality is a transformational open system, comprised of parts that often form constitutive and interactive relationships. Many properties of open transformational systems stymie people who lack the requisite cognitive skills. Relational causality, where the outcome or effect is due to a constitutive relationship between parts of the system is such an example, since searching for the part that causes the effect will always be futile.

Cognition depends heavily on mental models, which are used to organize knowledge. Mental models are created through a process called sensemaking, which involves building a structure or pattern from diverse elements with the objective of creating new meaning. This is largely an unconscious process. Mental models frame the challenges we confront and affect in our thoughts, feelings and actions.

Most cognitive growth in adults involves learning new facts, skills and ways of doing things. This is horizontal development. A person’s mental models of how the world works remain basically the same, however. Vertical development is less common and refers to how we change our interpretation of experience and transform our views of reality into ones that are more differentiated and comprehensive than the old. Studies have shown that the ability of an individual to manage complexity is a function of their cognitive development, with vertical development having the greater impact.

Cognitive development is believed to be the defining factor of performance. Several studies have shown that a type of learning, called transformational learning, facilitates cognitive development. Ultimately, whether or not transformational learning takes place depends entirely on the individual.

A trigger is usually required to invoke transformational learning. Frequently, it is a personal experience that elicits a strong feeling that a new perspective is required. A profound external event that provides the opportunity for a wider range of experiences or a planned cognitive developmental intervention that is designed to supply the necessary impetus can also trigger transformational learning.

Transformation generally requires six things: 1) a realization that old views of reality are no longer productive; 2) critical reflection – becoming aware of how and why our assumptions and beliefs have come to constrain how we deal with reality; 3) a vision for a desired future; 4) intention – the motivation to act; 5) learning – a transformation of ones mental models; 6) action – the application of new learning.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."
Mahatma Gandhi

Strategic Transformation Begins With You℠ is more than a slogan. It captures the essence of what The Strategy Praxis™ Institute is all about. We strive to provide an environment that will facilitate not just informational, but transformational learning – exactly what is required to become a competent strategist. It all begins with you.