Motion Needs a Motor

Poison oak is profoundly communicable, at least for the four out of every five people allergic to its oils. I am not among the lucky 20 percent, and reserve a special variety of envy for those folks who are. I’ve broken out in rash without ever actually touching the stuff. The most recent insidious point of contact occurred somewhere on the banks of the Deschutes River during a fishing trip this summer. I had been hyper-vigilant the entire time. No matter. Two days after returning, a rash appeared that grew so voracious I had to take prednisone to quell it. I’ll spare you any additional details.

In the last two newsletters I talked about how important process and synthesis are to learning. This is how we learn most things. Through my latest bout with poison oak I gained a fresh understanding of how contagious poison oak can be. This was my process, and like all helpful processes it was messy. So what am I to do in light of my new understanding of poison oak? This question ushers us into the fourth element of effective structure in communication, Motor. Good process helps us understand something better. What was once abstract is now more concrete. Just what should it look like for us to act on this new understanding?

Imagine you’re working with a group of youth to help them avoid the use of tobacco. You’ve taken them through a clear introduction, opened the topic to exploration and discussion and synthesized their dialogue, thus forming a more crisp understanding vastly more relevant and meaningful to the youth. This doesn’t imply they’ve “arrived,” or will never alter their understanding. But it has now become more concrete–something they can and should act on.

Here is your opportunity to do something remarkable. Most people, like the youth in the example above, expect you to tell them what to do. Don’t do this! They’ve not asked you to. During Process you helped them explore their own ideas about the topic. In Synthesis you helped assemble their ideas. Don’t now alter course and impose your ideas upon them as to how they should act. Engage others to help them draft the most concrete, logical action they can, based upon the conclusions they’ve drawn from the process. There is a process in deducing action. If you tell them what they ought to do, you short-circuit this process.

Here are the simple steps to take during the Motor phase:

1. Summarize students’ ideas into something relevant and meaningful. This is the truism they can and should act on. But how?

2. Pose the question to your participants, “This being true, what should we do?” Let your participants answer this question. Facilitate interaction. Do as you did during Process but for the purpose of helping them determine new ways to behave.

3. Synthesize their ideas. Work with your participants to make their ideas as vivid as possible. Continuing with our example, “You say you think you should avoid others that use tobacco. If we could see you avoiding ‘others that use tobacco’ in the next 24 hours, what would that look like?” Make them work for their responses. Only then will they own them.

I’m writing with an assumption: You hope that the people you work with will do something different as a result of your time spent with them. It would be most disheartening to learn that your time, devotion, and effort spent with people amounted to inertia. The Motor element keeps the engine revved and wheels turning in the right direction. Through Motor you help others define what it is they want to do differently, and set down a new path. This is the change we seek.

Tags: effective coaching, engaging youth, facilitating change, motivating change

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The Synthesis Fugue

What kind of music do you enjoy? If you’re like me you appreciate a broad spectrum. So far today I’ve listened to Bach, Radiohead, Ryan Adams, and The Rolling Stones. The music I’m drawn to tends to result from synthesis: the combining of multiple, different parts into a complex whole. Attend the symphony and you’ll experience the splendid coalescence of myriad, unique aural expressions.

Synthesis, the third step in our learning structure, is when we collaborate with our audience to reassemble the elements explored during the process phase into a new coherent whole. Imagine you are the conductor. The orchestra is your audience. Together you are working to shape something resonant and memorable.

A powerful shift happens as you progress from Introduction through Process and into Synthesis. The topic you present in the Introduction, though helpful for the purposes of orienting your audience, is as yet abstract to everyone but you. Imagine if you told me, “Today we’re going to talk about native vegetation.” I would know what we’re discussing, but I wouldn’t have any relationship to the topic. It remains intangible to me. Process allows me to explore the content and make it my own. I can ask questions, deepen my understanding, and at least begin to satisfy my curiosity. Through synthesis we can then create a new form, or composition, that has personal meaning and relevance to each individual.

Too often, because we bypass the process phase, synthesis becomes merely a reiteration of what was stated in the introduction. For example, an introduction may be, “Smoking cigarettes is harmful to your health.” The “synthesis” that follows falls flatly as, “Furthermore, don’t smoke. It’s bad for you.” This prevents the message from taking root and yielding change because the topic remains distant and impersonal to the audience.

Synthesis offers the opportunity to make meaning of process. The presenter or educator can facilitate synthesis by bundling together comments from the audience into likenesses, then reframing the main message after integrating input. This is a far cry from traditional approaches wherein we state the message in our terms, irrespective of participants’ voices.

In summary, a solid Introduction promotes productive, divergent Process, which in turn allows for constructive Synthesis. Keep in mind that all of these elements apply to both formal and informal presentations. What applies to teaching a workshop will also be relevant in a dialogue with your coworkers or children. Fidelity to each element will enhance the potency of all our interactions.

It’s great to be working with you to promote meaningful, lasting change.

Best,

Questions? Send me an email.

Tags: adolescent behavior, curriculum development, effective learning, effective programs, engaging youth, good questions, positive change, process, student engagement

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Process is to learning what digestion is to eating. Content that people make their own is content that can change their lives. To make our work as meaningful as possible we have to allow time for others to process what we’re discussing. This is exactly like the digestion process by which our bodies break down food and make it something we can use.

I played soccer throughout high school and college. During each high school season we’d gather at a teammate’s house the night before the game. The menu was always the same: spaghetti. In addition to building camaraderie, the high carbohydrate fare helped fuel us up to play the next day. Our bodies required approximately 24 hours to digest the pasta and extract the necessary nutrients.

Imagine playing a soccer game immediately after eating three helpings of spaghetti. Not a pretty thought. (Viewers of The Office should have no problem conjuring an image here.) But sadly this is what many educational approaches amount to–a spaghetti feed/soccer game.

Without process we can’t assume any material we present will be relevant to our listeners. The goal of the process phase is to help others take ownership of the content we present. They do so by strengthening their relationship to the content. Through process we can afford participants the opportunity to more deeply understand and internalize the risks of alcohol, for example, resulting in their truly owning their convictions surrounding alcohol use. This ownership can lead to changed action.

Underlying process is the opportunity for abstract, intangible ideas (think “Just say no”) to be more concrete. As ideas become more concrete they become more real. Then they have power to alter our perception.

It’s great to be working with you to promote meaningful, lasting change.

Send an email to andrewfrobinson@aweber.com to subscribe to future newsletters.

Tags: curriculum development, effective learning, learning, people change people, positive change, process, relationships, relevant, risk behavior

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