Beyond Anecdotes: Catalyzing Corporate Change with Structured Thinking, Networked Intelligence, and Collaborative Learning

 Photo Credit: 20twentybuisnessgrowth.com

Andy Green in his article titled "Bottom-Up Change Management- How to Overcome the Kerplunk effect" (click here for article) makes a very insightful observation, "Top-down management, if used correctly can establish a clear vision for future direction. It can however, suffer from a path dependency, making it hard to adapt when neat plans meet messy reality. A hybrid approach of top-down and bottom-up can provide you with a more adaptable range of responses and build greater capacity for resilience." 

What if we could empower our organization to make more rigorous decisions, embrace the power of collective intelligence, and foster continuous learning as a cornerstone for change so that when "neat plans meat messy reality" our teams are equipped and ready to meet the challenge? 

This post and subsequent posts will lay the ground work for a powerful synergy: Integrating Claim-Evidence- Reasoning (CER) framework with Vanessa Dennen's cutting edge research on Networked Knowledge Activities, Jeffery Hiatt's ADKAR bottom-up change model, and the collaborative power of Professional Learning Communities (PLC). These ideas and integrations will be expanded upon in future posts. 

CER: The Cornerstone of Strategic Clarity

CER allows organizations the framework to construct compelling arguments and make robust decisions

• Claim: Your assertion, a proposed solution, a strategic direction, or a new initiative. It answers the crucial question: "What do we believe or propose?"
• Evidence: The objective data, verifiable facts, observations, research findings, or proven examples that unequivocally support your claim. This is where rigor replaces rhetoric.
• Reasoning: The logical explanation that bridges your evidence to your claim. It articulates how and why the evidence leads you to your conclusion, providing the critical link between data and actionable insight.

Amplifying CER with Networked Knowledge Activities

The research by Vanessa Dennen et al. (2020) (click here for article) offers insights originally designed for analysis of social media platforms, but these principles apply directly to fostering knowledge flows in organizations. 

• Seeking & Sharing: Proactively searching for information. 
• Curating: Organizing disparate pieces of information into coherent, actionable understanding.
• Brokering: Rigorously evaluating the quality, relevance, and credibility of information. And disseminating insights across internal and external networks.
• Creating and Negotiating : Engaging in dialogue to challenge assumptions, explore different perspectives, and co-create new knowledge.

Be on the look out for another foundational post when we discuss the addition of ADKAR and PLC's to this bottom-up change approach