Instead of teaching a whole bunch of things at once, teach one concept at a time

As an Agile advocate...


...have you noticed that you've had to explain the same concepts repeatedly?

In many of my engagements I find myself having to repeat explanations of certain concepts, primarily Agile and Lean concepts, but also technical or business concepts. The most effective, sticky explanations tend to be a combination of a sketch and a narrative about the concept.

Would it be useful to have pre-prepared props to help with these kinds of situations?

I learned about One-Point or Single-Point Lessons from the Lean community. The basic idea is that developing people should be a continuous process; instead of teaching a whole bunch of things at once, teach one concept at a time (aka one-piece learning vs big-batch learning). In order to do that, create lessons based on a single point, typically on a single piece of paper, which is then reviewed during the daily meeting.

What would a good One Point Lesson look like?

• Useful Prop: When a situation arises during an engagement, you will have a prop to hand out and reference to tell a compelling, sticky narrative around a single, useful concept.
• Memory Trigger: Having a set of one-point lessons is a nice way to remind you of what might be a useful concept to introduce to the current context. This is similar to IDEO Method Cards.
• Development Tool: For the less experienced, a set of one-point lessons provide a way to learn about what kind of concepts they are expected to understand.
• Social Object: One-point lessons, if they are cool enough, are something that people will want to put up in their workplace. They are something that invites others to ask about, to start conversations about.

An example:

Notes:

Typical approach: get everyone to think the right way -> values and attitudes change -> naturally start to do the right things

NUMMI approach: start with behaviours (aka what we do) -> values and attitudes change -> everyone thinks the right way

"Define the things we want to do, the ways we want to behave and want each other to behave, provide training, and then do what is necessary to reinforce those behaviors. The culture will change as a result." John Shook

"It's easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting" (Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity)

"Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act." (Dr. George Crane)

Edgar Schein's (coined phrase "corporate culture") definition of culture:

"The pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems."

References:

• How NUMMI Changed Its Culture - John Shook 
• Change models: Shook, Schein, Dreyfus and Constructivism - Allan Kelly