Contributing to Learning to Change (extract from thesis, 2005, Dianne Allen)

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Contributing to Learning to Change (extract from thesis, 2005) Dianne Allen Bringing together the various aspects of the findings in-practice, and my reconceptualising as I sought to understand those findings, leads me to the following summary remarks about learning to change, and facilitating learning to change. The Big Picture 1. Learning to change is difficult, complex, and takes time. It involves an effective inquiry process. It depends also on an understanding of how we evaluate a proposed action and an awareness of what we value in making choices between options of action. 2. To facilitate learning to change involves attending to the complexity, affirming the difficulty, and validating the time required to undertake the inquiry involved in developing a congruent thinking-action complex that constitutes the desired change. The Next Level of Detail The Conduct and Conditions of Effective Inquiry 3. Effective inquiry leading to action is based on a number of key elements: multiple sources of valid information, processed by free and informed choice, and followed by a commitment to act on the findings. 4. Collaborative or cooperative endeavour, in this kind of practice inquiry, is needed. 5. For effective collaborative or cooperative endeavour, tools that increase a sense of agency (self-awareness tools and developing self-awareness by an intentional structured reflective process) and activities that develop an understanding of what constitutes effective inquiry, need to be used with the group to expedite the processes of building openness and trust, and building a culture of effective inquiry to enable them to engage in high quality effective inquiry of their own practices and to be able to keep on exploring the nature of that inquiry. 6. The commitment to free, informed choice and the valuing of diversity as a source of alternative information including alternative processes and criteria of valuing, is a concomitant and pre-requisite factor for effective inquiry and learning to change. Such commitments are also part of the necessary conditions for formation of an effective collaborative or cooperative group able to conduct such inquiry, and to keep effective inquiry alive to its own need to be using its experience in learning to change. Role of Values and Evaluation 7. The purpose of examining values-in-use and explanatory theories-in-use is evaluative. The inquiring individuals need to determine whether their values-in-use and explanatory theories-in-use still meet their needs in being effective. Where the values and congruent explanatory theories do meet their needs in being effective, the values and congruent explanatory theories can be affirmed as their intentional values and in-use theories. Where the values are found to be not what the practitioner aspires to or the explanatory theories are found to be less effective than the practitioner intends, or where combinations of in-usevalues and in-use-theories are not congruent, then values, or explanatory theories, or both, need to be changed so that greater congruence between espoused and in-use is achieved. The knowing and congruence developed by such a process will contribute to confidence to act in pursuing reaffirmed goals, in more consciously appropriate ways. Undertaking the process of such inquiry and evaluation, and becoming aware of its limitations, as well as the

Contributing to Learning to Change (extract from thesis, 2005, Dianne Allen)

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limitations and qualifications to the knowledge formed, will build knowledge about the nature and limitations of inquiry that may contribute to managing the uncertain and the complex. 8. Work on understanding the values basis of affect, or an affective response to an interaction, is an important component of learning to change. Role of Agency 9. A firm sense of agency is required for an actor involved in learning to change, and where such agency needs to be re-formed, work with self-awareness contributes to the necessary sense of agency. 10. Where a sense of agency needs to be re-formed or developed, an understanding of effective inquiry to engage in effective learning to change will be required, that is to say: an ineffective inquiry process may be one of the factors limiting the sense of agency. 11. Within an effective inquiry process, and with the necessary sense of agency, a practitioner needs to focus attention on specific elements of the practice and settle, in the first instance, on the work needed to make incremental gains. A practitioner needs to remain immersed in the practice to continue to try and operate the multiple evaluations on the multiple dimensions that constitute the whole of practice for the professional. However, the practitioner also needs to recognise that the whole practice is a complex of components and expecting to be able to work on change in all aspects at the one time is unrealistic. In these circumstances, focusing on an element at a time, and systematically working with the elements that make up the suite of an effective practice, represents a realistic change program. Role of Reflective Work 12. Reflective work is essential for the enunciation of a practitioners thinking that is informing a practice action, when such enunciation is required to engage in the kind of inquiry needed to improve practice. 13. Reflective work itself also needs to be focused on, and a practitioner needs to be encouraged to develop its descriptive, analytical and critical aspects. 14. Reflective work is not limited to written journaling processes, but for long term use needs to be documented in an effective and efficient way. Dianne Allen More details available at http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/288/