Calibrating Loops:  Connecting Evidence to Practice
Rick Voorhees, Principal
Voorhees Group LLC

rick@voorheesgroup.org
www.voorheesgroup.org
Calibration
Trajectory
Velocity
Windage
Aim

Preparation
Perseverance
Perspiration
Prayerfulness
Playfullness
Loops and Organizations
Single-loop learning: when errors are detected and corrected but firms carry on with their present policies and goals. Single loops don't alter the fundamental nature of the organization.  Senge calls this "coping." 
Double-loop learning:  when--in addition to correcting errors--the organization is involved in the questioning and modification of existing norms, procedures, policies, and objectives.  Changes both the knowledge base and the organization's routines.

Spiraled Learning.  A combination of single and double-loops whose direction may be up as in evolution but may also be downward in the case of uncompleted or unfulfilled loop.
References

Argyris, C. (1994).  Executive leadership : an appraisal of a manager in action  (2nd Ed).  University of Michigan Press.
Campbell, M. & Uys, P.  Building learning communities of practice for professional development in zzzzzzzopen and distance learning: the CELT experience.   
CNN.  Freaky news about your brain may change your mind.  Retrieved August 25, 2009 at cnn.com
Hofstadter, D.  (2007).  I Am a Strange Loop.  New York:  Basic Books.
Nevis E.C., DiBella A.J. & Gould J.M. (1995). Understanding organisations as learning systems. Sloan Management Review, 36 (2), pp. 73-85.
Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: the art & practice of the learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday
Snowden, D. J. & Boone, M.E.  (2007).  A leaders framework for decision making.  Harvard Business Review.  November:  69-76.
Snowden, D.J. (2002).  Complex Acts of Knowing:  Paradox and Descriptive Self Awareness.  Journal of Knowledge Management 6(2), p100-111.



Personal Loops
A jungle of neurons
A network of abstractions
Is the "I" a convenient fiction?
Symbolism as communication
Learning Dichotomies

Knowledge source:  Internal v. External 
Product-process: What is made focus v. How is made focus 
Documentation mode:  Record as personal knowledge v. Record as public know how 
Dissemination mode:  Formal v. Informal 
Learning focus:  Incremental v. Transformative 
Value-chain focus: Design focus v. Delivery focus 
Skill development focus: Individual v.  Group 

Source:  Campbell and Uys

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently described the AIR Forum in Atlanta as, "a staid venue for arcane discussions about data collection."  Hmmmm.

"Walking in a straight line is a complicated process when you think about it from the perspective of the brain" 

Jan Souman, researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany.  Quoted in CNNHealth.

Hard Won Lessons
Using national databases to drive productivity metrics is only--at best--proximal research.  To make real headway will require states to understand how the data they collect prior to national reporting can be used to impact productivity. 

Other Dichtomies
an administrative formality to comply v an integral step in the  development process
availability of data v. availability of actionable information
availability of analysis v. availability of people who can understand it
wallpaper data v. data that points the way
inward looking IR Offices v. anticipatory IR Offices
Push button data v. understanding data

Rick's Rubrics
If you’re not planning, you’re planning to fail
Planning, unfortunately, oftentimes becomes a defensive activity
Perfect data don't exist
Thin to Win
Not enough for planning to be participatory; it also had to be decisive
Select 3 (maybe 4) “main things” that make a real difference
Don’t expect a homerun every time
Be flexible ready to adjust strategies and goals
Show results widely (even if ugly)
Link clearly to resources
Most Critically:  Separate the Operational from the Strategic