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Do you need a tool to help you create a process for change? Do you know where you would like to go, but can’t find a route, or compass point that will take you to your desired destination? Is your business or organization stuck in place instead of moving forward?

In the nonprofit and charitable sector organizations exist for the explicit purpose of changing some aspect of their communities. There are usually many possible ways to create the desired change, so organizations have to choose how to use their limited staff and budgets to get the most “bang for their buck.” The most successful organizations usually have an underlying framework that they use to guide those decisions, rather than just making it up as they go along. One tool that we use to create such a framework is called a theory of change.

What is This and Why Should I Care?

The Ford Foundation, one of the largest and most respected charitable foundations in the U.S. defines a theory of change as:

“[A tool that] describes a process of planned social change, from the assumptions that guide its design to the long-term goals it seeks to achieve.”

This definition really only applies to nonprofit organizations who are trying to advance their missions. However, I think that the idea of Theory of Change has a lot of relevance in many situations all the way from individual personal improvement up to and including inter-governmental groups such as the United Nations. In my view, tweaking the definition to:

“A tool that describes any process of planned change, from the assumptions that guide its design to the to the long-term goals it seeks to achieve.”

In my slightly tweaked definition, a theory of change can incorporate core values, a change management plan, a behavior modification plan, or any other type of improvement.

How is This Different From an Action Plan?

On the surface, a theory of change looks like just another plan of action that we might use to: try to quit smoking, find greater efficiencies in our departments, or lobby for a new law. When it’s done right, though, a theory of change includes many elements not found in a traditional plan of action such as:

• Core values. In other words, why do you want to create that particular change.
• Plan of action. What steps are you going to take.
• Assumptions. Why do you think the steps in your plan of action will work?
• Desired outcome(s). What do you want to happen when you complete this process?
• Measures of success. How will you know when you are done?

In Part 2 of this series, I’ll walk you through the process of creating a theory of change. In the meantime, if you want to read up on this concept, I recommend Grantcraft’s Mapping Change: Using a Theory of Change to Guide Planning and Evaluation.

Photo by Michael Kaufmann.

Alex Shalman has created an awesome interview series and group writing project for February asking at least one blogger per day to share his or her definition of happiness. I’ve been following this series all month a have really enjoyed some great interviews with people like Darren Rowse, Jeremy Shoemaker, and Gretchen Rubin. In the spirit of the project, I took some time to think about what happiness means to me and share it in this space

The Questions
1. How do you define happiness?

For me, happiness is the sweet spot that happens when I’m moving toward my ideals at a steady pace. Through lots of trial and error I’ve come to realize that I like to move along at the pace of a gently flowing river. If I try to go too fast I become like a flood - full of debris and turmoil. However, if I don’t put enough effort into my progress, I stagnate and begin to recede as if in a drought.

2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your happiness now, versus when you were a child?

I’m much happier now than as a child. When I was a kid, I didn’t have a lot of room for self-determination or pursuing my own goals. Although I had a good childhood overall, I would say I was usually about a 5 on the happiness scale. Now I try to always remain conscious of my choices and my level of responsibility to create my own happiness. Most days I’m probably a 7 or 8 on the scale and that has been increasing over the past few years. [Read more →]

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Adaptive capacity refers to the ability of any system to respond to change and return to a state of balance. I first heard of this concept in relation to the nonprofit sector in the United States. However, it can be applied to ecological systems, any type of organization, and even individuals.

An example of adaptive capacity in an ecological system would be of a river valley experiencing heavy rainfall. For a time the water level in the river will be much higher than normal. Most of the time the river basin will absorb the water fairly quickly and the water level will return to normal within a day or two. However, if the volume of rain exceeds the river basin’s capacity, the river will flood.

Change Fatigue
When an organization or an individual has an excessive amount of change in a short period of time, something has to give. To build on my previous analogy, the system will “flood” or break down in some way. For an organization the “flood” may take the form of communication breakdowns, high turnover, and low productivity. For an individual it could be extreme stress, relationship problems, or even physical and mental health issues.

These symptoms of change fatigue occur because the system isn’t strong and flexible enough to adapt.

Building Adaptive Capacity
It is possible to build adaptive capacity in and organization in much the same way as it is possible to build muscles in a human body - through regular, sustained exercise. When an organization is proactively engaged in steady, small changes, it will be much better positioned to handle external changes when they come up.

Here is just a small sampling of exercises that can build adaptive capacity.

1. Scenario Planning. An in-depth look at scenario planning requires its own post. For the time being it is enough to know that the process involves a team envisioning possible futures and detailing plans for those futures. The idea is to have possible actions for many situations, so that the organization is prepared for as many outcomes as possible.
2. Cross Training. Many organizations are running so lean now that they don’t have adequate “bench strength” in the case of a team member absence. Cross training is definitely helpful during times like flu season. However, it’s also an advantage to have cross-trained members so that the organization has multiple perspectives to adapt and improve processes. One person performing the same job for years can become inflexible or run out of ideas for making changes. Multiple perspectives of the same job can build the capacity for adaptation and continuous improvements.
3. “State of the Industry” Meetings. Many fields, such as real estate, have annual, local forecast meetings. These meetings allow members of that profession to get together and discuss expert projections and their own hunches of the coming year. If you don’t work in one of these fields, you can still have your own information exchange sessions with other members of your organization. Assign everyone a sub-topic to research and discuss the findings among your team or the whole organization. In rapidly changing fields, a quarterly meeting might be even better.

Change is Easier When You Know What’s Coming
In many ways, building adaptive capacity is a lot like building your crystal ball gazing skills. It’s pretty hard to adapt to circumstances that you just couldn’t see coming. In fact, we usually call those events “crises” or sometimes “acts of terrorism!” The good news is that most change follows fairly predictable patterns. Through careful study and information exchange, most organizations in most fields will be able to get the big things right.

These are ideas that I’ve picked up through my studies and experiences within a few types of organizations. If you’ve had different experiences, or tips for building adaptive capacity, please share those in the comments below.

Photo courtesy of mwookie.

Every day we each make hundreds, maybe even thousands of decisions. Most of our decisions are tiny, almost unnoticeable moments that pass by without notice. We decide whether to get out of bed or hit the ‘Snooze’ button on the alarm. We choose khakis or blue trousers to wear to work. We select the donut with pink sprinkles over the plain glazed. Most of the time we aren’t even aware that we have made a choice.

That may be okay for small choices, but decision making is a vital part of the change process. Unless we plan to just hang around while life happens to us and our organizations, at some point we will have to make decisions about out future actions

When I sat down to really dissect what decision making looks like, I realized that it is much more complex than it seems I went looking around the ‘net and in business management books and found many tools and techniques for making decisions. This suggests that making decisions is actually quite difficult for most people, despite it being a common activity.

Definition
There are many, many definitions of decision making. The common elements that make up a decision among the definitions I have seen seem to be:

• Conscious Thought. Decision making has to include conscious thought. This rules out actions done through habit or instinct. Breathing isn’t really a choice. In some cases, taking addictive drugs is no longer a choice.
• Two or More Possible Actions. If you only have one option, you can’t actually make a decision. Ford offered the Model T in “any color you want, as long as it’s black.” There were no other options, so the buyer had no real choice of color.
• Moment of Selection. For a real decision to be made, you have to select from the possible options. Note that this selection may mean doing nothing or choosing not to decide. However, the absence of action is still a choice. For example, I can choose to ignore my phone – that is a decision in which I make a choice to not take action.

To sum all of these elements up, it seems that Decision Making = Thought + Possible Actions + Active Selection.

Rock, Paper, Scissors
One of the obstacles to making good decisions seems to be the overabundance of information and possible choices currently available to us. Other people have written extensively about the tyranny of choice – the concept that we have so many choices available to us now that we get overwhelmed just buying dishwasher soap. In many cases we seek out much more information than is needed to make an “informed” choice and we end up paralyzed.

For those of us who tend to suffer from analysis paralysis, I have good news. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, in many cases it doesn’t really matter what you decide.

The key to being happy with a decision is to remain committed to the decision that you’ve made and realize that it leads down a road that is just as good as any other. This is easier said than done, especially in business where you might meet resistance at the slightest hint that a decision isn’t working. However, movement in any direction will lead to more and better feedback than just standing still and “planning to plan.”

Key to Change
As you can see, making decisions is one of the key steps in a change process. In fact, it’s so powerful that well-know self improvement and personal development teachers recommend practicing decision making as a first step in changing your life.

My assignment to you is to take one day this week to practice making as many conscious decisions as possible. When you finish you day, make sure to come back and tell us all about it in the comments!

*Photo by Jill Greenseth

The Personal Development Blog recently posted a group writing project asking other bloggers to define personal development. If you’ve spent any time at all in the personal development blogosphere, you know that this term is very loosely defined. It can encompass things like productivity, personal finance, relationship advice, and physical health. All of these topics are great and very important for living a happy and fulfilling life. However, in my post, I really want to get at the heart of the issue.

Over the course of several days of noodling and struggling with a frame for this post, I realized that real framing question for me is…

What is the Purpose of Personal Development?
It seems to me that personal development is a means to an end. I’m not all that interested in developing myself just for giggles. In fact, I often find personal development painful and difficult. I realized that I persist at it because I have an underlying motivation. It should come as no surprise, given the topic of this blog, that, for me, personal development is…

A collection of tools, philosophies and disciplines designed to help individuals respond proactively to change.

What IS Personal Development
The underlying premise of this blog is that rapid change is widespread and persistent in our current society, and that it can wreak havoc on individuals and organizations that are not centered and focused. For me, personal development is all about helping individuals discover their true selves, or whatever Truth has relevance for them, and helping them gain the strength and insight needed to hold onto that unchanging center, even in times of chaos.

This isn’t a new concept at all. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote that human being don’t have any control over their external circumstances. All that we can do is control our reactions to those circumstances. The Buddha taught his followers to maintain perfect equanimity – balance – regardless of external circumstances. For these teachers and other, True Happiness lies in honoring the True Self.

Personal development is just another way to find what is Real.

If you are interested in reading more definitions of personal development, check out the Personal Development page at the Million Dollar Wiki. Also, be sure to visit Gleb Reys’ great Personal Development Blog.