From Knowing to Doing: How to Lead Transformational Professional Development

“One of the deepest-rooted human instincts is to correct other people.” 

Shane Parrish shares this idea in his book, Clear Thinking. It’s nestled in a story about how a colleague of his transformed their work relationships and his own perception of the challenges and opportunities his team faced by committing to:

1. Being present and listening deeply to what was shared 
2. Repeating back what he heard and asking, “What did I miss?” 
3. Following up a final time with, “What else did I miss?” 

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These simple moves led him to be more fulfilled and more effective at work (and get a big promotion). 

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Concrete strategies like these can be helpful and easy to incorporate into our practice. When combined with learning about the underlying why–as Shane does in this chapter–they can be adapted and evolved into new strategies. That’s even better. 

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Here’s the catch: All of this knowledge does very little good when it only lives in your mind. 

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Here’s the key: If you want to do something differently, you need to practice doing.  

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That is why all of our workshops are heavy on putting ideas into action through role playing and consultancies. We design our PD to close the knowing-doing gap. 

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Ideas do not lead to change. Skillful implementation does. 

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Two questions for you: 

1. How much of the PD you design or take part in is focused on increasing what is known vs. what can be done differently? 
2. What is one way you can increase your doing practice this week? 

Keep Learning:

• Subscribe to my Weekly Wisdom Newsletter to get content like this sent straight to your inbox
• If you want to design and facilitate transformational PD, don’t miss The PD Workshop
• Interested in the science of decision-making? Shane Parrish’s Clear Thinking is a solid starting point.
• Looking for a step-by-step guide to making decisions that build buy-in and get meaningful results? This resource is for you.