{"id":2606,"date":"2014-05-08T11:00:33","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/?p=2606"},"modified":"2014-05-07T17:22:54","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T16:22:54","slug":"on-the-importance-of-cycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/on-the-importance-of-cycles\/","title":{"rendered":"On the importance of Cycles"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you might know, I am quite a fan of cycling \u2013 to the station, through town, to meetings\u2026observing<\/a> and thinking<\/a> as I go.<\/p>\n

However, this blog is NOT about bicycles.<\/p>\n

Nor is it about the fad cycle<\/a>, another sort that interest me (from management theories to technology to music to fashion).<\/p>\n

It is a bit about the learning cycle<\/a>, and the associated ideas\u2026from Deming to Kolb.<\/p>\n

It IS about the cycles that should be at the heart of organisational life. NOT the annual cycle, the three year cycle or even the long term economic cycle<\/a>, despite the exhortations to think out of the short term performance box.<\/p>\n

Rather it is the sort of cycle that helps individuals, teams and organisations get (and keep) on the front foot, and so move from:
\n– Struggling to good: recovering
\n– From good to great: improving
\n– From great to brilliant: inspiring<\/p>\n

In my work helping people get onto the \u2018front foot\u2019 there is a pattern and rhythm that is worth paying attention to, whether it is in Corporate Boards, project teams and individual leaders. This cycle is the \u2018gum\u2019 needed to help when there is a big (t)ask \u2013 a big challenge, a significant goal, the need to get going. It helps groups of people deal with change \u2013 in team membership, team leadership, team context or team role.<\/p>\n

It is seen in the month cycle <\/a>used in individual coaching \u2013 it creates the reflection space for leaders to pause, review, think and plan\u2026and so avoid the traps – in a framework I have Stolen With Pride<\/a>\u00a0for many years!<\/p>\n

It is seen in the 4-8 week cycle in action learning sets.<\/p>\n

It underpins the quarterly cycle <\/a>used in the meeting architecture of productive teams.<\/p>\n

It is at the heart of what helps a individual or group recover, improve or inspire.<\/p>\n

It is in the pattern of the \u201890 day reviews\u2019 that are very popular with some of my clients \u2013 as a way of focusing the work they are doing. In fact, I have just come off a call leading one with colleagues distributed across a continent. The after action review<\/a> is a powerful part of this. The \u2018quarter turn of the key\u2019 helps crank insight into action. It keeps the Question:Breakthrough:Follow-through cycle <\/a>going<\/p>\n

I use it in my \u2018team gymnasium\u2019. [Gym? The \u2018technology\u2019 and exercises I use in the team gymnasium is a blend integrated into 6-9 months of activities for individual team members (monthly) and the team together (quarterly).] The combination of assessment, pre-reading, talks, sessions and action planning helps to stimulate and maintain momentum. It encourages growth and helath.<\/p>\n

The framework of mine I get asked for most often, and the tweet of mine that has been retweeted or favourited the most, is the same one. It is about this cycle. That model<\/a> is a matrix that combines \u2018abc\u2019 and \u20185-30-90\u2019. It is a key part of the Team Gymnasium. It can be used in a rolling manner in line leadership and executive coaching.<\/p>\n

So what are the key elements of this \u2018cycle\u2019 I have alluded to? It is marked by:
\n1) Its pro-activity: the choice to keep moving (and meeting) to maintain and build momentum \u2013 no matter how hard.
\n2) The underpinning curiosity about improvement, impact, individual views (not quite the 4i model <\/a>– nearly).
\n3) The way it becomes the forum for reflection and reflective practice (btw, I argue this is most essential in Noble Purpose Organisations, due to the perplexing patterns many encounter \u2013 more on that to come in an imminent blog, or email for my longer \u2018Think Piece\u2019).
\n4) The way it encourages individuals and teams.<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, we are talking of cycles of experimentation\u2026a feature that is at the root of human progress, from science to art; seen in history and in the world today.<\/p>\n

So I specialise in \u2018cycling\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The 1 month improvement approach in mentoring and coaching
\n\u2022 The 1-2 month learning set
\n\u2022 The 90 day reviews in change, improvement projects
\n\u2022 The ongoing Team Gymnasium \u2013 used in management development programmes too
\n\u2022 The annual business planning or strategy process
\n\u2022 The ad-hoc post project review.<\/p>\n

Whatever you do (whether you are a line manager or an executive leader), are you a \u2018cycle coach\u2019 too?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you might know, I am quite a fan of cycling \u2013 to the station, through town, to meetings\u2026observing and thinking as I go. However, this blog is NOT about bicycles. Nor is it about the fad cycle, another sort that interest me (from management theories to technology to music to fashion). It is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[155,137],"tags":[169],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2606"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2616,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions\/2616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}