After 30 years, joyful-clio shares the ABCD framework for real behavior change: daily practice, whole-person development, consistent rhythm, invested time, and supportive environment. One-off workshops don't work. Lasting change needs all five.
Here's the uncomfortable truth. Most change efforts fail because leaders can't tell the difference between that busy activity and deep transformational development. And after decades of doing that buzz and fizz activity, I learned about the Harvard Change Pentat. It's based on a 13 year multidisciplinary study with the most intractable cases. It has changed how I work and I can't unlearn it. So in the next minutes, I'll share what most leaders miss and what you need to know if you're serious about leading real change in your work, your team or your own life. So if this kind of content resonates, please, like, so I'll know to do more. So over the years, my internal clients would ask me or my team, can you do a lunch and learn? Can you do a one hour team building thing? We have a three day session, can you come at the end and do one of those surveys and fun assessments? And we would go running and feel very flattered that people asked and valued our work. But now I see it differently. And it came from what I've learned from my mentor, Carol Sanford. She had a mentor who was a researcher at Harvard and he studied over a 13 year period. He studied the most intractable cases. I'm talking about prisoners, smokers, alcoholics, delinquency, those types of real intractable problems. They studied in a multidisciplinary approach from the School of Psychology, Management or Business and education over 13 years. What they came up with and what Carol called was the Harvard Pentad. She then used it for 60 years with a track record at P and G, colgate, Dupont, Google, etc. And what I'd like to do is share with you the instead of the large report in research study, I've called it the ABCD Effective Change Methodology. So here's what it stands for. And it's changed the way that I work. Now if someone asks me, will you do a lunch and learn? Will you do a team building? I say to them, I can. I have before I know how I'm certified. What? But if I do this for you, I'm doing the very thing that I tell people not to do. I'm not walking my talk. So it's really important now for you as change leaders to understand what the research study shows for 13 years and then 60 years of track record success afterwards. What works a for active? The intensity of practice. It's not like someone went to a weekend workshop and then they came back to the same environment, did the same old thing. This means actively Baking in to your daily choices, to your daily patterns and practices and decisions. 10 to 20% of the day you're baking in the new things you want to do into the patterns, decisions, way of being. So that's active. It's an intensity of practice. Second B for blending. This means a state of being and becoming. Even when I say a state of being, something in me just kind of grounds who am I being right now? But also knowing that as a living system and a living social system, we are always in a state of becoming. So knowing that, how do we work with the whole person? Not just filling up their toolkit with more tools and templates and functional skills, but how do we address the whole being, the head, the heart and the hands. So yes, it will include some functional capability, but also a state of being or a state of mind, a state of presence. Who are they in the moment? And also with that willpower, motivation, backbone to continue personal agency. So the being and becoming is the whole head, heart and hands that are being developed. Developed, not just typically functional capability. C is cadence. What is the frequency of coming together? Is it a once and done? No. For this ABCD effective change, transformational change that the researchers studied for 13 years, that what they saw is that when people came together on a regular cadence, a rhythm of focused learning, talking and analyzing and reflecting on real concrete issues of work or personal life, that that supported development and it prevented regressing. So that's cadence. Now D is for investing. Investing a duration of time, not a quick fix, band aid, not a silver bullet, but actually investing the time and not giving up. When you realize, ah, I'm conscious that I'm incompetent, that's usually when people say, this is too hard. I'm going to give up fighting through that. Because knowing that this is just discomfort, it's a signpost, it's not a stop sign. I'm feeling uncomfortable. I don't know it, but I'm going to keep going through it. Also, this is needed for this inner growth and transformation. So finally is E for environment. And the research showed that if you're working with a group of people or a coach, that the results are quicker and more permanent. So as a change agent, how do you work with your people over time? A cadence, knowing that it's not a quick fix and that you're going to come together and you as the change agent, you're just a little bit ahead of them. That's how this research became the foundation for change in aa. In Weight Watchers, where folks who were in the same situation. They worked with the folks to be able to help them say, ah, I've been there. I know what it's like. I can reframe. I can recognize and reframe what you're going through so that I'm the change agent working with you. I've been there before and let's keep moving. That's it. This ABCD Effective Change Methodology. It was a large report that focused on 13 years and now I'm calling it active 10 to 20% of your day. Blending the whole person, focusing on the whole person, not just on tools and templates and functional capabilities. C is a cadence, a rhythm of focused learning on real concrete issues and support that will prevent you from regressing. D is duration. A lot of this takes time. It's not a weekend, once and done lunch and learn type of event and it's going to maybe feel uncomfortable like a new pair of shoes that you need to break in. And the E is environment. If you think about that line that you're the average of your five closest friends who are are you hanging out with and co learning, co creating with the people who can grow together in your system. Now if you're thinking how do I actually apply this to my unique situation? Well, that's exactly why I've created the best future self now one on one leadership development coaching. And you can book a discovery call with the link in the description or comment below. But this isn't a generic lunch and learn or a quick fix band aid. It's a personalized developmental coaching. It follows the very same exact Harvard Change pentad principles that I've renamed as ABCD Effective Change. So in partnership, we'll work on your real challenges to regenerate your work, your wellness and your worth. Just remember, real change. It doesn't happen in a weekend workshop or reading a book. It happens in the work. Let's do this together.
Why Training Doesn't Change People (What 13 Years of Harvard Research Found Instead)
