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Change

3 Lessons from this year’s Annual Insights Report
by Chris Taylor

This year’s report may well be our most robust, now including data from 6000+ training sessions and 39,000+ participants.

Here are three of my biggest takeaways from the report.

How to Measure the Impact of Your Programs
by Chris Taylor
Moving from Learning to Business Impact
by Chris Taylor

The goal of the learning that happens in your leadership sessions is the creation of a change within the organization that hired you.  The goal of this change is the development of a lasting effect.  And finally, the goal of the lasting effect that you’ve sparked is a translation into true business impact.  So how […]

The Importance of Quantifying Behavior Change for Client ROI
by Chris Taylor
How Quickly We Forget: Ebbinghaus and Training Program Measurement
by Chris Taylor

It might be true that some strategic priorities are advanced through training investment. But how would we know? The current methods of sustaining and measuring training program efficacy are largely broken.  Over $358 billion was spent globally on corporate training last year, with an estimated $41 billion of that figure being spent on leadership training […]

Here’s How to Help Participants Achieve Guaranteed Momentum
by Chris Taylor

If you’ve been a leadership development consultant, coach, or facilitator for a while, you may very well be able to recognize the moment that realization sparks within your participants.  It’s an “aha!” moment that we sometimes call the “facilitator high.” Participants’ eyes might light up, they might even physically lean forward, but they’ve definitely reached […]

The Importance of Relevance in Habit Change
by Chris Taylor

One of the biggest trends in L&D right now is having access to technology that can measure program results. There’s a growing movement around habit tools of all sorts—from habit trackers and stackers, to habit applications, to behavior change tools. This makes sense. Leadership development consultants are eager to help participants establish new habits after […]

The Art (and Science) of Intelligent Commitments for Succesful Behavior Change
by Chris Taylor

80% of NewYear’s resolutions “fail” by mid-February1.  Reasons for their failure include anything from lack of clarity to over-ambition when setting the goal.  This leads to the question: what makes a good habit commitment?  You probably wonder this same thing when helping participants create action plans coming out of your learning interventions. How can you […]

Why Audience Ownership Matters in Learning Application
by Chris Taylor

Here is the million-dollar question for every training program: “How can I get my participants to take action on the things I’m teaching them?” In answering this for ourselves, it’s important to remember that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Similarly, you can present a participant in a […]

2 Steps to Help Managers Enable Change in Their Team
by Chris Taylor

How do you get participants’ managers on board with supporting the change that your programs are designed to create? It’s a mouthful for sure.  The context is you have participants currently enrolled in your program and they are learning new things.  They are excited to put said new things into practice.  They’ve landed on why […]

How to Turn 1-Day Training Events into 30-Day Client Engagements
by Chris Taylor

Would you consider yourself an impact-focused consultant? Most of the consultants I speak with on a weekly basis claim to be. Meaning, they aren’t just about the event in the room, they’re focused on making a true difference for the people that are in the session.  If that describes you, fantastic. This is the future […]

Why an Accountability Buddy is your Program Participant’s Key to Success
by Chris Taylor

How do you increase the likelihood that your program participants are going to put the content from your session into practice after they leave the room? There are a number of components that come into play such as language and microreflections – those will be the subject of future posts –  in this post we’ll […]

What do Volcanoes (and Tsunamis) Have to do With Behavior Change?
by Chris Taylor

My 5 year old son is obsessed with volcanoes. Almost every night at bedtime we are reading books about volcano facts. It’s an exciting journey for him, and I really admire the focus that he brings to bedtime story time. As it turns out, reading books about volcanoes leads to books about earthquakes, which, in […]

“Just” Noticing — Spark Change With This Simple Practice
by Ronni Hendel-Giller

Of course, without first noticing, change is very difficult, if not impossible. Noticing is a prerequisite to growth and learning.

120,000 Intentional Acts: Correcting a Culture of Disrespect
by Lesley Diaz

If you were to engage in one intentional act every work day for a whole year, you would have repeated that one thing 250 times.

The Magic of Habit Change: What Makes a Commitment Stick?
by Anna Brooks

So, what makes a good behavior change commitment? Make it measurable and specific—and make it small and important to you personally.

Embedding Strategic Change — Small Shifts For A More Successful Year
by Sara Saddington

Front line workers know what KPIs they’re being evaluated on, but typically lack understanding about how they are linked to the overarching strategic goals.

Harnessing Habits — Why Your Change Projects Are Failing
by Sara Saddington

For organizations that are seeking changed behavior, tapping into the power of habits is an effective strategy for ensuring that change sticks.

Change Isn’t Cheap—Why I Stopped Doing “Free Lunch” Coaching
by Shawn Shepheard

If you’re serious about making a change, for your organization, your team, or yourself, make an investment of your time and your energy to make it happen.

Learning Return on Expectations and Lasting Behavior Change
by Nancy Priest

A key first step in any successful learning or behavior change initiative is to identify the return on expectations—begin with the end in mind.

Taming the Distraction Habit
by Ronni Hendel-Giller

If we allow the stimuli we’re exposed to every day whisk us into a state of distraction—we may be putting our health, productivity, and humanity at risk.

The Science of Behavior Change
by Sara Saddington

For organizations to achieve meaningful change in a sustainable way, they need to create the conditions for behavior change at an individual level.

Behavior Change That Sticks
by Shawn Shepheard

Clarity is what we want for our organizations, and is the critical first step in behavior change. Resistance to change is often the result of unclear goals.

Getting Lucky At Work and Beyond
by Catherine Harrison

“Luck” happens because the person has used a systematic approach to ensure progress toward their dreams and goals. It’s not as simple as just getting lucky.

Infographic: Increase Agility By Creating A Learning Culture
by Sara Saddington

Working to create a robust learning culture will help develop the skills required to increase agility and navigate a world of constant change.

Ungoaling: Developing Habits Is The Way to Really Get Work Done
by Alyssa Burkus

I decided to end my focus on goals, something I’ve called ungoaling. This means developing habits for activities that will contribute to my overall success.

Take Immediate Action, Or Get Left Behind
by Shawn Shepheard

Nothing moves people into immediate action quite like necessity. When the danger of NOT doing anything is strong, people are willing to try anything.

Cultivating Attention and Focus in a World of Rapid Change
by Peter Nakamura

It’s important that we protect the most valuable asset that we have: our attention and focus. Here are the three areas that I am working on at the moment.

Organizational Agility: Thriving in a State of Constant Change
by Sara Saddington

Organizational agility provides a competitive advantage. As organizations adopt initiatives to keep pace with change, success will hinge on agile teams.

Inspiration is Fine, But Action is Better
by Shawn Shepheard

Committing to the one action leads to change, and often triggers or sets in motion other changes that have impact on the team as well.

Don’t Be A January Person—Sticky Behavior Change for 2017
by Shawn Shepheard

There’s nothing wrong with being optimistic or making big plans. But to truly change, you also need a healthy dose of realism: if you think it can happen overnight, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Breakthrough Thinking With Best-selling Author Dave Gray
by Alyssa Burkus

We are excited to announce a collaboration with Dave Gray, and have launched a new module on our Conversations platform inspired by Liminal Thinking.

Better Conversations To Replace Performance Reviews
by Sara Saddington

At Actionable, we know that when it comes to fostering employee engagement and cultivating behavior change, regular conversations beat once a year performance reviews hands down.

Create Change by Disrupting Your Habits
by Shawn Shepheard

Remember that your current behaviors are getting you the results you’re seeing—to see a change you will have to make a change.

Flip the Script: Choose Positive Language to Create Change
by Sandy Colombo

Focusing on the language I use—with myself, with my children, and with my clients—has helped me create positive results.

What to Read to Hack Your Brain And Create Tangible Change
by Sara Saddington

Whether you are managing a team, searching for strategies to improve, or seeking more creativity in your day to day life, you can harness the science of behavior change to see positive results.

Pivot Webinar Replay
by Sara Saddington

We were delighted to host Jenny Blake for an Actionable webinar to discuss her book Pivot. Alyssa Burkus sat down with Jenny for a live chat with members of the Actionable community.

Recent Highlights from The 21st Century Workplace podcast
by Andy Budgell

Over the last two years, we’ve had amazing guests join our 21st Century Workplace podcast. Check out some of the great authors who have joined us recently this year.