Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 183

Special Editions
style2, that adults will need time. In practice, this means that we can’t teach
everything there is to know about a subject in one session. We need to
break down the formal teaching into chunks, with time in between for
the learners to reflect, experiment, and apply the new principles. Change
happens only in steps. And as the organizational psychologist, Chris Argyris
has shown, people assimilate information more thoroughly if they go on
to describe to others how they will apply what they have learned to their
own circumstances. Training or workshops can help to change behaviour
by establishing personal meaning as well as creating emotional connection
between staff and the new behaviour.
In any organization, staff model their behaviour on “significant others” and
these are usually those they see in positions of influence. So we need role
models at every level to “walk the talk” so that people in different functions
or levels have examples to emulate.

Checking assumptions
In implementing any change effort, it is useful to recognize assumptions as
it is a bias that is pervasive in humans and exist in the various systems we
experience daily. Some of these are so subtle that we do not know that we
are being exposed to them. We may assume that what worked will always
work. For example, we often do not take into consideration the changes
that have occurred such as the changes to systems and changes to context.
We tend to think that what we see is all of what there is, like the ice berg
assumption when we know that the majority of the ice berg is below the
water.

Embracing change
As we seek to improve services, change, which involves making delivery
better for clients, will be a norm. Sometimes the change may involve
innovation and creativity, sometimes it may require abandoning of old ways
to encompass or install new ways or new behaviour. The change may start
with individuals, small groups or across the board. Whatever these may be,
leaders need to be equipped to lead change through acquiring the skills,
strategising the change process and focusing on the human dimension for
change in order for it to be sustained when it happens. Change is after all
part and parcel of leadership.
Ang Bee Lian,
Director of Social Welfare, MSF
2

David Kolb, a specialist in adult learning, developed his four-phase adult-learning cycle.
Kolb showed that adults can’t learn merely by listening to instructions; they must also absorb
the new information, use it experimentally, and integrate it with their existing knowledge.
182