Adult Development Theory and Strategic Sprints

Two insightful takeaways from the NE/SAE Conference

I recently had the benefit of attending the New England Society of Association Executives Leadership Conference, held January 30-31, at the beautiful Wellsworth Hotel and Conference Center in Southbridge, Massachusetts.

While there were many great speakers and topics, there were two takeaways that I wanted to report back for the benefit of our Barcami Lane client teams, and ultimately, the clients that I support.

Adult Development Theory

Keynote speaker Arel Moodie spoke on “building people power,” sharing research on what makes people tick and how that can improve organizational leadership. His training leverages the insights of adult development theory to equip leaders and teams with the tools to navigate complex human dynamics. Moodie claims that our human development doesn’t stop once we reach adulthood. Adults basically pass through four major stages throughout their lifetime.

• Stage 1 – Self-Centric/Self-Protective, Opportunistic: “I win, you lose.” People see others as useful or useless.

• Stage 2 – Group-Centric, Team Player: The individual does things in the name of the group’s betterment (whichever group or team they may belong to).

• Stage 3 – Skill-Centric, Expert: What you do and who you are are the same thing. Your expert skill becomes your identity.

• Stage 4 – Self-Authoring, Achiever: The individual can’t do everything all by themselves anymore and welcomes the assistance of others.

  
  

It is important to note that your stage doesn’t necessarily correlate with your age at any given time. By understanding these stages, one is better able to understand and predict behaviors and preferences, thereby building better teams and helping to drive productivity and efficiency.

Strategic Sprints

One of the other sessions I attended focused on governing and managing from the same page to both sustain the organization’s mission and encourage growth. While bylaws and development of a strategic plan are a solid starting point, there needs to unity on the goals and objectives.

At one time, it was common for an organization’s leadership and board to develop a five-year strategic plan. In recent years, due to the speed of change, this time frame has been narrowed to a two- to three-year window. What was interesting to me was that many organizations are now employing “strategic sprints” in which their strategic plan is reviewed, discussed, and modified annually. This is especially important when the board term of the president or chair rotates on an annual basis. This is an important discussion to have with clients to ensure that their organization remains nimble and responsive.