{"id":3096,"date":"2016-07-15T01:01:41","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T01:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/?p=3096"},"modified":"2017-03-07T03:14:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T03:14:00","slug":"just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/","title":{"rendered":"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blog post by\u00a0Diederik Prakke<\/p>\n

We will meet the impatience of ourselves and others, if we refuse to ignore\u00a0inconvenient truth and\u00a0refuse to over-promise.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I write quite some tenders and I often\u00a0struggle:<\/strong> How bluntly shall I say that (as usual) the project\u00a0seems to make some (d)illusory assumptions\u00a0<\/strong>as to how lasting change works?<\/em> If\u00a0I win by sweet talking<\/strong>, clients who\u00a0don\u2019t believe what I believe will select my proposal, and we are in for a rough ride, full of predictable \u201csurprises\u201d. On the other hand: Tenders exist for the very reason that clients miss-assess what it takes <\/strong>to achieve change \u2013 else they would have done it already!\u00a0From that point of view, tendering is merely\u00a0about getting in. The actual assignment will be about finding a path and step by step <\/em>checking whether the client is willing to pay the price.<\/p>\n

Very often the answer will be:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell if it takes that much <\/em>effort, let\u2019s not climb\u00a0Mount Everest but just roam around a little and then pretend that we went up, or make up a dramatic story that we were completely unexpectedly attacked by yeti\u2019s\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the first hurdles come, many clients are happy to settle for less <\/strong>than what I\u00a0go for, and less than the\u00a0objective statement in the ToR. \u201cOK, forget about a real culture change, just draft a code of conduct\u201d (which everybody knows to have\u00a0no impact and may\u00a0be used as a stick to beat). Or: \u201cI don\u2019t care about real performance \u2013 I just want to show the donor that we do annual staff assessments\u201d (even though they were already called \u201cthe bloodletting practice of today\u201d by Stephen Covey).<\/p>\n

Or:<\/p>\n

\u201cImpact is too hard, just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I so recognize what you write about clients who show less actual commitment than we agreed and hoped for. This is how we are co-responsible or co-dependent:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Probably we have\u00a0done wishful thinking<\/strong>: We sensed and got signals that the client wasn\u2019t on board, but we\u00a0couldn\u2019t prove it, ignored it,\u00a0explained them away, and were over-eager to proceed.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Certainly we avoided the uncomfortable hassle of cross-checking and double-checking.\u00a0Likely we avoided\u00a0fully telling the expected and possible hurdles, and checking whether the the client would proceed if they would indeed arise. We may tell ourselves that it\u2019s not our fault as we said the right things, but we should have checked what the client understood and genuinely agreed to.<\/li>\n
  • And we accepted leading the process, where we should have stayed back for the client to be the public face of the change, and to commit himself publicly and unambiguously to purpose and process.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • We may also refuse to be realistic:<\/strong> While we want to achieve the change, the client bears the risk. While we hate aborting the effort, maybe the client takes\u00a0responsibility by doing so. Or maybe he is under levels of board, political\u00a0and donor pressures that would give us nightmares.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    And last but not least: Rather than\u00a0playing victim\u00a0and gossiping with our colleagues about this cunning client,\u00a0do we confront this client that he breaks his commitment to his staff and to you? Often an honest talk can repair what we tell ourselves is the final sign of deception by the client. Here the issue of daring comes back: Yes, it pisses us off that the client isn\u2019t on the same page \u2013 but do we dare to discuss it openly?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Needless to say: I know all these pitfalls from practicing them.<\/p>\n

    \"perspectivity_MASTER300\"<\/p>\n

    \n
    MY NAME IS DIEDERIK PRAKKE. I HAVE OVER 20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, FIRST AS AN ENGINEER AND NOW AS A LEADERSHIP TRAINER, CONSULTANT AND COACH WITH GOVERNMENTS, UNIVERSITIES, NON-PROFITS AND BUSINESSES. I HAVE TRAVELED EXTENSIVELY: 15 YEARS I LIVED AND WORKED IN BHUTAN, ALBANIA, NEPAL AND VIETNAM, AND CARRIED OUT ASSIGNMENTS IN TWENTY MORE COUNTRIES. I LOVE TO TRAIN AND COACH PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THEIR WORLDTRIP TO FIND THEIR HEART ENRICHED AND SURPRISED AND TO FOLLOW IT. IN MY BACKPACK I CARRY SOME NICE EXPERIENCES WITH:<\/h5>\n
      \n
    • \n
      WAGENINGEN MASTERS IN WATER MANAGEMENT AND NON-WESTERN SOCIOLOGY<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n
      THREE-YEAR DEGREE AND CONTINUING AT PHOENIX OPLEIDINGEN IN UTRECHT. CENTRAL TO THESE COURSES ARE TA, NLP AND SYSTEMIC CONSTELLATIONS, BASED ON THE WORK OF BERT HELLINGER<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n
      MORE THAN 20 YEARS I AM STUDYING AND I MEDITATING AT SHAMBHALA, AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTITIONERS OF MEDITATION, WHICH INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION ARE COMBINED.<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n
      I WAS ALSO TRAINED IN THE DARING WAY, THE WORK OF BREN\u00c9 BROWN ABOUT VULNERABILITY, SHAME AND COURAGE AND IN THEORY U, THE APPROACH OF MIT PROFESSOR OTTO SCHARMER<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n
      I LOVE MOUNTAINS, SILENCE AND MUSIC. I HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR 14 YEARS AND FATHER OF TWO CHILDREN.<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n
      WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT DIEDERIK: MY TRAINING IS ALWAYS FUN. WITH DIEDERIK TRAINING IS A PARTY.<\/h5>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Blog post by\u00a0Diederik Prakke We will meet the impatience of ourselves and others, if we refuse to ignore\u00a0inconvenient truth and\u00a0refuse to over-promise. I write quite some tenders and I often\u00a0struggle: How bluntly shall I say that (as usual) the project\u00a0seems to make some (d)illusory assumptions\u00a0as to how lasting change works? If\u00a0I win by sweet talking, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":3179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJust give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs! - AR + Action Research Plus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs! - AR + Action Research Plus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blog post by\u00a0Diederik Prakke We will meet the impatience of ourselves and others, if we refuse to ignore\u00a0inconvenient truth and\u00a0refuse to over-promise. I write quite some tenders and I often\u00a0struggle: How bluntly shall I say that (as usual) the project\u00a0seems to make some (d)illusory assumptions\u00a0as to how lasting change works? If\u00a0I win by sweet talking, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AR + Action Research Plus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-15T01:01:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T03:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"204\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"56\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dusty Columbia Embury\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@actionresearchj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@actionresearchj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dusty Columbia Embury\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/\",\"name\":\"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs! - AR + Action Research Plus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-15T01:01:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-07T03:14:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c54abfd94ab569172528135265afe373\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png\",\"width\":204,\"height\":56},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/\",\"name\":\"AR + Action Research Plus\",\"description\":\"Action Research Plus\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c54abfd94ab569172528135265afe373\",\"name\":\"Dusty Columbia Embury\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de9b9c7c49df7ff3bd02d83ae22d83c0?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de9b9c7c49df7ff3bd02d83ae22d83c0?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dusty Columbia Embury\"},\"description\":\"Columbia Embury www.wright.edu\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.wright.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/author\/dustycolumbiae\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs! - AR + Action Research Plus","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs! - AR + Action Research Plus","og_description":"Blog post by\u00a0Diederik Prakke We will meet the impatience of ourselves and others, if we refuse to ignore\u00a0inconvenient truth and\u00a0refuse to over-promise. I write quite some tenders and I often\u00a0struggle: How bluntly shall I say that (as usual) the project\u00a0seems to make some (d)illusory assumptions\u00a0as to how lasting change works? If\u00a0I win by sweet talking, […]","og_url":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/","og_site_name":"AR + Action Research Plus","article_published_time":"2016-07-15T01:01:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-07T03:14:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":204,"height":56,"url":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Dusty Columbia Embury","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@actionresearchj","twitter_site":"@actionresearchj","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dusty Columbia Embury","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/","url":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/","name":"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs! - AR + Action Research Plus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png","datePublished":"2016-07-15T01:01:41+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-07T03:14:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c54abfd94ab569172528135265afe373"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/perspectivity.png","width":204,"height":56},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/just-give-me-some-meaningless-indicators-we-can-use-to-make-graphs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Just give me some meaningless indicators we can use to make graphs!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/","name":"AR + Action Research Plus","description":"Action Research Plus","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c54abfd94ab569172528135265afe373","name":"Dusty Columbia Embury","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de9b9c7c49df7ff3bd02d83ae22d83c0?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de9b9c7c49df7ff3bd02d83ae22d83c0?s=96&r=g","caption":"Dusty Columbia Embury"},"description":"Columbia Embury www.wright.edu","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wright.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/author\/dustycolumbiae\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/actionresearchplus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}