Development
No day unfolds exactly as planned. An agreement works out differently in practice. A customer asks for something unexpected. Collaboration becomes strained. Someone discovers a smarter way of working.
That is exactly where the information is.
Not only about what could be done differently in that moment, but also about what the company can learn.
For us, development does not mean continuously teaching people something new. It means a company getting better and better at seeing what happens in the work and doing something with it.
Development starts in practice
A lot of development is organised outside the day-to-day work. A training course. A programme. An off-site. A new initiative.
That can be valuable. But the most important source for development is already there every day: the work itself.
- Where things go well and where there is friction.
- Where agreements help and where they fall short.
- Where people use the room they have and where they get stuck.
- Where a small change can make a big difference.
That is why we do not take development away from the work. We bring it closer to it.
Seeing what the work reveals
If development starts in the work, it also starts with paying attention to what the work reveals. What stands out? Where is there friction? What works surprisingly well? And what do we not yet fully understand?
A signal may point to friction, an opportunity or something that could work better. But it can also begin as a hunch, an unexpected success, a pattern that cannot yet be explained or a question that lingers.
“I notice something.”
“I am not yet sure what this means.”
“Something seems to be happening here.”
“I think there may be an opportunity here.”
“Could we look at this together?”
Exploring together what happens in the work
Work Labs are moments when people take some distance and look at their own practice. Not at a hypothetical case, but at situations and signals they encounter themselves.
Sometimes an agreement turns out not to be clear. Sometimes different interests collide. Sometimes an existing way of working gets in the way. And sometimes our own behaviour turns out to be the main factor.
By exploring real situations together, we gain insight into what is needed to fulfil the purpose more effectively.
Practice then becomes not only the place where the work happens, but also the place where the company learns.
Major development can begin with something small
Insight alone changes little.
An important way to bring development into day-to-day work is through small, concrete behaviour. We call this micro-behaviour.
Small enough to try tomorrow.
Experimenting with it creates new experience. People notice what works, where it becomes difficult and what could still be different.
This turns development from an intention into something that happens in everyday action.
From one-off intervention to organisational capability
Work is constantly changing. Customers change. Circumstances change. People change. And what worked well yesterday may no longer be enough tomorrow.
That is why, for us, development is ultimately more than a Work Lab or a new micro-behaviour.
Seeing and sharing signals
Noticing and making discussable what the work reveals: friction, deviations, opportunities, patterns and possibilities. Even when the meaning is not immediately clear.
Following up on signals
Preventing signals from disappearing. Determining together what an appropriate follow-up is: investigating, trying something, making a decision, providing feedback or consciously changing nothing for the time being.
Not waiting for someone to come up with a change programme, but recognising in day-to-day work where friction arises and where opportunities lie.
- Notice and share a signal.
- Explore together what is happening.
- Make room for what turns out to be needed.
- Try something when that is appropriate.
- Experience the effect and look again.
The better a company becomes at this, the less development depends on one-off interventions from outside. Development becomes part of how the company works.
See. Make room.
Do. Learn.
For us, development has no endpoint.
See
Make room
Do
Learn
What is happening in your work that you could learn more from?
Let us explore together where friction and opportunities become visible, which signals call for attention or action and how you can use them to keep developing.