Create a Precise Prescription — Lead a Precise Prescription Exercise
As an individual using MENTA-MORPHOSIS, you create a Precise Prescription. As a MENTA-MORPHOSIS Facilitator, you lead a Precise Prescripon Exercise.
One of the most important lessons I have learned comes out of my work as a trainer. Inevitably, I could bring people to the point where they were convinced of the power and applicatability of some concept or competency. They felt they knew enough about the new practice to enable them to add it to their skill set. Yet, they rarely did. Two months after the training, very few, if any, had changed their behavior.
Why is that? I call it the gap between idea and action, and it has long been an interest of mine. While I can’t answer the question fully for everyone, I have seen some general patterns.
One of the reasons that there exists a gap between idea and action is the fuzziness of the intention that arises out of the training session. For example, let’s look at the competency of “Asking Better Questions.” At the end of a half day training session, one of the students, excited with the possibilities he/she sees, thinks “Asking better questions is a good idea. I should do that.” From my perspective, that is a vague and fuzzy intention, and has little chance of driving changed behavior.
If we can work with that one thing – the verbalization of the intention – we can tremendoiusly improve the likelihood that he/she actually will.
Used For
A Precise Prescription is a format for a commitment to action. It is a way to begin to bridge the gap between idea and action. Just as a medical prescription is a call for a chemical intervention, a Prescise Prescription is a call for an intentional act to interevene in a situation and create changed behavior.
What if we changed this intention “Asking better questions is a good idea. I should do that” to a Precise Prescripton like this: “I will create three good questions and use them in every important sales call every day for the next three weeks.”
Which of those two statements is more likely to stimulate the behavior change?
So, a Precise Prescrption is used at the end of a thinking project, to take the final resolution to a higher level. It increases the likelihood that the resolved action will really be accomplished.
How To
For individual commitments
Let’s say you are working with individuals at the end of a sales meeting, for example, when the purpose of the meeting is to end with each person making a commitment. When you have come down to an actionable idea, you simply explain the criteria and give the group some time to complete it. Note that I explained the process and gave the San Francisco audience five minutes to complete it.
You simplly ask each person to take their highest rated possible actaion, and turn it into a Precise Preswcription. That is a written commitment that meets these criteria.
- It is a commitment. It begins with the words, “I will…”
- It describes behavior which is is observable. If I was a little gremlin, sitting on the person’s shoulder all day every day, I could see him/her complete the prescription.
- It is written in such a way so as to allow a “Yes, I did it,” or “No, I did not.” accouintability.
- There is a time element to it . How often or by what date will it be achieved?
For group actions
Not all group sessins are designed to change the behavior of the indivdiuals in the group. In a strategic planning session, for example, the prescribed action is more like a multi-page strategic plan.
In that case, similar criteria apply. The Prescise Prescripton now takes the form of a more sophisticated sequence of steps. But, each item in the action plan should:
- Be written clearly, with no ambiguity.
- Have clearly assigned resposibility to either a person or a group who is responsible for this item.
- Be observable. Someone, typically the person who is overseeing the project – can easily asertain whether or not it was completed.
- Have a time element to it. Each item should have an expected completion date.
Look at the sample action plan document below to guide you in what a group action plan should look like.
The output of this process is a written document containing the exact words of the Precise Prescription – either one for each individual, or one for the group.
Review Other Menta-Morphosis Facilitator Competencies
Implement Accountability: https://www.davekahle.com/implement-accountability-a-menta-morphosis-facilitators-competency/
Set the Stage: https://www.davekahle.com/set-the-stage-a-menta-morphosis-facilitator-competency/
Select The Content: https://www.davekahle.com/select-the-content-a-menta-morphosis-facilitator-competency/
Nurture the Environment: https://www.davekahle.com/nurture-the-environment-a-menta-morphosis-facilitators-competency/
Lead Brainstorming: https://www.davekahle.com/lead-brainstorming-a-menta-morphosis-facilitator-competency/
Lead Prioritization: https://www.davekahle.com/lead-prioritizing-a-menta-morphosis-facilitator-competency/
Lead Mining: https://www.davekahle.com/lead-mining-information-a-menta-morphosis-facilitator-competency/
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Sequential Action Plan
Objective:
Resources available:
People involved:
Action By Whom Complete by
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