Method Y

An experiential soft skills training methodology based on discovery, evaluation and personal choice. Method Y utilizes a set of tools deriving from an array of arts, sciences and communication perspectives. Central objective of method Y is to facilitate attitudes Attitude (psychology) and behaviour positive change at work environments. Method Y is used for all major soft skills training such as leadership, sales, client service, negotiation, coaching and can effectively support Change Management or Organizational Development programs. It is important not to be taken as a business theory but as a training method that accepts any content form business, leadership, / soft skills areas.

History

Method Y was developed by the R&D and training team of Other LTD a European change and performance management consultancy; between the years 2001 and 2004. The name ‘method Y’ has been adopted after Douglas McGregor's Theory X and theory Y, as a means of emphasizing involvement; wealth of experience; space for personal choice and adaptation to change .

Description

Several different perspectives and techniques are used to guide the participants class in building a range of collective experiences able to initiate attitude shift, knowledge and skill advance. Pivotal perspectives of Method Y are improvisational theater, behavioral sciences, e.g. applied psychology and cognitive science, systemics & group analysis perspectives which are combined to a structured 'in class' training platform. The collective experience that derives sparks a positive shift of the group's business attitudes towards more advanced, fulfilling and efficient behaviours. Further more the method has been placed on an all encompassing project management framework deriving from the 6σ improvement methodology that fosters measurable business behaviors towards predefined voluntary change and improvement.

Structural Parts

For any soft skills topic METHOD Y can be implemented via the following six structural parts:

1. Performance part where trainers enact real life or imaginary scenarios while participants observe and try to distinguish targeted behaviours.
2. Reflection part where participants produce scripts based on their reality which are enacted by the trainers via devising .
3. Hypothesis part where participants form the hypotheses such as : how can I change X in my work behaviour or what should I change or what shall I gain if I change X?
4. Experimentation part were part participants carry out quasi experiments that support or refute their hypotheses.
5. Skills part where new skills are taught and practiced
6. The future part where changes are embedded symbolically (via art forms) in the near future of the group

Method’s key points

• Exploration of the past knowledge and experience and formation of a semiotic reference platform relevant to the subject; in other words the group realizes who knows what and agree on the semiotics of the experience.
• Gap analysis and evaluation of current against proposed attitudes and corresponding behaviours via enactment.
• Unlocking individual resistances to change
• Understanding new behaviours and testing their value proposition
• Adoption of attitude shift and practice on new skills
• Experiencing and exploring change to a symbolic representation level via utilization of expressive means such as improvisations or representations of any suitable medium and form.
• Use of the team dynamics as a system platform of support and camaraderie for reflection and improvement .

Why method Y differs ? Points of differentiation and innovation

• Method Y training is carried out by 2- 3 facilitators in teams of five to twenty-five participants that work in parallel located at the same class space.
• Experience driven pre-designed activities instead of lecture based learning
• Use of improvisation theater as a means to explore feelings, relations and interactions e.g. playback theatre, theater of the oppressed.
• Use of group analytic approach to explore participants possible fears and / resistances psychological resistance to proposed change
• Usage of single variable 'in class' experimental process as a means of evaluation encouraging a researchers evaluative perspective.
• Production of simulation material e.g. scripts, movies and other representation forms describing the targeted change
• Use of the team as a system platform of support and camaraderie for reflection and improvement .

Evaluation

Method Y has been used to an increasing number of companies including some super brands and blue chip companies. Reported results so far are convincing scaling on average to a 55-60% first week tryout of new behaviors.

Criticism

Method Y and the encompassing supportive framework have been criticized as inappropriate to produce change in behaviour results if not tenuously supported from top management. New behaviours ‘fade out’ when top management has not assumed ownership of the project, of fail to provide appropriate support and reward to change. Further more to run method Y within its encompassing supporting frame work requires ability in project management methodologies such as D.M.A.I.C. Method Y is difficult to be implemented by any company since it requires highly trained professionals in different fields such as performing arts, management science, psychology or/and group analysis

References

Attitudes and decisions, J. Richard Eiser, Joop Pligt, Routledge, 1988, ISBN 0415011124, 9780415011129

The heart of change: real-life stories of how people change their organizations, John P. Kotter, Dan S. Cohen Harvard Business Press, 2002, ISBN 1578512549, 9781578512546

Douglas McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y. Workforce; Jan2002, Vol. 81 Issue 1, p32,1/4p,1 bw.

Change Is the Rule: Practical Actions for Change on Target, on Time, on Budget, Winford E. Holland, WinHope Press, dba Holland & Davis, ISBN 096714017X, 9780967140179

Actors and onlookers: theater and twentieth-century scientific views of nature, Natalie Crohn Schmitt, Northwestern University Press, 1990, ISBN 0810108364, 9780810108363

Resistances of psychoanalysis, Jacques Derrida, Pascale-Anne Brault, Peggy Kamuf, Michael Naas, Stanford University Press, 1998, ISBN 0804730199, 9780804730198

Existential psychotherapy, Irvin D. Yalom, Basic Books, 1980 ISBN 0465021476, 9780465021475

Therapeutic discourse and Socratic dialogue, Tullio Maranhão, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1986, ISBN 0299109208, 9780299109202

Servant leadership: a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness, Robert K. Greenleaf, Larry C. Spears, Stephen R. Covey, Paulist Press, 2002, ISBN 0809105543, 9780809105540

Primal leadership: learning to lead with emotional intelligence, Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, Annie McKee Εκδόθηκε από Harvard Business Press, 2004, ISBN 1591391849, 9781591391845