Introduction
Welcome to the world of Phenomenon Based Learning. The Phenomenon Based Learning model or PhenoBL has been pioneered by Finnish Educators since 2016-17. PhenoBL is very effective at mindset change compared to the typically used topic-based learning model. PhenoBL is a paradigm shift (in the Thomas Kuhn sense of the phrase) that is just getting started. Click for More details on Paradigm Shift
We at Tiny Magiq are happy to say that the framework we have developed over the last 7 years (approx) – HiPoHa for Digital Transformation , is based on the principles of PhenoBL. We have gotten here through a series of lucky accidents to present to you what may be amongst the world’s first few commercial/corporate implementations of PhenoBL.
What is PhenoBL & Why PhenoBL?
If you prefer to understand this model through short videos (max 10 min), please go to the playlist on our Youtube channel.
To understand PhenoBL, we can use the example of a tsunami. For us to learn about tsunamis we only need to learn the relevant parts from the topic areas: geology, seismology, plate tectonics, metrology, climatology, geography, history of tsunamis in a particular area, disaster management, physics of tidal waves & ocean currents etc.
In a typical topic-based learning model, we might have learnt all of the individual topic areas mentioned above at-length but may not learn about tsunamis in detail at all because it is a phenomenon that cuts across all these topic areas.
To give another example to reinforce the point, the Covid 19 global crisis that we are all experiencing now is a phenomenon of pandemics. We have to understand many topic areas to understand pandemics.
In the corporate world, every non-trivial business outcome we want to achieve is a phenomenon. For example, if we want to cut attrition by 50%, we have to bring skills from several different topics like business operations, leadership, IT, H.R., finance.. etc.
In other words, the world of corporates (or more broadly organizations and teams within them) is a world of phenomena not topics. This makes PhenoBL the best approach to use to hit the ambitious business outcomes organizations & teams want to.
Bringing PhenoBL to life in corporates/commercial enterprises
In PhenoBL, a program needs an anchor phenomenon. For example, the anchor phenomenon of Tsunami acts as the holding thread across all the learnings, concepts from the various topic areas to understand Tsunamis. Learning is the primary outcome in the grade school education setup where PhenoBL is being pioneered by Finnish educators. Additionally, in the grade school setup at best students can create experiments of phenomena to learn more effectively.
We in Tiny Magiq have extended PhenoBL to help employees of our clients make the phenomenon of digital transformation happen and not just learn about Digital Transformation . Digital Transformation being the phenomenon we go after.
To help our clients make the phenomenon of Digital Transformation happen in their organizational context, we have extended the concept of Anchor Phenomenon to what we call Measurable Anchor Phenomenon (MAP). We work with our client stakeholders to determine a MAP, which is an ambitious business outcome, that our program participants (our mentees) must achieve during our 120-day 10-minutes-a-day program. The MAPs serve as the anchor phenomena to hold all the learnings together as a connected thread in the minds of the participants.
The MAPs can’t be achieved without developing the required skills and mindsets for making Digital Transformation happen in the context of the participants. In other words, the achievement of the MAP would serve as the evidence of skills gained & mindsets changed and be one of the key success criteria for measuring the program’s effectiveness.
To give another MAP example from the world of business, let us look at increasing revenues by 50% . To make that happen, we need to bring skills from sales, marketing, delivery, operations, finance etc. By using a PhenoBL approach, Tiny Magiq can enable that effectively. This in turn makes the entire organization learn much faster cutting across topic silos and significantly improve the outcomes achieved compared to the traditional models.
We think this makes Tiny Magiq’s implementation of PhenoBL stand apart in the world of business.
HiPoHA More sources
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