Praxis Global.

Diagnosis before recommendation.

Two methodologies, both written in practice. Measures are agreed at the outset, observation is separated from judgement, confidence is stated, and trade-offs are made explicit.

The Integrated Consulting Methodology

Used for strategy, governance and transition work. Five stages, each producing a document the client keeps.

1

Understand

Identify objectives, confirm expectations and timeline, and align desired outcomes to strategic objectives.

Documents of understanding
2

Analyse

Assess current reality, identify rightsholders and stakeholders, and conduct internal and external research.

Findings and analysis
3

Co-design

Engage stakeholders, validate alternatives, and define the approach and timeline.

Alternatives and recommendations
4

Implement

Develop the communication and implementation plans, implement the change and sustain it.

Implementation documents
5

Evaluate

Debrief, evaluate impact on outcomes, and document lessons and next recommendations.

Impact and return report

The Integrated Learning Methodology

The companion approach, used where the principal intervention is a programme, a convening or a learning process.

PhaseQuestion it answersArtefact
AssessWhat is the situation, and what would count as evidence that it had changedAssessment report and agreed measures
DesignWhat arrangement would produce that change, and what does each option commit the organisation toOptions paper with trade-offs stated
DeliverWhat happens when the arrangement meets the organisationStatus reporting and adjustment record
EvaluateWhat changed, measured against the standard set at the outsetImpact report
MeasureRuns through all four phasesInstruments defined at Assess, collected throughout

Phases are separable

Each phase produces something usable on its own. An organisation can commission Assess alone and receive a report that stands whether or not the work continues.

Analysis inside the phases

Within Assess and Evaluate, the sequence is context, evidence, interpretation, implications and actions. Confidence is stated for each finding. Where evidence supports more than one reading, both are presented.

Modules

Instruments used within an engagement. They sit at the boundaries between phases, so each decision to continue arrives at a visible point with a defined scope.

Organisational assessmentInterviews, surveys, document analysis and peer assessment.
Strategic analysisInternal benchmarking and sector comparison, establishing current position and measures.
Governance architecture designCommittees, terms of reference, decision rights and reporting lines.
Convening and programme designConferences, executive programmes, roundtables and retreats designed from the outcome backward.
Communication and engagement planningBoard updates, briefings and open sessions for the people a decision affects.
Implementation supportActing on the recommendations: organisational learning, systems design, and change and culture work.
Governance of artificial intelligenceDecision rights, accountability, procurement, disclosure, risk, capability and review.
Impact and return evaluationMeasurement from reaction and learning through application and impact to financial return.

Modules have been delivered in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ethiopia and Malaysia. The methodologies were developed while running a university executive education business whose work received the Canadian Council on Learning Award for Excellence in Learning (2009).

Designing an institution-wide strategy

1

Governance architecture before content

Who is responsible for what, how the work moves through the institution, what evidence informs it and where decisions are made, settled before substantive choices begin.

2

Consultation designed as evidence

Protocols set out who is consulted, what is asked, how responses are recorded and how they enter the decision. Where consultation cannot change a decision, that is stated in advance.

3

Scanning against explicit horizons

Near, planning and long horizons, with observed conditions separated from projections and the assumption behind each projection named.

4

Choices framed as trade-offs

Strategic choices put as commitments with a stated cost. Where choices cannot all be pursued at once, that is made visible.

5

Confidence stated, severity preserved

Every finding carries a stated confidence, and the severity of what was found is preserved as material moves up to the board.

6

A hand-off register

Each phase closes with a record of what was committed, what remains open, what was rejected and why, and who owns each item next.

Participants working with cards and paper around a boardroom table
A working session, mapping and prioritising on paper.

Designing convenings and executive education

  • Purpose before programme. Start from what the convening must produce and what evidence would show it had.
  • Composition is part of the design. Who is in the room shapes what the room can conclude.
  • Build the material from the organisation. Cases and simulations drawn from the client's own situation.
  • Difference held rather than collapsed. Disagreement is recorded, not resolved on participants' behalf.
  • Transfer designed before delivery. Barriers to application are identified while the programme is designed.