THE PROBLEM
The concept behind DOJO's platform originates in the persistent dissatisfaction among a group of corporate learning and development professionals. We had bought in to the assumption that the best way to develop leaders was to inform them. We relied on instructor-led seminars, books, and e-courses which simply fed professionals "instruction" regarding how leaders should behave. These approaches were incredibly passive, generic, static and focused solely on what to think. This strategy rarely ever truly changed how our colleagues facilitated meetings, gave effective performance feedback, managed their stress or listened to clients with more focus and empathy. "Lecture Hall" leadership development wasn't creating better leaders.
THE DOJO DIFFERENCE
DOJO's launch marked a shift from seeing ourselves as merely content-brokers and pivoting to shape leadership behavior through approaches that were more practice-centered, experiential, dynamic and contextualized. If we were abandoning the metaphor of a "lecture hall" as the environment for growth, we needed a new one to embrace. For centuries, martial arts dojos have been an emblem of the type of development which moves beyond thought, and headlong into active practice. This imagery became our inspiration as we became committed to creating a platform where business professionals can step out of spaces meant merely to be informative, and participate in a developmental approach designed to be deliberately designed to be formative.
THE COMPONENTS
Integrated into every aspect of the DOJO platform are the following 4 elements that are critical to adult development:
- Insight. We don't leave content behind, we've just simply committed to move beyond it. DOJO fosters new insights through micro-courses, webinars, coaching, etc.
- Interaction. Growth requires the investment of others, providing feedback, encouragement and fresh perspective. DOJO creates a network that includes coaches, cohort-members and a Community of Practice.
- Practice. Awareness is a fantastic spark, but active practice is the kindling. We don't do better simply upon knowing better. DOJO facilitates practice through an active development plan, 30 day challenges and assignment-based micro-courses.
- Reflection. Without taking time to look back on a specific period of focused practice in evaluation, we won't make the adjustments to ensure that our next period of focused-practice yields greater results. This reflective approach is built into each component of our platform.
THE RESULTS
DOJO participation doesn't result in a certificate of completion, pages of notes or merely neat ideas to consider. Instead, it results in professionals who communicate clearly and compellingly, identify creative solutions to challenges, and manage their time in an intentional way. In the end, we aren't satisfied with simply creating content that professionals think about, We are committed to creating better leaders.
