The Tangencia Method™
Learning is often used to describe any undertaking designed to garner knowledge and skills that positively impact an organisation. The Tangencia Method™ allows organisations to provide opportunities for unfettered value creation for any given programme of study.
Six Core Principles
Tangencia's course design focuses upon six course principles and associated stakeholder actions, allowing you to derive the greatest possible value from your learning.
The principles for a FRUGAL learning environment, enable you to engage in a manner that facilitates continuous value creation.
Why frugality?
FRUGAL, within the context of our offering, concerns six course principles which, combine to create a universal framework for learning.
The very best learning experiences are often constrained by time and cost. The art of 'better, cheaper' frees the learner from the never-ending ring-binder that delivers little whilst weighing a lot!
Fail Fast
Learning should move at pace! Especially within the tight timescales dictated by business need. Thus, it is of primary importance that an agile approach to learning form the core of any endeavour undertaken. When one embraces a fail-fast mentality, the ability to quickly disengage from unproductive work, allows participants to generate iterative approaches to problem domain identification, and selection; before deriving solutions for successful implementation.
Rigorous
Within Tangencia's learning methodology, rigour takes two forms: that of academic rigour; alongside, a rigorous approach to the learning process.
Academic rigour is essential if participants are to maximise their learning opportunities. And, as such, forms an integral part of the education experience.
Process rigour affords greater opportunities for a successful outcome in the guise of prototypes and associated documentation.
Ubiquitous
Innovation is to be found in every aspect of our courses; from the way they're conceived and constructed; to the manner in which participants interact with one another to act as co-creators of dynamic learning experiences.
Goal-Driven
All interactions are informed by a goal-driven mentality. That is to say, participants are continuously fulfilling the agreed learning outcomes and, by association, your institutional imperatives.
Course hygiene is under constant review, so as to ensure that any and all interactions are to the betterment of participants and their organisation.
Agile
The ability to adapt has long been a core tenet of agile organisations. Within such organisations lie iterative improvement (Kaizen), radical change, and a can-do mindset . Thus, the only constant is change; a change cycle that is both, rapid and comprehensive. Designed to serve internal and external customers, based upon a right first time imperative.
Lensed
The lens through which an organisation, it products & services, and its organisational structure are viewed should all be accessible to employees based upon their role and function. Whilst transparency is the optimal view, it is often unwieldy and overly complex for most employees. Thus, a lensed approach is employed that allows participants to view the organisation, its function, and product/service offering in a way that is simultaneously, nuanced and simplified. Our courses employ these same principles so as to maximise opportunities for success.
Learning Environment
So as to maximise opportunities for knowledge transfer, the Tangencia Method™ holds to a set of imperatives as regards the learning environment. Regardless of delivery method, the learning environment must be engaging, authentic, and rewarding. Hence, a people-driven approach was devision that encapsulates theses imperatives to provide the conditions to truly affect positive change within any organisation and for any group of participants.
The learning model for knowledge creation and transfer is based upon the following:
TEACH | LEARN | MASTER
Each vertex supports another with bidirectional edges. The three vertices interlock to provide a framework upon which, a given programme of study may be overlaid. Each element is explored in detail later in this text.
T • E • A • C • H
The way in which participants engage with their peers, staff and external actors has been stated as bidirectional, between the TEACH and LEARN vertices. This is further enhanced by external interactions; both intentional and unintentional.
Timely
Information is provided to participants utilising an on-demand paradigm. This is achieved through online content that may be accessed 24/7/365.
Nuanced knowledge transfer is provided through face-to-face interactions (online and on-campus). These allow all to participate in the process; guiding topics and thinking as individuals see fit.
Engaging
Discussions allow participants to engage in the process of learning; shaping narrative and content in order to fulfil the self-selected projects that form the nexus of each group and individual learning narrative.
Participants engage with one another as groups and individuals so as to provoke one another to think differently and to a greater depth in order to better understand problem domains and proposed solutions.
Authentic
What point inauthentic activity‽
Any given course provides all activity, authentically and within a real-world setting. This allows participants to experience innovation and leadership in a setting that maximises knowledge and information transfer, whilst providing for soft-skills absorption, often only available within a learning by doing setting.
Curious
Curiosity is essential for innovation to occur. Thus, curiosity is baked into the course. Participants will be enabled and encouraged to find original solutions to problems that offer real-world value.
Where applicable, solutions will be given opportunities to spin-out ideas by creating commercial opportunities for their products and/or services.
Honest
Participants and staff engage in honest communication. Therefore, all actors will have a clear understanding as expectations of one another and of the course in general.
Appraisals of ideas are not entrenched in colonial thinking. Rather, difference is celebrated and drawn upon to provide the richest possible solutions to identified problems.
L • E • A • R • N
The L·E·A·R·N framework has been developed to aid in adoption of 'flipped learning' methods. L·E·A·R·N comprises of five elements, each designed to get participants considering different approaches from the traditional lecture-seminar-homework teaching style. Employing the framework allows for a more dynamic and innovative approach to teaching and learning, focusing on five key stages of the process.
The L·E·A·R·N methodology may be employed to facilitate existing learning outcomes in new and interesting ways. Through implementation of the card deck, innovative exploration of the ascribed problem domain may be undertaken in order to create flipped solutions cognisant with deep learning inside a Self-Organised Learning Environment (SOLE).
Locate
Based upon an ascribed problem domain, discrete questions are constructed which may be turned into unambiguous search strings and applied to applicable knowledge-bases and/or repositories as part of step two.
Evaluate
Credible sources of knowledge and information are identified and the predefined search strings applied so as to garner quality content that may be used to support or refute a hypothesis.
Articulate
The Socratic method is applied to facilitate discourse between groups and individuals so as to provide opportunities for critical thinking and exploration of presuppositions.
Re-Evaluate
In addition to articulation, peer-to-peer learning (Heutagogy) is enacted through the aforementioned Socratic discussion. Thus, participants engage directly in the the creation of new knowledge and learning experiences
Naturalise
Connections are created between existing participant knowledge and new knowledge garnered from the LEARN process. The assimilation of this knowledge is also naturalised with participants’ group knowledge - the hive mind.
Knowledge Management aspects of the course are utilised to explore knowledge that is held in its various forms by the organisation and/or participant(s):
A Posteriori Knowledge
A Priori Knowledge
Dispersed Knowledge
Domain (Expert) Knowledge
Empirical Knowledge
Encoded Knowledge
Explicit Knowledge
Tacit Knowledge
Meta-knowledge
Imperative (Or Procedural) Knowledge
Descriptive Knowledge
Situated Knowledge
Known Unknowns (Rumsfeld Matrix)
Unknown Unknowns (Rumsfeld Matrix)
M • A • S • T • E • R
Once one has engaged successfully in the TEACH-LEARN cycle, MASTERy is the outcome! Moreover, the aforementioned fourteen types of knowledge are enriched with each iteration; creating a virtuous spiral of continuous improvement.
To truly master applied innovation leadership, participants are exposed to the six pillars of mastery.
"A place for everything and everything in its place."
Benjamin Franklin
Utter bunkum! - Innovation is messy.
Messy
Humanity and thus, creativity is non-linear. Participants are encouraged to formulate happy accidents - those that result in serendipity.
To this end, the entire course is designed as a serendipity engine: an environment within which, messiness is not only tolerated but celebrated.
Participants’ study schedules are designed for co-creation and non-uniformity; outcomes being defined by the thought processes employed. Assessment submissions are suitably flexible to allow for a myriad of content within any prescribed submission format.
Articulate
In the case of LEARN, articulate was used to describe the Socratic discourse resulting from a well-researched and resourced argument. Within MASTER, articulate takes on two of its other definitions:
Articulate: defined as joined or segmented, pertains to a participant’s capability as regards knowledge concatenation.
Articulate: defined as an ability to speak coherently and fluently, directly impacts one’s ability to present a coherent argument.
Participants are empowered to learn within self-defined spheres of knowledge pertinent to their chosen problem domain and identified product or service solution.
Such study supports an articulation of one’s accrued knowledge is imperative if opportunities for success are to be maximised.
Thus, participants experience the metamorphosis of articulate from verb to noun.
Situational
Situational Leadership theory presents the idea that those most adroit at applying pertinent resources to any given situation to the betterment of employee and organisational imperatives are most likely to succeed.
To this end, participants engage in activities and discourse that affords them a myriad of opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills directly applicable to their chosen problem domain.
Tentacular
The naturalise facet of LEARN acts a precursor to tentacular knowledge and skills. The way in which a participant grows in understanding, allows for assimilation of multiple disparate disciplines and associated knowledge webs.
Knowledge is not general; rather, it is specific ,but may be reinterpreted for general application.
Participants are equipped to apply their knowledge and skills within multiple career paths through use of dynamic and original thinking.
Experimental
Participants leave the course with an innate ability for experimentation: build; fail; learn; repeat. It is through iteration that new ideas are quickly brought to the fore, tested, and accepted or dismissed.
Thus, an ever-shortening product life cycle is combated by quicker ideation to minimum viable product processes that directly are baked-in to this course.
Procrastination is mitigated through participants’ ability to move through the TEACH, LEARN, MASTER cycle rapidly and to a high standard.
Resilient
Modern business practice is demanding. Therefore, it is of primary importance that those engaged in such practice are able to cope with the emotional and physical demands made upon them.
This course provides soft skills packages that allow participants to develop their emotional intelligence through self-reflection and evaluation commensurate with a future of work that places the employee at the very centre of its mission.
Participant Characteristics
The outcome is creation of a T-shaped individual. That is to say, an individual who has a deep understanding of their primary discipline, coupled with cross-discipline expertise that helps deliver in an environment that is: collaborative, communicative, and flexible. This being achieved through a combination of hard and soft skills to facilitate a high level of emotional intelligence.
Delivery Model
Frugality is at the very centre of our learning model. For it is often our potential to do more with less that drives change. Frequently, the need for such change acts as a catalyst for those who wish to improve their lives and the lives of others.
With this in mind, Tangencia delivers learning experiences that are both, prescient and authentic; providing participants with the ability to gaze over the horizon, whilst providing solutions that address the most pressing problem domains within your organisation.
Furthermore, we provide opportunities for participants to engage in a learning process that is activity-based so as to mimic real-world environments.