Creating ClearKinetic: Part I

When deciding to launch ClearKinetic, I spent a lot of time thinking about questions.

Who? What? When? Where? How?

However, most of my thinking was initially focused on “Why”?

Why now?

Why me?

Why at all?

Change

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a very real transition happening in the minds and actions of many education leaders. What has been particularly interesting is the nature of this change across education sectors, including associations, higher education, workforce education, corporate talent development, continuing education, and PK-12 teacher professional learning.

Articles about the forces changing education have always found their way onto coffee tables in education leaders’ offices; however, for many, the ideas of disruption were largely theoretical or something happening to someone else. The concept of disruptive innovation by Clayton Christenson opened many people’s eyes to possible scenarios of disruption in education and business, and yet for many, life went on as “normal.”

Having virtually every aspect of our lives transformed over the last few years, change is real, and the luxury to only think conceptually or defer decisions to later is no longer an option.

As I contemplated a future with few pillars of certainty, the question ClearKinetic seemed uniquely positioned to pursue transformed from “why?” to “what if?”.

What If?

What if the future of education were more connected, experience-focused, flexible, adaptive, responsive, and proactive?

What if we re-imagined together the most basic assumptions of what education is and does in a world that has changed exponentially in an instant? And we could take confident action into the future.

What if we transformed ideas into actions that achieved the results we imagined?

This is the heart of the ClearKinetic mission - to help people thrive in an ever-changing world.

The future of education is not only in the vertical sectors of education (PK-12, Career and Technical Education, Associations, Continuing and Professional Education, Customer Education, Higher Education, Corporate Learning, etc.) but rather in designing for a much more connected and diverse ecosystem that unifies the learning, business, and value creation opportunities through cross-sector educational programs, services, and experiences. This ecosystem approach places a greater focus on value creation, creativity, and connection.

Learning. Business. Value. - Three Pillars of Education Strategies

Many education programs, services, and experiences are unintentionally designed to fail.

• They may have emphasized learning outcomes but not revenue and experience.
  
  
• They may have focused on enrollment and market share rather than value creation.
  
  
• They may have planned for a return on investment, but not from the learner's perspective.

These are common blind spots we can’t allow to remain hidden in our programs and services.

This means how we create strategies, design experiences, and lead people must also change.

ClearKinetic was founded to specialize in creating programs, services, and experiences that unify education's learning, business, and value proposition priorities in highly uncertain and constantly changing environments. In this model, every design dimension is important independently and collectively.

In some respects, it’s the gestalt future of education where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Coming Up Next…

In Part II of this article series, I’ll explore a framework uniquely created to help education leaders embrace change and uncertainty - and use these as positive dynamics for innovation.

Creating Future-Ready Education Programs

Leading through uncertainty is a capability that will only become more critical by the day for education leaders.

Creating Future-Ready Education Programs is an interactive online workshop designed to equip education leaders across industries and sectors with practical, easy-to-use tools that help groups create clarity through complexity and activate solutions that increase the value and success of education programs and services.

Register Now or Learn More about the workshop!