Read what your test actually showed
After a test of your big assumption, separate what happened from what you made of it, then decide what it tells you and what to test next.
Why it works
A test is only as useful as the data you take from it. The Minds at Work test handout asks you to record what you observed, both how others responded and how you felt, and only then what it tells you about the assumption. Reams’s report on the 2009 book notes its warning against letting interpretation sneak into the observations. Keeping the two apart stops the assumption from quietly rewriting the result, and Kegan and Lahey’s final step is to evaluate both the results and the test itself, then design the next one.
How to do it
- Right after the test, write what happened in observable terms: what you did, what others said and did, what you felt in your body and mind.
- Only then, in a separate column, write what this tells you about your assumption: true, false, or more conditional than you thought?
- Evaluate the test itself: was it a fair test, or so cautious it could not have disproved anything?
- Talk it over with a partner who saw it or heard about it, then design the next, slightly larger test.
Evidence
Step 5 of Kegan and Lahey’s 2001 HBR process is to "evaluate the test results, evaluate the test itself, design and run new tests." The Minds at Work handout separates "What I Observed Happening" from "What it Tells me about my Big Assumption" and suggests asking someone to observe and give feedback afterward. Reviewing a behavioral experiment against the original prediction is also standard in cognitive therapy, set out in the Oxford guide, which this step resembles by analogy rather than by direct trial. (mechanistic)
The cognitive-therapy evidence concerns behavioral experiments in clinical settings; it supports the logic of reviewing tests, not the immunity-to-change process specifically.
Sources
- Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2001). The Real Reason People Won’t Change. Harvard Business Review, 79(10), 84–92.
- Minds at Work. Design a Test of Your Big Assumption [practitioner handout, hosted by the Wexner Foundation].
- Reams, J. (2009). Immunity to Change: A Report from the Field. Integral Review, 5(1).
- Bennett-Levy, J., Butler, G., Fennell, M., Hackmann, A., Mueller, M., & Westbrook, D. (Eds.). (2004). Oxford Guide to Behavioural Experiments in Cognitive Therapy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. About this work
Common mistake
Reading a mixed result through the old assumption ("they were nice about it, but they probably think less of me now"). Write down what was observed before deciding what it means.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for The Immunity to Change Process, Step by Step
- Turn a complaint into the commitment underneath it
Use what you keep complaining about to find what you actually care about changing.
- Choose your "one big thing" with input from others
Pick a single improvement goal that matters to you, involves you, and that people who know you agree would make a real difference.
- List what you do instead, without trying to fix it
Write down, specifically and honestly, what you do and do not do that works against your goal — and resist resolving to stop.
- Fill the worry box: imagine doing the opposite
Picture yourself doing the opposite of what you listed and write down the discomfort, worry or fear that comes up.
- Rewrite the worry as what you are committed to preventing
Turn each worry into a commitment — "I am committed to not…" — so you can see what your behavior is protecting.
- Watch your big assumption at work before you test it
For a week or two, only notice when the assumption steers you and look for evidence that it is not always true.
- Write the biography of your big assumption
Trace when and how the assumption first took hold, and ask whether it still fits the person you are now.
- Map a team’s collective immunity to change
When a group sincerely wants a change and still does not make it, map the shared commitment and assumption holding it in place.
Related concepts
- Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Moving from being run by your assumptions to being able to examine them
- Self-Authorship: Moving From the Socialized to the Self-Authored Mind
Kegan’s stages, subject-object moves, and authoring your own life
- Adaptive Leadership, Made Practical
Distinguishing adaptive challenges from technical problems — and leading accordingly
- Terri O’Fallon’s STAGES Model, Made Practical
Twelve stages built from three repeating questions, and how to work with the one you are in
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