Persevere or Pivot?

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So a Development Entrepreneur has a theory, and he is doing something to test it. What if the result is negative? It would seem like the theory is wrong. Or maybe there is something wrong with the execution, and if the approach can be refined he would get the desired results (another theory).  So he performs the experiment again, a little bit differently now.  

This is called perseverance.

What if our Dev Ent has tried several times, and has still not achieved the desired reforms.  If he has done his experiments well, he should have learned something from all of them. After all, each experiment ends with an assessment of what happened and why, and a conclusion about the validity of the hypotheses held at the beginning. Several failures should give our reformist some pretty good ideas about which theories are validated and which are not. Perhaps he will have learned enough to change not only the nuts and bolts of his approach but the whole entire concept of what he’s doing - including possibly his initial premises.

That is pivoting.

I saw this in one of our Public Land Titling project. We wanted to build partnerships between local governments and DENR for systematic adjudication of communities living on public land. My initial theory was that if there was a model partnership between DENR and a relatively large LGU, it would encourage similar partnerships with nearby LGUs, thereby creating a cluster of partnerships that could learn from each other.  So I supported partnerships between prime LGUs in three parts of the country.  Before long I realized it was not working. There were many many reasons. One LGU was mired in internal political conflict. The second restricted sale of lots acquired through its socialized housing program - this flew in the face of RA 10023‘s intent to allow title holders to dispose of their properties whenever they want to. The third LGU was still under judicial proceedings (as it had been for the last 30 years).  

Persevering, I tried to address each problem, tweaking my approach every time. But after three months I had to face the reality that the strategy was not working. My theory of clustered partnerships around models was not turning into reality.

So I pivoted. 

I borrowed a page from a colleague working in another part of the country. He was mobilizing the army of DENR to form partnerships with LGUs. I decided to do the same thing. This way I was able to help form several LGU-DENR partnerships in three Provinces in three Regions. Of course these partnerships did not progress in cadence - some performed better than others. I poured most of our support to those partnerships that showed earnest interest in helping constituents get titles to their lands. When these front runners started producing titles and distributing them to beneficiaries, I helped them to share their experience with other LGUs in the same Province. Soon their neighboring LGUs were taking inspiration and practical lessons from them.

I had to pivot from “Model First, Cluster Later” to “Cluster First, then nurture a Model within the Cluster”.  That way I was still able to actualize my theory of clusters of LGU-DENR partnerships helping each other.

What failures are you encountering with your reforms? Should you persevere? Or is it time to pivot?

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