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Newsletter:

Elevation Insights – January 2026

Consulting insights from Elevation Learning

Welcome to the January edition of Elevation Insights – curated consulting capability insights from Elevation Learning, designed for learning leaders and consultants who want practical moves that lift performance in the real world.

A quick note for 2026: we’re evolving Elevation Insights to be more practical and tool-led – fewer long reads, more actions and scripts you can use immediately (especially when you’re busy).

January’s focus: The January Reset. January is the perfect month to step back and choose one small behaviour that will compound your impact over time.

This Month at a Glance

Focus: January is a reset month – and the highest-impact resets aren’t big goals, they’re small habits you can repeat under pressure.

Why it matters: In consulting, tiny behaviours compound into clearer conversations, stronger trust, and faster decisions.

Do this: Pick one 1% habit and make it automatic using Keep / Stop / Start + a trigger (so it doesn’t rely on willpower).

Here’s the reset approach we recommend – and three moves to practise this month.

Capability Spotlight

The January Reset

1% habits that compound performance

Many consultants start the year with big goals. Goals matter – but reality gets in the way: delivery pressure, meetings, stakeholder demands. The result is often good intention and inconsistent follow-through.

Think “1% better”, not “new year, new you”.

A more effective reset is to focus on micro-behaviours: small actions you can repeat even when you’re busy – and let repetition do the work.

Why it matters

Small behaviour changes compound into outcomes clients actually feel:

  • Clarity: less ambiguity, fewer loops, fewer “what did we agree?” moments
  • Trust: reliability and follow-through build confidence quickly
  • Momentum: decisions land, blockers clear, progress becomes visible

What great looks like

Great consultants make progress easier by:

  • Clarifying “what good looks like” before solving
  • Turning meetings into decision moments, not update rituals
  • Making next steps frictionless: owner + date + recap

Three Moves to Practise This Month

  1. Choose one high-return habit (not a big goal)
    Pick one:
  • End meetings with a decision + commitment (owner + date)
  • Send a 60-second recap after key calls (agreed / risks / next step)
  • Ask one clarifying question before solving: “What does ‘good’ look like?”
  • Make work easier to adopt (not just correct): simplify, sequence, reduce effort
  1. Use Keep / Stop / Start to make it stick
  • ✅ Keep: one behaviour already creating momentum
  • 🛑 Stop: one behaviour creating activity, not progress
  • ▶️ Start: the replacement habit you’ll do instead (so the change is automatic)
  1. Attach a trigger (so it runs on autopilot)
    Example trigger: When the meeting ends → “What’s the decision, who owns the next step, and by when?”

Elevation Learning perspective

The January reset that works isn’t about motivation – it’s about design. Consultants improve fastest when they choose small, repeatable behaviours and engineer them into the week with triggers, recaps, and decision asks. That’s how capability becomes consistent performance – and how performance compounds without adding workload.

Model of the Month

5-Minute Framework — The Compounding Loop

Clarity → Decision ask → Commitment → Recap → Weekly reset

Best used when…

  • You feel busy, but progress is fuzzy
  • Meetings multiply and decisions lag
  • Stakeholder alignment “evaporates” between calls

How it works

  1. Clarify success early: “What will be different, how will we measure it, and who decides?”
  2. Turn updates into a decision ask: Decision needed / owner / by when
  3. End meetings with commitment: capture decision + next step live
  4. Lock it in with a 60-second recap: agreed / risks / next step
  5. Tighten the loop weekly (10 minutes): wins / stuck point / 1% tweak / relationship move

Common trap

Relying on “alignment by default”. If you don’t make the decision ask explicit – and capture it – you get discussion… then drift.

Try this tomorrow (prompt/script)

In your next client conversation, ask:
“What needs to happen for us to make the decision?”
Then: “Who might disagree – and what would their objection be?”

From Elevation Learning

New this month

Top tool

Keep / Stop / Start for decision velocity – a simple tool teams can apply immediately on live projects.

Coming next month

February focus: Value over activity – clarify outcomes and measures, sharpen diagnosis, and deliver proof points that build momentum.

What We're Noticing in Client Work

Three patterns we’ve seen repeatedly this month in client conversations – and one practical move for each.

  1. Pattern: Projects are busy — but decisions are slow.
  • Why it matters: Without explicit decision asks, teams create “FYI debt”: more reading → more meetings → delayed sign-off.
  • What to try next: End every update with Decision needed / owner / by when (and capture it in a decision log).
  1. Pattern: Stakeholder “quiet no” is showing up later than it should.
  • Why it matters: Stakeholder management isn’t the org chart – it’s the route to co-ownership. Informal influencers can slow progress without ever saying “no” outright.
  • What to try next: Ask early: “What would stop you supporting this?” Then plan 2–3 moves (pre-wire, co-create, evidence, narrative).
  1. Pattern: Big goals fade; micro-habits stick (especially under pressure).
  • Why it matters: Small behaviours repeated consistently improve clarity, trust, and momentum without adding workload.
  • What to try next: Pick one habit + one trigger: When X happens → I do Y (e.g., meeting ends → decision / owner / date).

Dates for your Diary

Elevation Learning events

Developing Your Core Consulting Skills (DYCCS) – in partnership with Bayes Business School (in-person, London)

  • 12–14 May 2026 (for new-to-role consultants, internal consultants, and client-facing specialists building core consulting craft)
  • 13–15 October 2026 (same audience; ideal as a capability refresh and confidence-builder for delivery)

Industry events

  • Learning Technologies (ExCeL London) –  29–30 April 2026 (for L&D / talent leaders and anyone building learning strategy, tech-enabled capability, and skills programmes)
  • CIPD Festival of Work (London) – 10–11 June 2026 (for HR/L&D leaders focused on culture, leadership, organisational change and people strategy)

 

We want to hear from you!

We’d love to hear your January reset:

  • STOP: one behaviour that creates activity, not progress
  • START: the replacement habit you’ll do instead
  • TRIGGER: when will it happen automatically?

Example: Stop info-only updates. Start ending meetings with decision / owner / date. Trigger: when the meeting ends.

Thank you for reading January’s edition of Elevation Insights. 

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