Unlock Constraints: Transforming Limitation Into Opportunities

Over the years, Learning Forte has observed that mission-driven leaders and organizations can become easily bogged down by the limitations of their contextual realities. Scarce resources of money or time, a lack of volunteers, an aging building, or an organization’s small size are viewed through a scarcity lens. Dreams and visions are quickly discarded with “we can’t because…” Leaders become overwhelmed, not knowing how to transform their contextual realities from limitations into opportunities. In the face of these observations, we wondered how we might help leaders and organizations shift their perspectives on their contextual realities, unleash the potential hiding within their constraints, and imagine creative ways to pursue their goals.

Learning Forte’s Unlock Constraints Model

Unlock Constraints, Learning Forte’s model for transforming limitations into possibilities emerged from our work to help our clients see their constraints through fresh eyes. It offers a process for helping leaders and organizations shift their perspective on the realities of their context to view them as necessary boundaries for exploring creative possibilities rather than as blocks to progress. Unlock Constraints helps leaders and teams see what is possible within their context and amid their limitations.

Supporting Leaders Through Change

Our goal with Unlock Constraints is to provide a structured process to unlock small and large constraints. Working through the model’s steps helps individuals or groups gain clarity about their goals, get real about their context, imagine what is possible amid the given limits, commit to taking small, impactful actions, and prioritize learning as they reflect on the impact of what they have done. Navigating this process leverages the creative possibilities within any context and helps leaders and their teams transform limitations into opportunities as they foster creativity and strategic thinking.

What constraints are you facing? The Unlock Constraints model can help your organization move from “we can’t” to “WE CAN!”

written by Tisha Brown
August 2024