In a note on what he had learned on a workshop in Papua, Jean-Louis suggested that SALT was much easier to explain when Transfer was the starting point in the thinking. So that Transfer then led naturally to the other letters in the acronym.
This observation forced me to think once again about the links between SALT and CLCP. Our usual explanation is that SALT represents our Way of Working and that CLCP is the process that we apply using this Way of Working. But I am beginning to think that the links between SALT and CLCP are much stronger and deeper than that and that we should be looking to explore, to deepen and to expand those links.
CLCP is an example of a learning cycle. One way to look at a learning cycle is to see it as a tool that helps us to learn on the basis of experience. CLCP is such a tool with a couple of very interesting additions. The first addition is to say that if I can improve my performance by learning from my experience then I can also learn from the experience of others. And if I can learn from the experience of others, then it makes sense to say that others can learn from my experiences. And so we have the idea of learn-and-share and that idea comes to life with Knowledge Fairs and Knowledge Assets. The second addition to the conventional learning cycle is to say that if I facilitate learning in a group, then I too can learn from that experience, and what is more I can use that learning to influence policy in the organisation(s) in which I work.
So already CLCP builds in the idea of Transfer and Learning.
But there is another step. When we appreciate strengths, we recognise that people have the capacity to act and in every case that I can think of we recognise that they have acted successfully in the past. This if you like is saying to communities that you are already on the learning cycle and here is how you can continue to improve your situation through CLCP. And the steady appreciation of strengths reinforces that recognition. SALT in a variety of ways is supporting progress on the learning cycle.
And this is indeed a big deal. Anyone who has worked on a learning cycle knows that the challenge is to sustain the momentum. So SALT kick starts the learning process and then it supports it through the hard work to Life Competence. I am beginning to think that in SALT and CLCP we have a very beautiful and powerful combination. To discuss the relative importance of one over the other is to miss the point.