Power-Load-Margin Formula

Maybe it’s my technical background, but McClusky’s Power-Load-Margin formula (Load / Power = Margin) makes so much sense to me. Just like any other type of resource, whether it’s battery power, money, or something else, our capacity for doing something naturally comes with some limitations. I suppose limitations isn’t the right way to put it, either, come to think of it – and I suppose the battery image is the one that makes the most sense.

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It actually calls to mind, to me, the story about the professor and the jar, where first there’s a jar filled with large rocks, then smaller rocks are added, then sand, then water, all interspersed with the professor asking whether the jar is full. The point being made there is a little bit different, that’s more a life lesson than anything, but I can still see how that would apply.

Our customers run into a similar challenge, now that I think about it, particularly when it comes to our end users, to the nurses who are our primary audience. There are so many people who’ve said that the biggest reason they don’t do any training is because they’re only mandated a certain amount of paid training hours in a given month/year, and our product just doesn’t fall into the category of things they need in that regard.

By asking anyone, whether employees or customers, to consume training outside the context of their day-to-day jobs is potentially asking them to throw their power/load margin out of balance. Maybe that’s okay for some – like my go-getters who take every single bit of content out there and ask for more. For others, even though it might seem like a small thing, who knows whether that’s going to put them over their tipping point?

References:

Mcclusky, H. Y. (1970). Dynamic Approach to Participation in Community Development. Journal of the Community Development Society, 1(1), 25-32. doi:10.1080/15575330.1970.10877417

Merriam, S. B. & Bierema, L.L. (2014). Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.