What are the 4Cs and
why are they important
for organisations?
The acronym 4Cs is shorthand for the capabilities of Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Reflection.
These four capabilities are fundamental to deeper learning and critical for individuals and communities to respond with agility to change and challenges as they arise.
The 4C capabilities are inherent in all human beings, but we must engage with them and develop them in the context and culture around us, to ensure that we grow our ability to apply them.
The 4Cs are both individual and cultural capabilities that allow organisations to imagine, enable and enact transformative change - the kind of transformation necessary to meet the disruption and demand for pivoting focus and immediate innovation that many organisations will face.
The 4Cs are critical capabilities for the development of human agency. They support the growth of learning dispositions and underpin the development of interpersonal skills in workplaces, personal relationships and the wider community.
A little more about each of the 4Cs
We use our unique coherence maker diagrams to help you understand each of the 4Cs at depth. Based on the research of Dr Miranda Jefferson and Professor Michael Anderson, these coherence makers give a structured understanding of, and language for, the elements of each C. This means they are all teachable, learnable and, with these coherence makers in use, teams can apply these capabilities to their challenges, team culture and other workplace activities.
The Communication Crystal
Communication is the empowerment and respect of all voices. To enable, hear and reach all voices, there are multiple elements of communication that need to be acknowledged, engaged with and developed.
The Collaboration Circles
Collaboration is the engaging, negotiating and celebrating of all voices, with trust and openness to challenge and be challenged, in the service of group endeavours. It includes individual initiative and responsibility, as well as a culture of effective collaboration within the team.
The Creativity Cascade
Creativity is the imagining and problem-solving possibilities by exploring the unusual and unexpected. It includes the ability to craft, justify, inspire and evaluate ideas and skills with others. There must also be freedom from fear of failure and to learn from mistakes.
The Critical Reflection Crucible
Critical reflection is the act of questioning, elaborating on and explaining ideas. It involves noticing and then being able to reflect, explore and re-solve problems. It requires the safety and capacity to look honestly at choices and outcomes, and to see alternatives that may have different outcomes.
Realising the 4C capabilities involves developing a collective understanding of them as concepts (shared language), the processes and environments in which they thrive (shared practices) and an embedding of these practices (shared culture).
The 4C Organisations approach to developing the 4Cs skills and capabilities engages practical, experiential professional learning, designed to both implicitly and explicitly strengthen these capabilities in your team.
We also explore the 4Cs in the areas leadership, change management, challenging behaviour and team disruption.