“Men, be humane: that is your first duty. Be so to all. Let neither art, nor science, nor even glory be worth the price of the peace of the heart.”

8 – 0: PRE-TEST

PACE – Pace Change Review

Instructions: Choose the letter of the most correct answer.

8  – 1: Q&A IN

First Principles…

8 – 2: CONTENT

View | Video on Mastering PACE: The Art of Harmonizing Change

SCRIPT: PACE 

Pace Change

Welcome. 

In this session, we turn to the final skill in the Dynamic Inquiry System Skills (DISS): PACE, or Pace Change.

If PAUSE helps us slow things down, PACE is how we sense, adjust, and align with the flow of changes taking place. 

It is the tempo of development, of learning, of humaning that guides pace in concert with IMULL: Importance, Motivation, Urgency, Leverage and Low-hanging fruit.

And like everything else in the real world — PACE can be complex, contextual, and ever-shifting. 

Let’s explore it.

WHO uses PACE?

PACE involves multiple roles and relationships:

• The Person Helping (PH)
• The Person Being Helped (PBH)
• And the surrounding system: Culture, Conditions, and Requirements (CCR)

These factors all move at different speeds. The helper’s task is to sense and match the rhythm across these dynamics.

Examples:

• “Is the pace of change too fast?”
• “Do you feel things are moving at the right pace?”

Understanding WHO is involved and how each part is paced is essential.

WHAT is PACE Change?

PACE is the alignment between rate of change and capacity to adapt.

It’s about timing, rhythm, readiness, and the interplay of multiple developments. Sometimes, to move fast, we need to first slow down.

Performance, growth, and adaptation rarely move in sync — they’re often asymmetrical. That means we must pace wisely.

Examples:

• “Are you taking time to sharpen the saw?”
• “Do you know how you know?”

PACE is the tempo of meaningful change — not just the speed of doing.

WHEN is PACE most important?

PACE shows up when people are struggling to change, grow, or adapt — or when there’s a mismatch between internal and external speed.

It’s especially shaped by personality dynamics — like those described in the Big Five:

• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extroversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

These shape our preferences for how fast or slow we move through life—and through change.

Examples:

• “Are you open to change?”
• “Do you feel like shifting your perspective is appropriate here?”

Understanding WHEN pacing becomes a friction point helps you know when to adjust.

WHERE does PACE apply?

PACE becomes visible wherever there’s interaction between a person and their environment — especially when adaptation is needed.

If a person’s internal pace doesn’t match CCR (culture, conditions, requirements), misalignment can create stress, resistance, or confusion.

Before pushing forward, it’s wise to check if there’s a fit.

Examples:

• “Are there things beyond your control?”
• “What would you change if you could?”

PACE is always about context and fit.

WHY is PACE critical?

Because change without fit leads to burnout or breakdown.

Matching pace with capacity — pCc: potential, CAPACITY, capability — is essential. Go too fast, and the system can’t hold. Go too slow, and momentum is lost.

Helpers must constantly be aware of how all moving parts are pacing themselves, especially in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) systems.

Examples:

• “Is the rock you’re pushing big enough?”
• “Do you get a sense that things are moving at the right speed?”

The “why” of PACE is about protecting alignment and sustainability.

HOW to apply PACE?

Reflect on your own style, preferences, and assumptions about speed and timing.

Are you leading with urgency when patience is needed?

Are you slowing things down where a spark is required?

Being present to the PACE of development across people, systems, and change is a core skill in designing effective help.

Examples:

• “Do you know where to start?”
• “Is it time to look at what got you here?”

PACE is the skill of harmonizing movement with capacity.

In Closing: Suggestions for Practice

Remember…

Change has a rhythm.

Every system — person, group, or culture — has a tempo.

Your job is to feel it, match it, disrupt it if necessary and guide it.

As you practice this week, observe how your pace interacts with those around you.

Ask yourself:

• Am I rushing?
• Am I dragging?
• What would alignment look like here?

And then… pace yourself.

Thanks for listening. Now go practice PACE, and let change unfold as it should — not faster, not slower, but right on time.

8 – 3: APPLICATION

HOW MANY PACES ARE THERE?

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

• Energy & Information
• [Organizationally Closed… Energetically Open = DS]
• Less is More
• Density & Frequency
• CCR
• Culture 
• Conditions 
• Requirements 
• 3 Core Competencies (3Cs)
• Connection
• Clarification 
• Commitment
• 3 Ts
• Transaction
• Transition
• Transformation
• MITEAM
• Money
• Information
• Time (as Spacetime)
• Energy
• Attention
• Motivation 
• HUMANING
• BE
• DO
• HAVE
• BECOME
• Contribute
• Relate
• Guide (on-purpose)
• Resilience
• Wellth
• Helping people lead generative lives
• Helping Functions
• Cue
• Scaffold
• Support
• Lift
• Protect
• Guide
• Reach Out
• Betterment (Generati)
• WRAPC OUTCOMES
• Wellbeing
• Results
• Awareness 
• Purpose
• Competence 
• Actionable Advice
• Behaviors
• Design
• KSEs
• System
• VOLTAGE
• Vertical (X)
• Oblique (Mode as X+Y)
• Lateral (Y)
• Time (SPACETIME)
• AGE (MATURITY)
• pCc
• potential
• CAPACITY
• capability 
• RightACTION
• People
• Things
• Skills
• Ways
• Spacetime 
• Pace
• Reasons
• Results
• Well-being
• help people have lives.
• IEFD
• Internal
• External
• Financial
• Developmental 
• IMULL
• Importance 
• Motivation 
• Urgency 
• Leverage 
• Low-hanging Fruit
• Conversation vs Interaction
• 5 Problem Solving Approaches (PSA) or Systems (PSS)
• Literal (35%)
• Figurative (30%)
• Professional (20%)
• Systematic (4%)
• Metasystematic (1%)
• Paradigmatic Dynamics
• Capability
• Bias
• Style
• Level
• Role
• Valu
• System
• GENERATI (ARIAH)
• Intention
• Attention
• Alignment
• Relationship 
• Help (Coach)
• OPPOR+UNITY:Interaction model + Unity
• Identify Openings
• Generate Possibility
• Design Plans
• Preview Outcomes
• Commit RightACTION 
• 7 Ps and their Objects
• Ping Insight
• Probe Belief
• Prompt RightACTION
• Permit Story
• Perturb Assumptions
• Pause & Breathe
• Pace Change
• Directional Development
• Towards
• Away From
• With
• Against
• Oneders (Wonders)
• Hmmm…
• If…
• Then…
• And…
• So…
• But…
• Because…
• Until…
• Really…
• Almost…
• Remember…
• Single Word Interrogatory: Who, What, When, Where, Why, Which, How…
• Repeating a word or phrase the client has said… exactly as they said it (with a pause and a breath)

Each has its own pace and change rates!

8 – 4: Q&A OUT

8 – Reference

See TPOVs above

Post-Test: 

PACE – Pace Change Review

Instructions: Choose the letter of the most correct answer.

1. PACE is most closely related to:
   A. Keeping conversations brief
   B. Balancing rate of change with personal and systemic capacity
   C. Enforcing a development timeline
   D. Teaching someone a faster way
   
   
2. What does PACE help the helper and PBH understand?
   A. The urgency of the situation
   B. The gaps in logic
   C. The rhythm and readiness for change
   D. The need for instruction
   
   
3. A key reason to apply the PACE skill is:
   
   A. To slow the helper down
   B. To prevent the PBH from pushing too hard
   C. To help align the PBH’s pCc with the demands of the CCR
   D. To teach people to wait
   
   
4. One risk of ignoring PACE is:
   A. The PBH might resist solutions
   B. Progress may be misaligned with readiness
   C. There will be too much reflection
   D. People may become passive
   
   
5. An effective application of PACE might sound like:
   A. “Let’s just move forward.”
   B. “Are you feeling rushed or overwhelmed?”
   C. “You should act now.”
   D. “Let’s break this into steps.”

Post-Test Answer Key

Pre-Test Answer Key 

1. B – Matching the speed of action to the capacity for adaptation
2. B – Personality dynamics and external CCR
3. C – The PBH is stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected
4. C – Change is happening, and adaptation is required
5. C – “Do you feel things are moving at the right pace?”
   

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Our team at Living & Loving Inquiry

Mike R Jay & Gary Gile
Founders @ The NEW LeadU

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3. Disclaimer

Mike R. Jay is a developmentalist utilizing consulting, coaching, advising and helping… emergent from dynamic inquiry as a means to cue, scaffold, support, lift, and protect; offering inspiration to aspiring leaders who are interested in humaning where being, doing, having, becoming, contributing, relating, guiding to produce resilience and wellth help people lead generative lives.

© Generati

Answer Key to Post-Test:

1. B – Balancing rate of change with personal and systemic capacity
2. C – The rhythm and readiness for change
3. C – To help align the PBH’s pCc with the demands of the CCR
4. B – Progress may be misaligned with readiness
5. B – “Are you feeling rushed or overwhelmed?”
   

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