How to Grow Your Knowledge-to-Performance Tree: Applying the SIP Model to Organizational Development

Welcome to a deep dive into Episode 101 of the Harmonious Workplaces podcast. In this milestone episode, hosts Rich Cruz, an organizational development consultant, and Ben Kleinman explore a fascinating intersection between fine arts and business strategy. They discuss how leaders can build true organizational resilience by connecting the Knowledge-to-Performance Tree™ framework with the SIP (Sequences, Iterations, and Permutations) model.

For professionals working in organizational development and change management, this episode provides a powerful roadmap for moving from scattered institutional knowledge to structured, sustained performance.

The Knowledge-to-Performance Tree™ (The “Where”)

To understand how an organization transforms raw information into tangible business results, we must first look at the Knowledge-to-Performance Tree™. This model explains where improvement and knowledge live within your business ecosystem.

• Roots (Knowledge & Culture): The roots represent institutional memory, tacit expertise, technical know-how, and company culture. Just like a real tree, these roots spread far beneath the surface, feeding the entire organization with core values and processes. If the roots weaken, critical knowledge disappears.
• Trunk (Capability & Structure): This is the central support system, encompassing learning and development, training, documentation, and leadership alignment. It acts as the structure that converts raw knowledge into actionable capability.
• Branches (Behaviors): Branches symbolize the actual performance and behaviors of the workforce, including productivity, quality, and employee engagement. These support systems require nurturing through coaching and cross-training.
• Fruit (Outcomes): The ultimate results of your organization, such as financial outcomes, customer satisfaction, and continuous innovation.
• Soil (Feedback Loops): The environment that sustains the tree. Feedback loops act as the fertilizer. Positive, thoughtful inputs enrich the soil, while a toxic culture can leach into it and cause organizational rot.

The SIP Model by Jasper Goodrich (The “How”)

While the tree shows where performance happens, the SIP model explains how work improves. SIP stands for Sequences, Iterations, and Permutations.

This concept originates from the art world, specifically from a printmaking framework and collective developed by artist and professor Jasper Goodrich at the School of the Art Institute. In Goodrich’s practice and teachings, SIP explores how working iteratively—building upon previous forms where information is lost and gained through making—helps an artist’s creative process when making collections of work.

Cruz and Kleinman brilliantly adapt Goodrich’s artistic model to business process design and organizational development:

• Sequences: These are your clear work packages and process flows. Who does what, and in what order? In business, an existing sequence might be your standard procedure for onboarding a new hire, selling to a customer, or manufacturing a part. Establishing strong sequences stabilizes the trunk of your tree.
• Iterations: This involves building active feedback loops to assess what worked and what needs refinement. Instead of simply repeating a process, you make micro-adjustments. Iterating prevents organizational brittleness by allowing processes to be tested and improved over time.
• Permutations: This is the intentional redesign phase. What must change to reach a new “to-be” state? For instance, taking the core learning from a manufacturing sequence and permuting it to create a completely new, customized product. Permutations protect your foundational roots during times of significant change, ensuring you adapt without losing core knowledge.

Integrating SIP for Effective Change Management

How can leaders use these combined models to facilitate effective change management? Most companies mistakenly treat knowledge transfer as a one-time HR initiative rather than ongoing structural work. By integrating SIP into the Knowledge-to-Performance Tree™, organizations can intentionally build learning mechanisms directly into their daily operations rather than relying on assumed knowledge handoffs.

Here is a simple three-step approach to operationalize this framework:

1. Diagnose: Identify where your organization is currently weak. Are you losing tacit knowledge as tenured employees leave (weak Roots)? Are your processes unclear (unstable Trunk)? Or are financial outcomes and engagement suffering (struggling Branches)?
2. Apply SIP: Sequence the necessary work, build iteration loops to test assumptions, and redesign intentionally through permutations.
3. Measure: Watch the branches and fruit by closely tracking employee engagement, product quality, throughput, and financial health.

Fostering a Culture of Co-Creation

Successful knowledge-to-performance transfer requires a culture that embraces psychological safety. Incorporating the arts into business isn’t just about fun brainstorming icebreakers; it is about fundamentally changing how teams collaborate.

Drawing on a theatrical metaphor, effective leaders should act like stage directors who co-create with their employees. Great leaders provide the “space and grace” for employees to bring new ideas to the table, test iterations, and say “Yes, and…” to new permutations without the fear of being shut down.

Conclusion

Resilience doesn’t happen by accident; it is deliberately designed. By linking Jasper Goodrich’s artistic SIP model to the Knowledge-to-Performance Tree™, businesses can transform scattered institutional knowledge into structured, resilient performance.

Call to Action: If you are interested in learning more about co-creating change, Rich Cruz and Ben Kleinman will be presenting on applying lessons from the arts to change management at the upcoming Midwest ACMP (Association for Change Management Professionals) Conference in Chicago on April 20th. Be sure to tune in to the full podcast episode of Harmonious Workplaces to start planting your own Knowledge-to-Performance tree today!