Idea for reflection – 23
Climbing a Henry Moore
I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.
– Steve Jobs, from The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs
Posts tagged ‘Organization Development’
Oct 21
The shape of space
Skyscape XV
First the students sit in traditional straight lines, behind desks.
Then they sit in a circle around a table.
Finally they sit in an open circle, with nothing in the center.
…then we reflect together on the experiences.
Doing this activity over several years in the organization development classroom does not constitute scientific research data. But here are frequent student observations about the different room setups:
The traditional straight line allows everyone to easily see a presentation and gives the facilitator to have greater control over the group. The disadvantages include individuals having a sense of being detached from the group – leading to a more passive group that is less likely to participate in discussion or interact.
The circle table setup, either round or “U” shape, allows everyone to see everyone else, including making eye contact and observing posture and body language. In a smaller group (6 to 8), more people are comfortable contributing to the discussion and interacting. The table at the center allows for ease in note taking. It seems to create a sense of safety by providing a partial barrier between the individual and the group.
The circle setup without tables , either round or “U” shape, has the same benefits as the first circle with the additional benefit that it is easy to engage in activities that use movement. The openness can create a space for more personal connection. On the other hand, without a table, individuals may have different levels of discomfort without the table as partial barrier – conflict is perceived with increased threat. From a practical standpoint, people do not have places to put notebooks or drinks.
An alternative that I’ve used is creating a “chevron” shape where the tables face the front, but at a 40 degree angle. Participants can see each other as well as the presentation. This combines some of the advantages and disadvantages of the arrangements described above.
The shape of the space has implications for the participants and the facilitator or instructor. In my experience, it is important to consider how the space invites interaction and participation, creates psychological safety, and meets the needs for the gathering goals. How have you experienced the shape of space in your meeting and class rooms?
Reading about change
Fall Prairie at Quivera NWR
Change is happening on the Kansas prairie as grasses and trees transform to their brilliant fall colors. As Organization Development (OD) practitioners we journey alongside organizations and individuals in the midst of planned and unplanned change. Here are some items gleaned from my reading this past weekend.
George R. Brunk III, Interim President of AMBS, was one author I encountered who is thinking and writing about change. He asked questions that apply at a broader level to everyone involved in organizational change. He argues that change begins at the personal level and needs to be practical, asking. “Where does change begin?” How can a context for changed be created? Should change in an organization begin within the organization or follow change that is happening in a larger context? Or is change complementary between the small and large?
I continued reading Peggy Holman’s Engaging Emergence. Her important reminder is: the pattern of change is that it increases with time. When we begin change, we are quick to measure progress or take the temperature of the organization every day or week. Constantly checking to see if change is happening can distract us from focusing effectively on the process or even stop us from persevering through the fallow ground of transition. Peggy gives the wonderful example of the transition from snail mail to e-mail. It took a number of years for our primary communication mode to change. The shift happened in fits and starts, asking us to change our own patterns and assumptions along the way. Yet the pattern holds, change requires time and the amount of change increases with time.
Finally, on our Quivera adventure, Jon and I began a discussion about “transformational space”. My first reaction to reading this phrase was, “Oh no, another business buzz phrase.” But Stephen Cope , a psychologist writing about stress-reduction, uses it to further challenge my thinking about the need to intentionally create spaces where change can occur more easily. This topic deserves, and will get, its own post. But the question stands, what impact does the way we setup meeting and training rooms or work spaces have on how we engage with each other in the change process?
Here are more questions than answers. But, I find the questions worth pondering.
Oct 17
Getting unstuck
In the last week I’ve talked with two organizations that are stuck inside of processes that were designed to be a way to move forward. I’ve met with people who are tired, tired from working too many hours, even though they love their work. And for the most part, my blog has gone silent as I’ve been stuck in the round of daily work and family responsibilities. With technology creating the tyranny of the immediate, I find it easy to work 8 to 10 hours in my home office without noticing much of the world around me.
And so – I’m being intentional about getting my self unstuck first. My rule is that one can’t assist others in getting unstuck if you are already immobilized. Here is where I started:
I got out of my office chair and walked out the front door. I experimented with the macro setting on my camera.
Daylily 10.15.2010
I read articles in magazines and books; yes, the paper kind that you hold in your hands. I not only read through organization development (OD) material, I read material wildly outside of the OD discipline: architecture design, theology, photography, and writing. And I temporarily relocated my office to the back porch.
Back Porch Office
I went on an adventure with my husband to Quivera National Wildlife Refuge.
Quivera NWR Sunset 10.16.2010
I talked with an old friend and made plans for an in-person visit. …I’m moving toward “unstuck”.
In her post titled, A Perfect September Day, Shirley Showalter challenged her readers, “What does your perfect day look like? If you haven’t had one lately, describe it here; then go make it happen.” What do you do to get unstuck, discover life outside the office and away from technology, renew your spirit, and re-discover the quest for possibilities? I’ll repeat Shirley’s admonition, “describe it; then go make it happen.”
Working Together
WORKING TOGETHER
We shape our self
to fit this world
and by the world
are shaped again.
The visible
and the invisible
working together
in common cause,
to produce
the miraculous.
I am thinking of the way
the intangible air
passed at speed
round a shaped wing
easily
holds our weight.
So may we, in this life
trust
to those elements
we have yet to see
or imagine,
and look for the true
shape of our own self
by forming it well
to the great
intangibles about us.
– David Whyte,
from River Flow
(Written for the presentation of The Collier Trophy to The Boeing Company marking the introduction of the new 777 passenger jet.)
Idea for reflection – 22
Skyscape XIII
Do not depend on the hope of results … you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself … gradually you struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people …. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything.
– Thomas Merton, from The Letters of Thomas Merton
Oct 7
Resource: Organization Development Processes
I’ve collected more than a few classic Organization Development resource links over the last several years. If you are just getting started in the Organization Development field or are looking for on-line resources to lead your own process, here are resources that I’ve found useful (in alphabetical order):
Appreciative Inquiry Commons
Balanced Scorecard Institute
Future Search
Open Space Technology Links from Peggy Holman
Society for Organizational Learning
World Cafe: Juanita Brown and Tom Hurley
And, links to past posts of resources:
Resource: Harvard Business Review
Resource: Leader to Leader Institute
Resource: Organization Development resources on the web
Resources for Positive Organization Development
Oct 5
Visual meetings
Tom Wujec gave a short TED talk: 3 Ways the Brain Creates Meaning. His point is, “We make meaning by seeing.” Here is a summary of how the brain makes meaning with the brain subsystem activated in parentheses:
- Use images to clarify ideas. (ventral)
- Interact with images to create engagement. (dorsal)
- Augment memory with persistent and evolving views. (limbic)
Using images to create shared mental models leads to better communication, learning, thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. He uses Visual Strategic Planning as an organizational example of the idea that we are all visual developers and learners.
As I consider what this information means for organization development, I go beyond his example to considering how we run meetings, communicate information, and deliver training. How can we increase the visual component of what we do in order to increase the building of shared mental models and shared meaning?
Oct 4
Uncertainty as opportunity
Waiting for the Winter Wheat
In Kansas, the winter wheat is planted. We watch and wait for it to emerge, wondering if the weather will support its life. We wonder – and all the while every human being is born with a preference for predictability. We want to know when and where we will sleep and eat. We are most comfortable with people who are like us. We learn more when we are given an agenda or syllabus that tells us what’s coming. Yet life remains uncertain; we can’t control everything or get all of our questions answered.
In our organizations we like certainty too. We create five-year plans, develop key performance indicators, and post weekly metrics on the bulletin board in the cafeteria or coffee area. Yet, here too, the unexpected and uncertainty continually get in the way. Or do they? What if we changed our perspective, paradigm, assumptions, or way of seeing?
As organization leaders and organization development practitioners, our role is to engage uncertainty, to engage what is emerging. I’ve used the Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space Technology processes to successfully engage organizations and individuals in emerging possibilities. As often as I’ve used these processes, I’m still amazed at the unexpectedly innovative and surprisingly positive outcomes – ones that could not have been imagined when we started.
Peggy Holman, coauthor of The Change Handbook, suggests that when we engage emergence, we become more inspired to pursue things that matter, form new connections with other people, and create new possibilities. The challenge is choosing to engage the disruption, chaos, and upheaval rather than spending our energy trying to fix and maintain the existing system. Practical questions for engaging the possibilities in uncertainty:
- What is most important?
- Given the unexpected circumstances, what is possible now?
- Given the broken process, what would it look like if it were working successfully?
- What could we do together as a team that we can’t do by ourselves?
- What would you most like to do?
As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands
Friesen Group 