Going Deeper Into Change

On February 11, eleven Learning Group members held a special meeting on Presencing and Theory U, following up on learning from the meetings on those topics presented by Otto Scharmer in our meetings of September 2004 and December 2005, respectively. It was a very stimulating occasion, illustrating the energy and breadth of knowledge and experience that always occurs when Learning Group members get together.

Some of the questions and issues discussed were as follows:

What are the sources of resistance in individuals and organizations toward deeper inquiry and transformational change?

Having perusaded an organization to go deeper, how exactly do we get them there (or is better just to go without knowing how)?

How can we make ensure that “shift happens”?

Can make a typology or map of techniques for going deeper? In addition to Presencing, Dialogue, Focusing, intentioning, interventions based on poetry and other arts (our October 2005 program presented an example), getting people to tell the truth, were mentioned?

How can we maintain the “magic” and energy that deeper practices create?

If people don’t want to go deeper, can we persuade them – or should we just let them fail?

Can we create a “container that lasts”?

What is the role of critical thinking in developing deep change?

The consensus was strongly in favor of continuing the discussion. We thus invite members to participate here as one way to do that. We will also be announcing another meeting, possibly taking place next month.

Indeed, a new Learning Group special interest group could be in the making. We were, however, not able to come up with “just the right” name for what it is that we are exploring and agreed to work on that as a follow up activity.

Noting that other posts have been made about the role of humor in OD, here are some possible acronyms:

· Deeper Intervention Guides – DIG SIG

· Getting Organizations Deeper – GOD

· Shift Happens in Optimal Organizational Transformation - SHOOT

· Taking Organizational Analysis Deeper - TOAD

Jim Murphy

Accentuating the Negative

A post by Jim Webber has asked us to consider what OD would be like if we mastered the art of “Accentuating the Positive”. That is certainly a good question, though, at the risk of accentuating the negative, I think it is also a very tough one.

After all, what usually motivates organizations to call upon the services of an OD practitioner? Problems – trouble – negative circumstances. What makes organizations willing to change? According to many authorities, only the pain of their present situation, the so-called “burning platform”.

Consulting generally proceeds via problem identification, data collection, diagnosis, and recommendation. When we collect data in the organization, we almost hear people telling us the good things – for a few minutes or so – which is then followed by as much venting about what is wrong as we are willing to hear.

Given, then, that clients are invariably thinking about what is wrong and that people in the organization are on the same negative wavelength, if we want to, as the cliché has it, “meet them where they are” isn’t there a risk that a positive mindset on our part can actually create a disconnect? Which of course is not to say that Appreciative Inquiry is not a valid intervention, but perhaps we also need to consider why positive thinking seems to run against the average organizational culture.

More Resources on Creativitity

This is a response to the post on creativity by Jim Webber. Our September 2005 program was on Creatvity . Although the notes regrettably are not yet ready, you can find many resources on creativity and OD in the program handout and in the program bibliography.

Creativity is a very hot topic in the management literature these days. While I have actually used a ruler to measure, it would seem the Management sections in bookstore shelves have at least as many titles on that topic as on leadership or team building.

It is thus an area that we should revisit in the future. Membership suggestions on topics in creativity that could be explored would thus we welcome.

Jim Murphy

How can we combine OD skills and business knowledge?

Our February 8 meeting was “OD Meets MBA: Learning and Leveraging the Language of Business” and was led by three-time Learning Group presenter Harvy Simkovits, a/k/a “Mr. Business Wisdom”. We learned Harvy’s model for relating the Top Game, Inside Game, and Outside Game of Business and applied it to a case study.

In a sense, this was a follow up to our November 2005 “Future of OD” meeting. On that occasion, one item on our brainstormed list of “things OD needs to do” was to develop business skills and knowledge. Harvy’s combined expertise in both areas gave us some good answers to that question.

Harvy closed by asking to use “both hands” - the OD hand and the business hand - in our work. But we should not forget the lesson of our October 2005 program: we also need to use our heart as well as our hands!

In addition to the general issue selected above as our Question of the Month, we came up with some other questions for further consideration, viz.:

How can we deal with downsizing and restructuring?

What do you when board or team meeting turn into a fight?

What should ask in your first, fifteen minute, meeting with a CEO?

How can we deal the impact of family members on the boards of family owned businesses?

How we can lead from “what clients want” to what we believe is “the real problem”?

What metrics can be used to measure OD success and how can we get agreement on those metrics?

How we prevent “consultant dependency,” i.e., get organizations to be able to on their what we do for them?

How can make sure that OD interventions last and organizations don’t “relapse” to their old behavior?

We invite members to post their comments on these issues and to suggest additional related questions.