OST and Strategic Managemen

Lindfield, Michael J Michael.Lindfield at PSS.boeing.com
Fri Mar 7 08:50:27 PST 1997


Greetings Uwe,

A quick response to your request for input on the possibility of using
OS for Strategic Planning. I'll be out of the office for a number of
days and wanted to at least let you know what has happened here at
Boeing.

Yes, OS can be used. It depends on the willingness of the senior
management to convene a gathering of a larger number of people than is
usual to do this sort of work. Two years ago a colleague and I ran a
three-day OS for a Chief Engineer and 120 of his systems engineers who
directly support airplane production in the factory. It was very
successful.  The engineering community was faced with a challenge of
changing the way they do business in order to be more competitive and
this involved the move from 'stove-pipe'  to cross-functional and
process-driven thinking.  The processes in Boeing had just been
re-grouped into 'macro' processes (such as acquire, define, build and
support)  and this particular group was tasked with creating a strategy
to have the 'define' macro-process function more effectively.  We spent
several hours with the Chief Engineer in crafting the 'challenge' that
would be at the center of our OS circle and would serve to have people
step up to a 'higher, common goal'. The 'challenge' that is issued and
for which the OS is a vehicle of response, is a major key to success.

The Chief Engineer was hesitant to go for the usual OS invitation
of,"whoever has passion about this subject please show up". The norm was
to only invite the right people based on the current org. chart and
having it be a wide-open invitation was too much. Fear of loss of
control etc. What we suggested was that he draw up a list of those
people he thought should be there and then in the invitation letter to
request that each of these people in turn, bring someone whom they felt
would add 'value' to the meeting. Sort of a compromise but it was a good
first step in opening up the process.

There was scepticism from some of the engineers on the first day and
several said that they were not sure if they really had the time to give
up three days of their precious calendars (even though the Chief
Engineer had requested this). By the end of the first day I overheard a
couple of these people calling their offices to clear their calendars
for the next two days. What they had discovered (surprise, surprise!)
was that were able to have the right meetings with the right people
about the right issues - something that they had been unable to do for
months given the normal procedures for scheduling meetings and creating
agendas. They came up with some new ways of doing business and the
experience of working in the OS setting had a profound effect on some of
them as individuals as well as having a positive effect on their
culture.

There is more to tell as well as some things that I have recently added
to help my clients be strategic from a new and fresh perspective. It has
to do with surfacing the mental models (operating assumptions) that
determine the values, behaviors and working relationships and which
eventually crystallize into the structures and forms of the organization
and then having them discover the emerging beliefs that are different
and that will 'inform' the new way of operating. Its important to ensure
that strategic planning is coming from a 'new place' and is not the
usual process of 're-arranging the furniture' and declaring that you
have moved house!

Let's continue to explore the possibilities. Bye for now.

Michael

What they had discovered


"Bid me run and I will strive for things impossible"  (Shakespeare)

Michael Lindfield
Organization Development Consultant

The Boeing Company
P.O. Box 3707,  MS 7A-25,
Seattle,  WA 98124-2207,  USA

206-865-2255 (Office/Voice Mail)     206-865-4851 (FAX)
michael.j.lindfield at boeing.com

>----------
>From:  Uwe Weissflog[SMTP:uwe.weissflog at sdrc.com]
>Sent:  Friday, March 07, 1997 7:17 AM
>To:    Multiple recipients of list OSLIST
>Subject:       OST and Strategic Managemen
>
>Hi all, before I dive into my specific questions, I like to share some
>information about myself and the company I work for.  SDRC (Structural
>Dynamics Research Corporation) is an engineering software and solutions firm
>located in Milford, Ohio (close to Cincinnati).  Our products help to design,
>analyze and manufacture a variety of mechanical products such as airplanes,
>cars, CD players, and many others. We also provide the means to manage
>product
>data across an enterprise. We operate on a global scale and we are currently
>among the top 3 companies in these domains. I you are interested in more
>details please visit our Web site at WWW.SDRC.COM.
>
>My official role at SDRC is that of "Manager, Strategic Planning", but  it is
>probably more accurate to think of me as a corporate change agent.  The task
>I've been charged with over the past 2 years centers around the question :
>"What could we do to define our future more clearly and then rally behind it
>?". This question naturally leads to questions about processes, alignment,
>participation, enrollment, and other means that impact organizational
>behavior.  Part of my recent work centered around processes that enable
>Strategic Management . We looked at methodologies such as Learning
>Organizations (P.Senge), Scenario Planning (P.Schwarz),  "traditional"
>planning (M.Porter, and other leading authors), and a bunch of large scale
>organizational development methods (Futures Search Conference, Real Time
>Strategic Planning, Open Space). Which finally brings me to my questions:
>What experience exists in the Open Space community about the application of
>OST in Strategic Management ? In particular "Who has evidence that OST works
>to help an executive team (the CEO and the top management) to define the
>common ground for a firm's strategic direction?"
>
>On a more detailed level it is of interest to us to understand (a) how
>executive teams responded to OST, (b) who executed it, and (c) whether it has
>been used in discrete manufacturing industries such as aerospace, automotive,
>industrial machinery, electronics, electro-mechanical and others.
>
>You can reach me either be responding to the OSLIST or by sending email
>directly to Uwe.Weissflog at SDRC.com.
>
>regards Uwe
>



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