Subtle and the sledge hammer (long-ish)

[Ralph Copleman]

Research into the subtle?

I¹m still working on mastering the obvious.
__

On another topic, here¹s another tale from open space.  As I was perusing
the postings about Harrison¹s breath-takingly hopeful experience in Rome, I
was holding space for a group of pharmaceutical executives in New Jersey.
Mundane by comparison to the things some folks here have been talking about
lately, but instructive in the practice nevertheless.

Surprise number one: The three-day conference kicked off Tuesday morning
with a PowerPoint show by the boss.  I was scheduled to open space after
lunch.  The boss started by listing all the performance failures his
department had been experiencing.  The 45 people present sat in stunned
silence as he described one shortcoming after another.  He concluded the
first portion of his presentation by saying that as a result of these
things, the department would now be reorganized.  He said it as casually as
he might order a turkey sandwich.  Just as casually he called for the next
overhead.  It showed a table of organization with five names on it.  The
hushed room somehow became even quieter.  I think everyone stopped
breathing.  It was palpable.  No one except the five names on the screen
knew if they had a job or not.  No one had told me this was coming.

During the break that soon followed, I took my contact aside and asked a few
questions.  She said the news was a complete surprise.  A real stunner.  She
look angry and frightened.  The boss took some questions after the break,
and it was clear he¹d had no idea what kind of impact his announcement would
have.  He also clearly assumed his logic about what was wrong and how to fix
it was unassailable and that everyone, therefore, would support it with
nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders.

By the time I opened the space, things under the surface were seething.
There was buzzing everywhere.  Some folks used the opened space to raise
questions about the reorganization: they were able to vent and consider the
issues before them in a healthy way.  Frankly, I think this saved the boss¹s
life.  Evening news was noteworthy for a song satirizing the boss¹s approach
to change management.  It was daring, but this guy didn¹t care.  With the
boss sitting right there in the circle, people tried not to laugh, but they
did.

Footnote to Surprise number one: Next morning copies of an article on change
management began to circulate out of ³nowhere².  It described proper ways to
communicate major organizational initiatives.  It had a list of guidelines ‹
all of which my client had either ignored or violated.

Surprise number two:  I¹d been asked to schedule Day Two¹s open space
session from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. so that people could be guaranteed a
large part of the afternoon to enjoy the many resort-type entertainments of
the region.  I, therefore, set evening news to conclude at that time.  Well,
the number 2 guy in the organization used the news period to pass out props
people would now need for the scavenger he¹d organized for everyone.  He
quickly organized everyone into teams of 5-6 and gave them instructions and
tips on how to win the competition in which they now found themselves
engaged.  People were then herded onto a waiting bus to take them to the
site of the hunt.

Surprise number three:  Next morning, with trains and planes waiting to take
people back to about a dozen different countries,  a fairly tight three
hours was available for people to read their proceedings, do some action
planning and close the apace.  I was explaining the agenda for the remaining
time when the number 2 guy asked if we could have time for morning news.  I
said announcements were certainly appropriate and handed him the talking
symbol.  He took it and announced the next 20 minutes would be given over to
reports from the various scavenger hunts teams.  This was necessary, he
said, so that he could judge the results and decide who would receive the
prizes.  Then he called on the first team and off we went.   (Someone in the
circle caught my eye about then and gestured to the ³Be prepared to be
surprised² sign in the corner.  I had to smile.)

Well, they (self-)managed to get everything done, and the closing circle was
full of praise for open space, etc.  But I have to admit, I was glad to get
out of there.

Footnote to surprise number three:  The scavenger hunt awards were passed
out after the closing circle.  Of the five teams that participated, three
got verbal recognition and praise, one got prizes, and one was not even
mentioned.

Oh, my.

Ralph Copleman





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