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<TITLE>Subtle and the sledge hammer (long-ish)</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Palatino">Research into the subtle?<BR>
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I’m still working on mastering the obvious.<BR>
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On another topic, here’s another tale from open space. As I was perusing the postings about Harrison’s 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.<BR>
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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.<BR>
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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 he’d 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.<BR>
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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 boss’s life. Evening news was noteworthy for a song satirizing the boss’s approach to change management. It was daring, but this guy didn’t care. With the boss sitting right there in the circle, people tried not to laugh, but they did.<BR>
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Footnote to Surprise number one: Next morning copies of an article on change management began to circulate out of “nowhere”. 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.<BR>
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Surprise number two: I’d been asked to schedule Day Two’s 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 he’d 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.<BR>
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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 “Be prepared to be surprised” sign in the corner. I had to smile.)<BR>
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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.<BR>
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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.<BR>
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Oh, my.<BR>
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Ralph Copleman<BR>
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