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<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hi everyone </SPAN><?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Harrison wrote (see below) how
setting collective priorities is often what is needed and that with large groups
that can be a practical challenge - too many dots to count and technology
breaking down, although for very large groups this has been the method of choice
...so far. A new way has been offered and tested.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Some Canadian aboriginal people
shared with us another technique for compiling votes - or the survey as I
now often call it (* see why below). Their way is very quick and
simple: tickets in envelopes. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA">They
prefer this method since the individual choices are less influenced by the
number of votes others have given to a topic report for the simple reason that
votes are not visible.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Larry Peterson received that gift
and shared it. He and I both experienced together and separately, several OS
events of 450 people and it works wonderfully.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Voting was over in about 5 minutes,
compiling results took around 15 minutes followed by another 5-10 minutes of
announcements of results for a total of half an hour or less. My experience is
15-20 minutes for everything with groups of 100. </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Now, that is as fast as computer
voting where people wait in line for about 30 minutes to access a
computer. This technology - mostly human - does not break down and it
is an extension of self-management and honours self-organization. It is
totally transparent, trustworthy and reinforces trust since even the
organizers and the facilitator discovers results at the same time as
participants. </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Here's how it works:
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">1- Reports are posted in numerical
order, spaced out on the wall, with attached at the bottom, an
envelope bearing in the top corner in large dark print, the report number.
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">2- Participants read the Book of
Reports identifying at the same time their top priorities and combining
identical topics with the initiators' consent knowing that combinations will be
announced to the group just before the vote (a transparency measure,
accountability to the whole group and a safeguard for combinations made for
wrong "strategic" reasons).</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">3- After the combinations have
been read, outside each of the 4 or more aisles in the circle, people are handed
a strip of tickets (3 or 5 for e.g.) as they walk out to go to the reports on
the wall. They place their tickets in envelopes attached under each
report on the wall. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">4- Participants' choices are less
influenced by the number of votes others have given to a topic report for the
simple reason that the votes are not visible. Contrary to dots, you
cannot do a quick compilation by eyeballing the number of tickets
(this may in any event be contentious with large groups) but counting tickets
you hold in your hands is faster, less confusing so more precise.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">5- <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Participants are invited to go
to a report - not their own - count results, mark (in large print readable from
a distance) and circle the result on the envelope attached to the
report. Two volunteers instead of one per report may be desirable when the
stakes are high and the trust is not so high in the group. </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">6-O<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">ne volunteer remains at the wall for
the announcement of results. </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">7- When counting is all done, the
facilitator asks if any report has the maximum number a report could
receive (e.g., same number as the number of participants when it's one vote
per person per report), and then goes down by 10 until someone shouts that
their report is in that range. As report numbers and titles are announced
volunteers note them on flip charts (and simultaneously on overhead
projector for very large groups if desired).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">It works!! <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">If anyone has done something like
this with groups larger than 450, let the world know.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Diane</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">*
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I use the concept of
the "survey" instead of the "vote" when participants don't have decision making
power - which is most of the time. It's best not to raise falsely expectations.
I frame what they are doing as "a survey to propose priorities" that the
leadership will immediately after the results are out, give their go ahead on
priorities for action or put some on hold if needed and explain why.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN> </P></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><FONT face=Arial color=red size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Harrison wrote:
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><FONT face=Arial color=red size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I have run into the same
concern, which is why I still think some form of formal prioritization can work
well. Granted this often looks like voting, but I am not sure that voting is
such a bad thing. The actual mechanism for doing this can be as simple as
pasting sticky-dots – or as complex as a ballot with weighted scores. We used to
have a nice software package that recorded and tallied the votes and reported
the results as bar graphs. Somehow it developed a bug – but maybe some techie
sort could fix it? Or make a new one?? Anyhow, with large groups (over 100) I
always found it worked very well, and for sure it made the engineers and other
“numbers” people happy. At a practical level, counting sticky-dots can be an
eye-popping affair when the group size hits 500+. In those cases, having the
computer do all the work is a wonderful thing.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=red size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=red size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=red size=3><SPAN
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