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Organizational change and large groupinterventionsLeith, Martin . Career Development International ; Bradford Vol. 1, Iss. 4, (1996): 19-23.ProQuest document linkABSTRACTSix conditions are proposed which successful change efforts need to fulfill: self-determined and self-managedchange process; broad stakeholder involvement; comprehensive awareness of current reality; creative mindset;systems thinking; and change model based on trust and co-operation. It is suggested that future search, real timestrategic change and open space technology meet most or all of these conditions, and a brief description of eachmethod is provided.FULL TEXTMartin Leith: Managing Director, The Centre for Large Group Interventions, London, UKThe six major weaknessesSeventy per cent or more of all organization-wide change programmes – even some of the best designed ones – failto produce the desired results[1]. What is going wrong? It may be because the conventional approach toorganizational change has six major structural weaknesses.Change is imposedMost organizational change programmes are designed by experts and top management who assume that peoplewill be against the proposed changes, and will therefore need to be told to make them happen, or be persuaded oftheir benefits. The vehicle for this telling and selling is generally the cascade session. Here, employees may buyinto the changes, only later to experience “buyer’s remorse” which gets expressed as resistance or even sabotage.The designers – often with the best of intentions – demand that people implement their design without modifcation,whereas the implementers usually want to adapt the design to fit their individual situations. This can lead to anescalating pattern where the more the designers seek compliance, the more the implementers do their own thing,or do nothing, ultimately resulting in the failure of the programme.Stakeholder involvement is narrowDesigners of conventional change programmes generally exclude the vast majority of internal stakeholders fromthe planning process. Also, they tend to ignore important external stakeholder groups such as suppliers,customers and the local community. The opportunity to create a more widely-shared vision of the future istherefore lost, and key stakeholders may fail to provide vitally-needed support.Appreciation of current reality is limitedAs a consequence of failing to involve from the outset everyone who will be affected by the change, an incompletepicture of current reality is created. Wise strategic decisions are unlikely to be made when informed by such aPDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 1 of 8limited database.Problem solving is the prevailing mindsetMany models of organizational change are based on an elaboration of the problem-solving model[2], theshortcomings of which have been documented at length by Fritz[3]. Results, if any, tend to be incrementalimprovements rather than “order of magnitude” changes. Behavioural scientist Ron Lippett discovered that whengroups focus on solving problems they become depressed, but when they formulate plans by working backwardsfrom what they really desire, they develop energy, enthusiasm, optimism and high commitment[4]. More recently,Senge[5] has written about the importance of moving towards a vision of the future that is shared by everyone inthe organization. Not only is the problem-solving approach less effective in achieving the desired outcomes, it alsoresults in minimal individual and organizational learning, and limited expansion of the organization’s capacity toadapt.Linear thinking is employedLinear thinking usually leads to ineffective change strategies, for two reasons. First, it produces a programme witha predetermined sequence of steps leading the organization towards a fixed goal. Rarely are there anyopportunities for the goal to be reviewed and, if necessary, redefined. But in the real world, changes in the internaland external operating environments may render the original goal obsolete. Second, the issue is not viewed in abroad enough context. If the complex web of causes and effects is not properly understood and delayed reactionsare not taken into account, then there is a strong likelihood that the change programme will fail to achieve itsobjectives. It many cases it will set the organization back even further.The change model is based on control and dominationFearing the unpredictable, chaotic nature of change and the threat of its unwanted consequences, managersemploy pseudo-scientific change management techniques in a vain attempt to control the process and createpredictable and measurable results. But although managers can control micro level changes, such as theintroduction of new corporate stationery, at the macro level there are many variables which are beyond humancontrol. Major change can no more be managed than the weather can be managed. Indeed, many changeprogrammes are little more than ritual rain dances that satisfy the compelling need of men to do something in theface of a crisis. But whereas rain dances are harmless, change programmes stifle creativity by leaving no space forthe unexpected to happen.The six conditions for successBy considering the flip side of the weaknesses described above, six conditions for success can be identified. Thesecan be used to evaluate any new change approach which is under consideration.The change process is self-determined and self-managedThe new approach will involve all those in the organization realizing for themselves that change is needed, bynoticing the gap between current reality and the shared vision (see the third and fourth conditions). They willcreate strategies and action plans together, with each person taking responsibility for the successfulimplementation of these plans.There is broad stakeholder involvementThe new approach will allow everyone with a stake in the future success of the organization to be actively andequally involved in the strategic planning process. As joint architects of the change strategy these stakeholderswill have a strong sense of ownership of the change strategy and will therefore be heavily committed to achievingthe mutually-agreed results.PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 2 of 8Awareness of current reality is comprehensiveThe new approach will have all stakeholders contributing to the creation of a comprehensive database of strategicinformation, which will be kept up to date and made available to all concerned. By having a clear and completeunderstanding of current reality, wise strategic and operational decisions will be made. And with informationwidely available, power games will be reduced to a minimum.The prevailing mindset is one of creating a shared futureThe new approach will include the creation of a compelling vision that is shared by all stakeholders. Shared visionsare highly motivating, they generate a great deal of mutual support because people feel they are all part of thesame whole, and they create alignment as everyone is working towards the same ends[6].Systems thinking is employedSystems thinking underpins the new approach. Seductively simple models of cause and effect will no longer formthe basis of strategic decisions. Instead, organizational issues will be viewed in all their messy complexity. Therewill be an awareness of multiple causes and effects (including those which are greatly separated in time), mutualcasuation, and repeating patterns of behaviour. By replacing linear thinking with systems thinking, people will stopblaming each other and take personal responsibility for what happens. They will realize that control is an illusion,reframe failure as feedback, and be better able to adapt quickly to rapidly changing circumstances. Regularreviews, feedback meetings and debriefing sessions will enable individual and organizational learning to increaserapidly, with the result that the organization will have the adaptability it needs to survive and prosper.The change model is based on trust and co-operationThe new approach will replace control with trust and domination with co-operation. Instead of trying to overpowerthe unseen forces of the natural world, people will gain creative power by co-operating with them. People will trusttheir own abilities and the ability of others to do the right thing when given sufficient information. And they willtrust that the process of change will take the organization to wherever it needs to be, even if the destination is notthe one they originally chose. Leaders will still make interventions, but they will be subtle and wise interventionslike those described in The Tao of Leadership[7]. In this way people’s creativity will be unlocked and successfullyharnessed.Large group interventions: a new approach to changeSo does such a new approach for creating strategic change, displaying all six critical strengths, actually exist?Possibly it does. On both sides of the Atlantic a growing number of organizations, including Accor, Boeing, Ford,Marriott Hotels and 3M, are using large group interventions as a way of moving beyond the limitations of theconventional approach to change. A large group intervention consists of one or more interactive events, togtherwith the pre-event planning and the follow-up activities flowing from the event. Each gathering is attended by alarge number of participants (ten to 2,000 or more), from all levels and functions of the organization plusrepresentatives from other key stakeholder groups. Together the participants address real issues of strategicimportance and thereby enable the organization to move towards a shared vision of the future. There are at least20 different methods which can be used to create a large group event[8]. Of these, the three methods which arebeing adopted most widely are future search, real time strategic change and open space technology (see Table I).The three main large group intervention methodsMethod no 1: future searchThe main facts about this method are:
primary purpose: system-wide strategic planning;PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 3 of 8
developer: Marvin Weisbord;
length: two to three days;
group size: 12-64 plus.Brief description of the processA steering committee consisting of eight or so key stakeholders plans the future search conference, at whichparticipants sit at round tables in mixed stakeholder groups, eight people to a table, and work through the fivestages of the future search process:1 Review the past from personal, organizational and global perspectives; identify the events, trends anddevelopments shaping the future.2 Map the present in all its messy complexity.3 Create ideal future scenarios of the most desirable, attainable future, 5-20 years out.4 Find common ground and develop a shared vision.5 Create action plans.The process is described in more detail in Weisbord and Janoff[9].Key principlesThe key principles are as follows:
The whole system participates – a cross-section of as many interested parties as is practical.
A global context forms the basis for local action.
The focus is on finding common ground and moving into the future, not on conflict and problems.
Self-management and personal responsibility are emphasized.Method no 2: real time strategic changeThe main facts are as follows:
primary purpose: the design and implementation of whole systems change;
developers: Kathie Dannemiller and Robert Jacobs;
length: two to three days;
group size: 12-2,000 plusBrief description of the processReal time strategic change (RTSC) events are sometimes confused with future search conferences because theytake place over two or three days and participants sit eight to a table in mixed stakeholder groups. However, thesimilarity ends there. Despite the impression given in Jacobs’ book on the method[10], RTSC has no fixed format –each event is custom designed around the following seven immutable principles.Key principlesThe seven principles are:1 Get the whole system (or a large representative sample of it) in the room. Have a microcosm of this systemdesign the event.2 Foster empowerment and participation.3 Work in real time, with simultaneous planning and implementation.PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 4 of 84 Treat current reality as the key driver of the change process.5 Include preferred futuring, where participants create a compelling representation of what “better” will look, soundand feel like.6 Build and maintain a common database of strategic information that is available to all.7 Create community.Method no 3: open space technologyConcerning this method, the main facts are:
primary purpose: the creation of high energy, action-orientated, self-determined and self-managed meetings;
developer: Harrison Owen;
length: three hours – three or more days;
group size: ten to 1,000.Brief description of the processAt an open space event people come together with the aim of pooling their ideas and developing plans for creativeand collaborative action. They create and manage their own programme of parallel sessions around a centraltheme, such as: What are the issues and opportunities facing the XYZ Corporation?, using a six step process:1 Participants gather for the opening plenary, seated in a circle.2 The facilitator states the theme of the event and describes the open space principles and process.3 Anyone who feels so inspired can offer one or more sessions by creating a simple poster showing the title of thesession and his or her name, choosing a room and timeslot and making a brief announcement to the whole group.4 The posters are fixed to the wall and participants sign up for the sessions that they wish to attend. People thenself-organize and pursue what interests them. A report of each session is produced and displayed in the plenaryroom.5 The large group reconvenes at the end of the day to share what has transpired.6 At the end of the event everyone receives a set of reports from all the sessions, which may includerecommendations and action points.A full description of the open space process is given in Owen[11].Key principlesThe following are the key principles:
Whoever comes are the right people.
Whenever it starts is the right time.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could happen.
When it’s over, it’s over.
Use “The law of two feet” to make the best use of your time and energy.The implications for management developmentThe large group intervention approach to change raises important questions for the future of managementdevelopment. One key question is this: How does the regular use of large scale, mixed stakeholder events changePDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 5 of 8the job of the manager?The need for managers to become leaders has been argued at length in the management literature. According toDon Warrick, a management academic and organizational consultant, leadership is: “the process of providingvision, direction and inspiration”[12]. But in the new approach to change advocated here, vision is not handed downfrom above – co-creating the vision is everyone’s job. Next on the list comes direction (“clarifying goals, values andpriorities”). There seems to be no reason why this activity could not be done by an external coach. Alternatively,people could coach each other. Finally comes inspiration, which Warrick defines as “motivating people to meet thechallenge, valuing and encouraging people to be their best, recognising accomplishments, championing changes,and being an example worthy of following”. There is much evidence to show that intrinsic motivation, of the sortthat comes from working towards a compelling vision, is a great deal more powerful than extrinsic motivation[13].Valuing, encouraging and recognizing can be done by the coach. Championing changes will no longer benecessary – people will do this for themselves, in the large group meetings and in self-managed subgroups. Thecoach seems to be a prime candidate for job of “example worthy of following”. Coaching relationships are built ontrust, which is possibly the most critical success factor of them all.In an organization characterized by continuous change, everyone will be both a leader and a follower, and everyonewill need to have mastery in the areas of communication, coaching, facilitation and self-management. Theseabilities will be acquired not in surface-scratching training courses, but through intensive personal developmentprogrammes in which people rethink their most fundamental values, beliefs and operating assumptions. Wherepeople will need the most help will be in making a radical shift from a linear, mechanistic, reductionist view of theworld to a systemic, organic, holistic one.Summary and conclusionConventional approaches to system-wide change are not working – what is needed is a new approach that meetsthe six conditions for effective change. A more effective approach may be one based on large group interventions,and there is evidence from organizations such as Boeing which support this idea. The implications formanagement development are far reaching. Instead of considering how the regular use of large-scale events willchange the job of the manager, it may be better to ask: In organizations that adopt the new approach to change,will managers be needed at all? An old joke says that if voting actually changed anything it would be banned. In thesame way, managers are unlikely to vote themselves out of office. The tragedy is that if the failure rate of changeprogrammes continues to be 70 per cent or more, then many once-great organizations will sink along with theirmanagers.References
Doyle, K., “Who’s killing total quality?”, Incentive, Vol. 8, 1992, pp. 12-19.
Cummings, T.G., “From programmed change to self design: learning how to change organisations”, OrganizationDevelopment Journal, Vol. 13 No. 4, 1995, pp. 20-31.
Fritz, R., Creating, Ballantine Books, New York, NY, 1991.
Weisbord, M.R. (Ed.), Discovering Common Ground, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA, 1992, pp. 48-9.
Senge, P., The Fifth Discipline, Century Business, London, 1990.
Kiefer, C.F. and Stroh, P., “A new paradigm for developing organizations”, in Adams, J.D. (Ed.), TransformingPDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 6 of 8Work, Miles River Press, Alexandria, VA, pp. 171-84.
Heider, J., The Tao of Leadership, Wildwood House, Aldershot, 1986 .
Leith, M., The CLGI Guide to Large Group Events, The Centre for Large Group Interventions, London, 1996.
Weisbord, M.R. and Janoff, S., Future Search, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA, 1994.
Jacobs, R.W., Real Time Strategic Change, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA, 1994.
Owen, H.H., Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide, Abbott, Potomac, MD, 1992.
Warrick, D.D., “Best practices occur when leaders lead, champion change and adopt a sound change process”,Organization Development Journal, Vol. 13 No. 4, 1995, pp. 91-9.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. and Csikszentmihalyi, I.S. (Eds), Optimal Experience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge,1988.IllustrationCaption: Table I; Do the three methods meet the six conditions for success?DETAILSSubject: Organizational change; InterventionClassification: 2500: Organizational behaviorPublication title: Career Development International; BradfordVolume: 1Issue: 4Pages: 19-23Number of pages: 0Publication year: 1996Publication date: 1996Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing LimitedPlace of publication: BradfordCountry of publication: United Kingdom, BradfordPDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 7 of 8LINKSLinking ServiceDatabase copyright Ó 2020 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved.Terms and Conditions Contact ProQuestPublication subject: Occupations And CareersISSN: 13620436e-ISSN: 17586003Source type: Scholarly JournalsLanguage of publication: EnglishDocument type: NewsDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13620439610124675ProQuest document ID: 219320469Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/219320469?accountid=28844Copyright: Copyright MCB UP Limited (MCB) 1996Last updated: 2019-09-06Database: ProQuest One AcademicPDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 8 of 8
Creating the futures we desire – getting thewhole system into the room: part INixon, Bruce . Industrial and Commercial Training ; Guilsborough Vol. 30, Iss. 1, (1998): 4-11.ProQuest document linkABSTRACTFor organisations to flourish, they need to engage the intelligence, creativity and energy of the whole workforceand involve all stakeholders. One way of doing this is to use whole system approaches to planning andimplementing change and what have come to be known as large-group methods. This article makes a case forthese approaches and describes the major benefits, outlines their history and describes two well-tried methods:future research and open space technology.FULL TEXTBruce Nixon: Independent Consultant, Bruce Nixon Associates, Berkhamsted, Herts“We are going to win and the industrial West is going to lose out; there’s not much you can do about it because thereasons for your failure are within yourselves. Your firms are built on the Taylor model. Even worse, so are yourheads. With your bosses doing the thinking while the workers wield the screwdrivers, you’re convinced deep downthat this is the right way to run a business. For you the essence of management is getting the ideas out of theheads of the bosses and into the hands of labor.We are beyond your mindset. Business, we know, is now so complex and difficult, the survival of firms sohazardous in an environment increasingly unpredictable, competitive and fraught with danger, that their continuedexistence depends on the day-to-day mobilisation of every ounce of intelligence. (Konosuke Matsushita, founder ofMatsushita Electric Ltd. Reproduced here with the permission of International Creative Management Inc.)”IntroductionThis is a two-part article to be published over two consecutive issues. The first part will explain why I have growninterested in whole system work and large group interventions as they have come to be known. It will also outlinethe case for using these approaches and the benefits they can bring. This part will describe two leadingapproaches: future search and open space technology. Thesecond part will describe real time strategic changeand search conferences. My intention is to introduce you to these approaches and tell you where you can find outmore. The two-part article is based on a chapter in my forthcoming book Making a Difference – Strategies andTools for Transforming your Organisation being published early 1998 by Gilmour Drummond Publishing in Europeand AMACON elsewhere in the world.PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 1 of 12My journeyI experience a growing unease as I reflect on the work I have done over the years with directors, managers andtheir teams.It is all very well working at the top or in the middle but what about the mass of ordinary people in the organisation“doing the actual work” of making things, providing services and dealing with customers? How much effect wasour work together actually having on the way things are on the shop floor or on the quality of product or servicereceived by the customer? I am not sure. Also these programmes were taking a long time to roll out. Where therewas an attempt to involve “ordinary workers”, it was in a diluted form in less affluent surroundings. What messagedid that convey? Another reflection of our class attitudes perhaps.I had other concerns, some more fundamental. Systems thinking tells us that in deciding the way forward orresolving fundamental issues you need data about the whole system. People at the top or in the middle, inevitably,only have data about part of the system. If good strategic decisions are to be made, data is required from people atevery level including the bottom and from people outside the system such as customers and suppliers. Of coursethat data can be obtained, and often is, before decisions are made. But for maximum organisational learning totake place, different stakeholders or people from different parts of the system need to be in the room together,hearing and seeing the data being contributed. They all need to be listening to each other and the process needs tobe interactive. There needs to be a common or shared database built together by everyone in the room. People atthe bottom need to see people at the top taking on board what they have said, responding to it in a way thatdemonstrates a change in attitude and actually behaving differently; showing that they really mean what they sayabout involving people, valuing their contribution and wanting an empowered workforce. Also people at the bottomneed to be given the opportunity to act powerfully, speak their minds honestly without fear of adverseconsequences and take responsibility. Top management need to experience this and see that it works. Peopleneed the experience of hearing diverse views expressed, sometimes with passion, and perhaps being moved bythis. They need to discover how constructive and valuable difference can be and have their fears and stereotypesdispelled by a constructive experience that worked. In other words a huge amount of organisational learning cantake place only when you get the whole system into the room. Real sustainable change occurs when peopleexperience the paradigm shift that enables them to see beyond their small part of the system. For the organisationto learn a different dance all the partners need to be present. Only those who are full-time participants really getthe benefit.However, it is not only about making sound decisions and learning from each other. It is also about successfulimplementation. For people to be committed to changes, they need to be involved in and informed by the processof making those decisions and take responsibility for their part in implementing them. People can more easilymake appropriate day-to-day decisions when implementing a strategy they have been involved in creating.I had another concern. Sometimes, in the work which colleagues and I had done with groups of directors andmanagers, we had encountered dependency, counter-dependency, resistance to really doing serious work or takingresponsibility for the outcomes. Was this because we facilitated too much? Would this be less likely to happen ifwe stood back more and gave everyone a share in facilitating small group work at least? That also fitted well withmy conclusion that people who become facilitators benefit most.With these thoughts in my mind I started reading Marvin Weisbord’s Productive Workplaces (Weisbord, 1987) and Iorganised a development programme for myself to learn about “large group interventions” i.e., ways of workingwith much larger groups that make it possible to get representatives of the whole system working together in thePDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 2 of 12same room. I attended workshops which not only described the methods but gave me experience of how they workeither by my being a participant or through simulations. I looked in depth at four approaches.
(1) future search;
(2) open-space technology;
(3) real-time strategic change;
(4) search conferences.In this article I shall do no more than introduce you to these four approaches (there are many others) and tell youhow you can find out more about them. As yet I have limited experience of using them and I have no big stories totell. I hope that will come later! The principles and methods have influenced all my work however and I suspectthey would influence yours.The case for getting the whole system into the roomFirst I will summarise why I think these approaches need to be considered. Most of the work I have done over thepast 20 years has been with directors and managers. The concerns I have expressed above do notinvalidate thiskind of work, at the top and in the middle. Real-time management development (as I call my own version ofmanagement development that combines working on the company’s real opportunities and issues with learning)can have a powerful effect on individual managers who may then lead their organisations very differently (Nixon,1996, 1998). It gives managers a new vision of how teams and groups can work together. It gives them some ofthe tools. It is also a good way of going with the energy, acknowledging where the organisation is and startingwhere you can. Like every good methodology it has its strengths and its limitations. It may offer you the best wayforward given where your organisation is. And it may gradually open your managers up to the possibility of “gettingthe whole system into the room” – something for which the organisation was not ready when you started out.This article may help you prepare yourself for when your clients are ready. To be ready to help your clients you toomay need a new mind-set.I see essentially four possibilities for initiating transformation:
(1) starting at the bottom and working up;
(2) starting somewhere in the middle and working upwards, outwards and downwards;
(3) starting at the top and cascading down;
(4) getting the whole system into the room.The first two are “starting where you can” strategies. The last two are possible when your client is the CEO of therelevant system or sub-system. The last is appropriate when the CEO is really ready to share control which meansgiving up some control. Not all CEOs are ready to do this but it is an essential pre-condition for successful work ofthis kind.PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 3 of 12Top-down approaches to bringing about change have limitations. Strategic decisions made by top managementmay prove flawed because they were not informed by data possessed by people elsewhere in the system. Oftentop management have difficulty gaining “buy-in” or the full commitment of the workforce because the latter do nothave a full appreciation of the situation and they were not involved in the decision making. Key messages may bediluted as they pass down the organisation. Similarly there are obstacles to information passing upwards.Traditional processes for communicating a new strategy are relatively lifeless as they are not sufficiently involvingor interactive. The top-down approach to change does not provide adequately for organisational learning.Increasingly often today, traditional linear methods of making decisions are simply not up to the job because thedata involved is so complex and the situation is in a constant state of flux. Finally, the process of cascadingstrategy downwards can take a very long time. That can be too long and thus, ultimately, too expensive in today’sworld.Here are some of the major benefits of using large-group methods, or getting the whole system into the room.
Decisions are informed by the whole system.
A high degree of involvement and engagement and hence commitment is created.
Collaborative behaviour is encouraged.
There is a high degree of organisational learning and the organisation increases its capacity to adapt.
People learn to value diversity and work with conflict.
A sense of common vision and purpose is created.
A huge groundswell of energy is generated to bring about change.
Top management learn to let go of control and respond to feedback; people at the bottom (or in the middle) learnto act powerfully and contribute more confidently.
New organisational norms about how to behave are created.
People learn how to cope with uncertainty, complexity, confusion and the fluctuating emotions involved inplanning strategic change.
Top management can signal that they really are changing their way of bringing about change and managing thecompany.
A large number of people can be involved.
A high degree of personal responsibility is encouraged – dependency and counter-dependency are minimised.
People learn self-management and facilitation skills.However large-group methods should not be contemplated where top management want to tell or sell, have nointention of sharing power or implementing whatever has been decided in the event. They are only appropriatePDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 4 of 12when top management are genuinely committed to involving their workforce or co-creating with them. If they donot respond honestly to feedback or demonstrate that they are “changing the way they do business”, more harmthan good will be done.Background historyLarge-group methods can be traced back to the collaboration of Fred Emery, an Australian, and Eric Trist at theTavistock Institute of Human Relations, London, in the 1950s. Together they developed the first Search Conferencein 1960. Two British aero-engine companies had recently merged to form Bristol Siddeley. The purpose of thisconference, to be known as the Barford Conference, was to help the newly formed company create unifiedstrategy, mission, leadership and values. After the Barford Conference, Fred Emery, Merrelyn Emery, Eric Trist andothers facilitated hundreds of Search Conferences in North America, Australia and elsewhere over the years. TheSearch Conference also inspired the later development of Future Search (Weisbord, 1987; Weisbord and Janoff,1995); the work of Dannemiller Tyson Associates in developing interactive strategic planning and real time workdesign; and real time strategic change (Jacobs, 1994).Recent examples of well known US companies using large-group methods are: Marriott Hotels who have usedthem to embed quality methods into the company worldwide; the Ford Motor Company using large-groupinterventions as part of their successful strategy to turn around their business; Boeing using the methodology toplan and build the 777 in record time. In the UK the approach has been used very successfully in the EmploymentService.Each of the four approaches I shall describe offers a generic model. None of these approaches is merely an event.The event is only a stage in a much longer process for bringing about change preceding and following the event.Future SearchThe Future Search Conference is a method developed by Marvin Weisbord in the 1980s for involving a wide rangeof interdependent “stakeholders” in an organisation orcommunity in working together to build a picture of thedesired future they want and plan to bring it about. A typical Future Search Conference gets 30 to 70 (ideally 64)people into one large room for 16 hours work spread over three days (two overnights). Participants from all levelsare selected to represent eight carefully chosen stakeholder groups. The approach departs from top-downmeetings or consultation. Its purpose is to enable the stakeholders to take responsibility for co-creating theirdesired future and planning to bring it about.At its very simplest the Future Search design is:
past – where we have been;
present – where we are;
future – what we want;
action – how we get there.Certain basics underly the design of a Future Search Conference. These are:PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 5 of 12
“whole system” in the room;
global exploration before local action;
future focus and common ground;
self-management and responsibility.Fundamental to the approach are: representation of all those who have a stake in the outcome, have key data tocontribute and who will play a crucial part in implementation; creating together the big picture and anunderstanding of it before deciding and planning action; focussing on the desired state and what is agreed ratherthan problems and conflicts which are relatively unproductive and sap energy; and finally people managingthemselves and taking individual responsibility. All these enhance the chances of successful outcomes.The generic design has five main stages:
(1) Review the past: milestones in global society, self and our organisation or community. Individual work, theneveryone writes on huge wall chart. Stakeholder groups identify trends and patterns.
(2) Explore the present: stakeholder groups identify trends affecting our future; identify priorities, what we aredoing about them and what we need to do; what we are doing that we are proud of and what we are sorry about.
(3) Create ideal future scenarios: mixed groups prepare an ideal future for the organisation or community anddramatise it to the whole conference, presenting the future as if they were there.
(4) Identify common ground: mixed groups and then the whole conference identify the common ground future (allagreed), ways to work towards it (projects) and unresolved differences (“not agreed” list).
(5) Make action plans – cooperating and taking individual responsibility: stakeholder and volunteer groups makeplans to bring about the common ground future, steps they will actually take and report back to the conference.The basic methodology is as follows.Before the conference
The event is carefully planned by a steering committee of eight to ten people representing the stakeholders.
Great care goes into ensuring participants represent a broad spectrum of viewpoints.
The purpose of the event is clearly defined.
Top leaders’ backing and their agreement to be there only as full-time participants and support whateveroutcomes emerge are secured.
Three to six months lead time.During the conferencePDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 6 of 12
People work in eight groups of eight (hence the ideal number of 64 participants), either stakeholder groups ormixed groups as appropriate.
There is a mixture of work done individually, work done in groups or work done in the whole group (not always inthat order).
Large wall spaces covered in white paper or created by cutting up the charts of groups are used for the work ofthe whole group. Self-adhesive coloured dots enable people to vote on priorities.
There is a high degree of self-managed learning and planning; groups facilitate themselves, everyone taking turnsas discussion leader, time-keeper, recorder and reporter.
Two facilitators run the event as a whole, managing task and time boundaries, handling large group processissues, avoiding creating dependency and counter-dependency, not getting involved with small groups or withcontent issues.
Administrators provide the small groups with briefing papers, worksheets and take care of logistics.
There are no top management or expert lecturers – top managers or experts are included as participants; notraining sessions.
The focus is on common ground and shared desired future; differences are acknowledged but not worked on.
The focus is also on discovery, learning and cooperating rather than hierarchy, power, conflict, passivity,adversarial behaviour and dependency.
Everyone takes individual responsibility for planning action to bring about the desired future.Certain groundrules need to be accepted by the conference. These are:
all ideas are valid – respecting everyone’s truth;
everything on flip charts;
listen to each other;
observe time frames;
seek common ground and action – not problems and conflicts.Among essential conditions for success are the full-time attendance of all participants, healthy meeting conditionsand taking public responsibility for follow-up.My experience of the methodology is that it is excellent in helping people learn that they can cope with a mass ofcomplex and confusing data, making sense of it by trusting the right-hand, intuitive part of the brain. Particularlythrough dramatising the future (in stage 3 of the conference design) they learn to bring to bear all their creative,PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 7 of 12not only rational, faculties. And people experience and learn how to cope with the “roller-coaster” of their feelingsat various stages of the process of getting on board, facing the complex mess that seems outside their control,owning up to what they are doing and want to do, becoming energised and excited by their vision, and finallyrealistically planning what they will do. People also learn a great deal about diversity and difference. Workingproductively with people who are different breaks down stereotypes and encourages respect. They find thatconstructive outcomes and much learning are the result of listening to each other, accepting that everyone’sopinion is valid and focussing on common ground rather than problems and conflicts. I think people are usuallysurprised that whilst conflicts and differences are expressed and not avoided, there is a huge amount of commonground. That is enough to enable people to move forward in constructive action planning. The methodology alsomaximises the chance that people will take responsibility and not engage in dependency and counter-dependencyperhaps because everyone is encouraged to actively contribute from the very start and take a turn in facilitatingtheir group.Future Search is firmly limited to about 70 people. That is the maximum number that, in the experience of the cocreators(Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff), works well. So what about the people who were not involved?Catering to their needs has to be a major issue for the Action Planning stage. Alternatively additional or parallelFuture Search Conferences can be held.Future Search seems to be an excellent approach to use in a community or an organisation where leaders areprepared to co-create with other stakeholders. It is particularly suited to creating sustainable development plansfor Local Agenda 21[1]. It has been widely used in the USA, Canada, Australia and Scandinavia (Weisbord, 1987).Open Space TechnologyAs I have only experienced this approach at professional and personal development conferences, not yet for abusiness purpose except in my own version of it, I asked my friend, Martin Leith to write this section for me. Here ishis account.Open Space Technology (OST) was developed in 1984 by Harrison Owen, an American organisational consultant. Itis a method for organising a self-managed meeting or conference, the programme of which is created by theparticipants themselves. The method enables people to create and manage an agenda of workshops, discussiongroups and other sessions in which they discuss the things that really matter to them, explore issues andopportunities and find new ways forward. An Open Space conference has no invited speakers, just one facilitatorwho explains the procedure and facilitates the plenary sessions. Although OST tends to be regarded as a meetingmanagementmethod, its principles can be applied to create a whole new way for people to work together inorganisations.Most Open Space conferences take place over one, two or three days. A typical one-day conference would havefour Open Space timeslots, for example 10.00 to 11.30,11.30 to 13.00, 14.00 to 15.30 and 15.30 to 17.00, each witha number of different sessions taking place in parallel.The approach is suitable for any size of group. Twelve is probably the minimum number of people, and thecapacity of the venue is the only factor that limits the maximum group size. An Open Space conference with 500participants would not be unusual.When to use Open Space TechnologyPDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 8 of 12OST is a highly effective method for surfacing people’s heartfelt concerns, exploring strategic issues andopportunities, promoting discussion and decision making, developing action plans with a high degree ofownership, and transforming a group of disparate people into a vibrant community. The method should beconsidered whenever a project involves high levels of complexity, diversity and conflict and decisions need to bemade quickly.Principles
Provide the absolute minimum of structure and control.
Participants are encouraged to display passion and responsibility.
Participants self-manage everything except the plenary sessions, including the development of the agenda, theOpen Space sessions and the production of the session reports.
“Whoever comes is the right person”: even if only one person shows up at a session, this will be exactly the rightperson to do the work that needs to be done.
“Whenever it starts is the right time”: if a session starts earlier or later than the advertised time, that is OK. No oneneed get impatient or feel anxious.
“Whatever happens is the only thing that could happen”: in other words, let go of expectations.
“When it’s over, it’s over”: if everything has been said, move on.
If a participant is in a session and is not giving or receiving anything useful, they should use “The law of two feet”to move to wherever a worthwhile contribution can be made.Methodology
Potential participants receive an invitation that shows the title of the conference. This should be neither toogeneral nor too specific, for example: What are the issues and opportunities facing the XYZ Corporation?
People arrive at the venue and take their seats in the plenary room. The chairs are arranged in a circle to indicatethat everyone is a leader.
The facilitator welcomes people and explains the Open Space principles and procedure.
Participants offer as many sessions as they wish. Those offering sessions prepare a handwritten poster, make abrief announcement to the whole group and tape the poster to one of the walls. This wall becomes the conferenceagenda. A meeting space is booked by taking a Post-it Note from a matrix showing times and places and attachingit to the poster (Figure 1).
The “marketplace” commences. Everyone signs up for the sessions they wish to attend.
The Open Space sessions take place. One participant in each session takes notes and produces a written reportusing the computers and printers located in the “News Room”. One copy of each report is taped to the wall underPDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 9 of 12the banner “Breaking News” to create a conference newspaper.
The conference closes with a plenary session during which participants return to the circle, reflect on theirexperiences and share them with the others. Sometimes participants get together before this final session toprioritise actions arising from the different sessions and form self-managing project teams.
As people leave the conference they are handed a copy of all the session reports.
In the weeks and months following the conference individuals, project teams and informal groups carry out theagreed actions and keep everyone informed about progress.Results delivered
people’s genuine concerns are identified;
creative and relevant ideas are developed;
concrete action plans are specified and committed to;
on-going self-managed teams are established;
productive working relationships are created;
new behaviours are practised and become the norm.Open Space Technology has been used successfully in most parts of the world. European organisations employingthe method include Dutch Railways, Guinness, ICI, Prudential Assurance and Shell. Despite a long and growing listof success stories, Open Space Technology should never be regarded as an easy option. It should not even beconsidered if anyone wants to exercise control, when the answer is already known or when the achievement of aspecific outcome is essential. But for those who are willing to step into the unknown and allow the unexpected tohappen, Open Space has the potential to produce breakthrough results.This concludes the first part of this article. Part II, appearing in the next issue, will describe Real Time StrategicChange and Search Conferences and draw some conclusions.NoteAt the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, world leaders signed a global environment and developmentaction plan called Agenda 21. Over two-thirds of this plan required the commitment and cooperation of localauthorities to implement. Each local authority was encouraged to create its own sustainable developmentstrategy, through local participation, known as its Local Agenda 21.References and further reading
Bunker, B. and Alban, B. (1992, “Large group interventions”, special issue of theJournal of Applied BehaviouralScience, Vol. 28 No. 4, December.PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 10 of 12
Bunker, B. and Alban, B. (1997, Large Group Interventions, Energising the Whole System for Rapid Change,Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.
Jacobs, R. (1994, Real Time Strategic Change, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA.
Leith, M. (1997, “Guide to large group interventions”, Source: Martin Leith, PO Box 4YY, London WlA 4YY. E-mailmleith@mleith.com.
Nixon, B. (1996, “Real time management development”, Organisations and People, Vol. 3 No. 4, November.
Nixon, B. (1998, Making a Difference: Strategies and Tools for Transforming Your Organisation, GilmourDrummond Publishing, Cambridge, and AMACOM, USA.
Pascale, R. (1991, Managing on the Edge, Penguin Books..
Owen, H. (1997, “Open space technology – a users guide”, Berrett-Keohler, USA.
Weisbord, M. (1987, Productive Workplaces – Organising and Managing for Dignity, Meaning and Community,Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.
Weisbord, M. and Janoff, S. (1995, Future Search, Berrett-Keohler, San Francisco, CA.IllustrationCaption: Figure 1; Open space matrixDETAILSSubject: Open systems; Organizational change; Strategic planning; Methods; Future; History;Advantages; Employee involvement; Guidelines; InternationalClassification: 9150: Guidelines; 5240: Software &systems; 2320: Organizational structure; 2200:Managerial skills; 9180: InternationalPublication title: Industrial and Commercial Training; GuilsboroughVolume: 30Issue: 1Pages: 4-11Number of pages: 0Publication year: 1998Publication date: 1998PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 11 of 12LINKSLinking ServiceDatabase copyright Ó 2020 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved.Terms and Conditions Contact ProQuestPublisher: Emerald Group Publishing LimitedPlace of publication: GuilsboroughCountry of publication: United Kingdom, GuilsboroughPublication subject: Business And Economics–Management, Business And Economics–PersonnelManagementISSN: 00197858e-ISSN: 17585767CODEN: ILCTAUSource type: Scholarly JournalsLanguage of publication: EnglishDocument type: FeatureDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00197859810197681ProQuest document ID: 214108987Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/214108987?accountid=28844Copyright: Copyright MCB UP Limited (MCB) 1998Last updated: 2019-09-06Database: ProQuest One AcademicPDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 12 of 12
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