Kerry How do you determine the "theme" with a sponsor? Are your themes always about creating the "future" from a blank piece of paper?
I do think that "givens" are a myth, a social construction, at least at one level of consciousness. However, most of my clients have some substantial social constructions, including the "theme", which gives shape, direction and boundaries to the self-organizing they want to accelerate or engage with OST. They also have some personal and organizational "karma" that will still be around after an OST event and will affect what is done with the resulting ideas and cultural changes. I find that some articulation of these ahead of time makes it more, not less, possible to move forward with what emerges during and after an OST event. I have found that it frees people up to know where the sponsors are. Many clients would prefer not to identify these things in such a way as to give permission for OST participants to take action on what they learn or discover. They would prefer to micro-manage the results after - have everything come to them for approval. I do my best to work with them to get beyond that and see the advantage of clarifying boundaries or givens if they require them. If you get permission from clients that whatever folks come up with can be pursued - no matter what the cost or impact - then your clients are at a different place than most of the ones I've experienced. I've had one senior executives working with their upper level team that gave them $100,000 worth of freedom on any topic they chose to pursue. Her trust of her team was substantial. I agree that getting there is part of the journey - minimizing the givens and maximizing the trust - when the sponsor is willing to take the risk. But I still find it helpful to ask the question before an event. Larry Larry Peterson Associates in Transformation Toronto, ON, Canada 416.653.4829 <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] <http://www.spiritedorg.com> www.spiritedorg.com * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
