Organizational processes communicate

Organizational processes communicate the organization’s views of its employees and their roles, and employees will respond to trust relations communicated by the organization. Good treatment by the organization creates an obligation in employees that they should treat the organization well in return (Tan & Tan, 2000.)

So what does this all mean? Isn´t it always the employees duty to treat their job organization well in return for their wages? I believe, just as the scientists do, that an organization that wants to get the most out of their people, need to look at their processes. All processes have a design that is based on the values of the people who designed it. When the assembly line was first designed, the spirit of the times was that people could be managed to do their jobs in a mashine-like manner. Actually the whole world was more or less considered a mashine, where parts that were “broken” could be exchanged. Some of the parts could be people who didn´t perform the way they were supposed to. The approach was that those people could be exchanged with other people without any difference for the group. The group should just go on working as if nothing had happened. I don´t say people were not treated good in those days but the processes used in organizations said to people that they were considered less competent and should stay in their place and do what they were told.

Today we have another approach … or do we? Do we still have processes in the organizations that tell people to keep quite, do what they are told and don´t bother to be creative and take responsibility outside of their task? The staff is often what costs most in organizations and still many organizations fail to use processes that support people to work at their full potential. It is often not even costly to change the processes. Changing meeting processes in all meetings in the organization is fairly easy, costs nothing more than knowledge and creates a whole new attitude. Instead of meetings where people are only voting for solutions already decided on, the meetings could be a creative cocktail where all participants could use their whole knowledge to come up with totally new solutions, anchored in the future and ready to implement the moment they leave the meeting. How about that? I would say it is utilizing the recourses of the organization really wisely.

The people who build this house high up in the mountains of Norway in late 1700s were not working at an assembly line but had to create what they needed to make their own living. The house was used to make cheese and bread, utilizing the resources from the farm and the knowledge of the people in the best possible way.

Learn Tarot as a tool for your personal growth

I have the pleasure to invite you to a workshop with my dear friend Elisabeth Tepper Kofod, an experienced teacher of Tarot and the Kabbalah. She will visit Sweden in October and we then offer a workshop where you can experiment and experience Tarot as a tool for yourself. If you are interested please take a look at my website http://www.gatewayc.com/ (or if you are not familiar with Swedish), contact me through e-mail eiwor@gatewayc.com. Also please take a look at the wonderful place where we will stay, Ranebo kursgård at http://www.ranebo.com/.
You are most welcome.

 

Nonvisible body language

When we discuss body language in organizations there are some parts that are more obvious or visible such as the space where we work and the written principles and strategies we follow. These are important parts but there is more to the body language than what can be seen with your eyes. Have you ever experienced an Open Space Technology meeting? There are some parts that are visible and easy recognizable such as the circle of chairs, the agenda wall and the facilitator walking the circle when opening the meeting. But what is it that creates the dynamics, that open for the creativity and creates such amazing results. Is it really only that we are sitting in a circle with no tables between us?


For those of you who are not familiar with Open Space Technology (OST) I would like to share my experience after having facilitated many hundreds of OST meetings with between 7 and 1000 participants. OST is a very result-oriented method focused on solving urgent issues. The participants are sitting in a circle of chairs. The agenda is created by those who have topics they feel are important to discuss regarding the theme for the meeting. The smaller discussion groups are self organized through a simple system with a time matrix. They discuss their topics as long as they have passion for them and provides a report for the news wall, where anyone can read what the highlights of the discussion and suggested solutions. If the sponsor expect a plan or strategy as a result of the meeting, there is often time for prioritizing, convergence and creating plans. It is my experience that much of this could be done within a day or so, depending on how detailed the plan should be.

When I facilitate an OST meeting there is a big focus on the planning meeting. That is where the boundaries or givens are expressed such as budget, decision making authority etc. That is also where the sponsor discusses what results they want from the meeting. Now get this right, they can´t decide what the plans should look like, but they can decide that they want plans. They can´t decide that the solution should look a certain way, but they can decide that they want a solution to an urgent issue. The most important part of an OST meeting is that there is space for the wisdom of the partipants. Is that visible? Not with your eyes but there are some things telling you about this open space where you can work together with your whole creativity, intuition and your whole self, if you so wish.

Some of what tells you about this space are the four principles: Whoever comes are the right people, When it starts is the right time, Whatever happen is the only thing that could, When it is over it is over and then the Law of Mobility, inviting you to move and follow your spirit where it wants to take you. And then, this is not all that creates the space either.

What impact has the energy of the facilitator? The facilitator speaks about the wisdom of the participants. As a facilitator, you better believe what you are saying, because if you don´t, the participants will feel it. They are also likely to feel when your self-critique is stronger than your self-love. Once after having opened an OST meeting with politicians, a man said to me that it seems to take a dictator to create the space for democrazy. I am not sure if this space can be said to be democratic, that is a topic to be discussed in other places but I know that the facilitator has to conquer the space in order to hand it over to the participants. Much of that work is made in the planning meeting but the symbolic handing over is made through the opening. The facilitator generates a resonant energy field, which is a field that is easily sustained. This field and the job of the facilitator to be a resonant energy field generator is something that creates much of the open space. It can´t be seen with your eyes. Some will feel it more and some less, but it is still an important part of the body language. Interesting? Read more about energy fields in Stalking the Wild Pendulum by Itzhak Bentov, one of my favourite books and a gift from my dear friend Birgitt Williams.

      Butterflies and bumblebees, in Open Space Technology meetings as in Nature