Thoughts overcoming the speechless owner

About two years ago I commented on OttoScharmer's blog entry that was dealing with Attentional Violence. Now after reconnecting with a friend via Skype while he is currently on Cape Cod attending a workshop on group facilitation my memories brought me back to my blog comment (which you may read in completeness).

1. Don’t force change
2. Get into a relationship with people where they can feel safe to express their ideas and assumptions (without fearing to be turned down)
3. Let the process decide, whether the agenda is useful or the dialog is more useful
4. Step back in your role as “teacher” even though that his sometimes hard (as in a sense to give up power to the group)
5. Open up time constraints, if the process needs more time!

What would have been your tactics in a similar situation?

• Tell me and I will forget
• Show me and I will remember
• Involve me and I will understand
• Step back and I will act

Chinese proverb

.... and so it happened with the CoOrpheum

Reframing the problem in order to make the change

An hour ago I had an inspiring conversation with a professor at the HTW Dresden (FH), there I have studied Business Administration some 12 years ago, on how get an team entrepreneurial project (Team Academy Dresden) going.

It quickly became obvious that changing in the present system makes it necessary to get the interest of larger bodies of people. Acting on the project idea, it is rather easy to find like-minded people, who are on the same or similar thinking track.

What this phase is lacking is the spreading the idea into the outer world where people think in traditional ways (not to say that they are bad, just different!).

Stepping with a new and innovative idea makes the feel uneasy because the newness obviously shakes present things and makes the former stability people feel in the present system decrease. This will end in forces that are against any change (that comes from the outside, by the changers).

So doing something present better seems natural, and yet this will bring up major forces that will hinder the change.

It is like a new company in a present market, that steps in with a new product. The other agents (companies) wouldn't like to see a newcomer coming into their turf and there will be quite some feedback (lower prices, different strategy, etc.).

Just imagine reframing the problem of potential clients, focus on a market that hasn't been covered yet due to high transaction costs, low networks, ....

Seth Godin has a truthful post lately.

Reframing the problem through challenging the assumptions presently on the table - how does that change our actions in life?

Starting point ......

Hello everybody,

after some earlier blog startups this is the newest and most general one focusing on how we can create a better future through good decisions today.

Not an easy task as we all know and experience day by day.

Often a small and almost unnoticable change has massive impact on the system in question (or other ones, such as foreign economies, countries) after some time has gone by. Do we see that kind of change valuable?

More often we act with a "big bang" in order to change things (or systems, people, countries) and somehow nothing really changes. Right after the "big bang" something changes as we see and then -somehow not understandable- everythings goes back to "normal" (as it was before).

After almost 10 years in the business world, mostly not in managerial positions, I sense that organizations try to change everything just to be in motion instead of creating lasting value and wealth for their clients, customers and themselves. Perhaps they don't see what is truely happening - pretty much as I only know what I know.

It needs reflection and dialogue with oneself and with the help of others.

Because of this and the rising need to get in dialogue with people who are likeminded trying to do things in a sustainable way I started a special interest discussion group about "Lean Thinking" at XING about two years ago.

The response was and constantly is quite overwhelming and it is good to see that the topic is on the radar of certain people around the whole world (from Saudi Arabia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Australia, USA, Great Britain, Spain, France, Brazil, Germany, you name it).

Nevertheless the focus with Lean Thinking all too often narrows down to just the manufacturing side (processes and organizations). Is that really everything that drives people all over the world?

The world is driven by a greater need of humans to create an enjoyable life.

After dealing with recurring production process problems in my last job for quite some time I was introduced by John Sterman to the field of System Dynamics which lead to further insight why the above happens all the time all over the place.

And as one piece leads to another I ended up finding myself in Muscat, Oman, for the 3rd SoL Global Forum which has been organized by Peter Senge and SoL and from there learned about Frauke Godat and the HUB.