Hi Bob,
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A question which has intrigued me for a long time.
Just how do you respond when at the end of a process people say that they
could have come up with that list of issues, ideas or solutions at the
start ? :-)
It is a common (if often unexpressed) viewpoint, when a "facilitator" has
control of the process and the participants control of the content.
However, I have also had it happen even when the people concerned have
essentially controlled their own process
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I am from a consulting company and we have faced this issue as well. Often
we use a technique of cognitive mapping as a process of generating a
common mental model as a basis for facilitating action. Thre are two
issue here. If the process is really sys temic (as opposed to
systematic), than the product is itself an emergent phenomenon - there is
individual as well as collective ownership, in the sense that the final
outcome is similar as well as distinct from the ideas of any one
individual. Hence proba bly the sense of nothing radically new. On the
other hand, This is a good thing in terms of initiating change as there is
'less resistance'.
I also think that the language of the process should be powerful. Two
people may see a sunrise. One may just say 'The sun rose at 6oclock', the
other may write a sonnet which can trigger of many more thoughts and ideas
from others. I believe that System s Thinking is best trated as a
language rather than as another management technique.
Ram
R. Ramakrishnan, Tata Consultancy Services, Pune, India :
rkrishna@secc.trdd.ernet.in "Life is a refined choreography of behavioral
coordination" - Maturana and Varela in the 'Tree of Knowledge'
--"R. Ramakrishnan" <rkrishna@secc.trddc.ernet.in>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>