Surfacing and exploring assumptions is a particular interest of mine.
Today a collague rang and said that she had just done a "what improvements
can we make to this organisation" workshop which ended up with a sizable
wish list. As part of the process of whittling down the list she now
wanted to find out some group based techniques to identify and explore the
assumptions behind the suggestions.
So we have a list of possible improvements to the way in which the
organisation operates. Assume that the basic analysis has been done (eg
strengths and weaknesses of the ideas, potential implementation barriers
and opportunites, helpers and hinderers .... and so on); what is needed is
to peel the next layer off the onion ?
Surfacing and exploring assumptions is in my experience a tricky area.
Handled badly it is the easiest way in the world to bring an otherwise
successful workshop to a grinding, silent, sullen halt.
What techniques have people found useful, in a workshop setting, to help
people through what is often a difficult, sometimes undiscussible area ?
I'm posting this on several lists, and will be happy to collate any
suggestions and recirculate them.
Cheers
BOB WILLIAMS
bobwill@actrix.gen.nz http://www.gil.com.au/comm/profcounsel/elogue.htm
"Only Connect"
--Bob Williams <bobwill@actrix.gen.nz>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>