Suzanne,
I held a series of open space events for a client experiencing communications
problems among the various departments. One of the solutions that came up was
a Job Shadowing program. The idea, as the originators explained, was that
people would be able to go into another department and follow a member of the
department around for a work day--experiencing the challenges, problems, and
successes of their counterpart in that other department. I saw this as a type
of "walk in the other person's shoes" learning experience. Their hope (for
the program) was that it would improve understanding and communication
throughout the various departments. We discussed how subsequent
conversations, after the shadowing experience, could also provide a lot of
sharing of different approaches and perspectives. I don't know if they've
actually started (the time factor always seems to poke it's ugly nose in on
these ideas). Hope this helps.
regards,
Doc
Suzanne Sauve wrote:
> I've been asked to develop a JOB SHADOWING program. After asking around,
> no one seems to know what it really means and in what context it should be
> used.
>
> Context -- it was brought up by Museum employees during a number of
> consultative planning sessions as a way of getting to know what others are
> doing, given that we have a tendency to work in stovepipes. I obviously
> need to tie this to operational realities and perhaps link it to
> development.
>
-- "A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually." - Abba EbanThresholds--developing critical skills for living organizations Richard C. "Doc" Holloway Please visit our new website, still at <http://www.thresholds.com/> <mailto:learnshops@thresholds.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>