Volume 10, Number 2

Of Interest

As an admirer of the Toyota system, I really want to know what happened. I am less concerned about how the defects made it through the production process undetected, although this is certainly a good question. What really concerns me is why so many opportunities for correction after the fact were ignored or ineffectively used. There must have been a number of exchanges about the connection between driver reports of malfunctions and possible defects in design, materials or manufacturing. The capacity for conversations that challenge our most cherished beliefs, invite us to consider the legitimacy of another point of view, and move us toward action has emerged as a theme in this issue. (I hope we’ll be able to consider how this applies to Toyota in the future!) Read Full Article

Feature

The Nile’s waters are vital for the livelihood of over 200 million people in its basin. Rapidly rising populations and consequent environmental stresses have lead to water scarcity and complex protracted negotiations. Peter Schütte and Bart Hilhorst describe an interactive process called Food for Thought (F4T), in which a group of 25 representatives from all Nile countries participated in a joint scenario building exercise to consider future water demands, particularly for agricultural needs. The authors share details of this process, demonstrating that scenario thinking can increase the appreciative understanding of a complex problem in a relatively short period of time, surface hidden assumptions, clarify desired futures, and foster trusting relationships among a diverse set of stakeholders and experts by encouraging a wider perspective. Read Full Article

Feature

For many, effective meetings equate to efficiency or improved time management skills, but for Ray Jorgensen and his colleagues effective meetings capitalize on the collective wisdom of a group and generate higher quality relationships among group members. A generic approach to meeting design that incorporates five behavioral guidelines for learning conversations provides a simple “recipe” for shared conversational leadership that teams can adapt for their own purposes. The result is the realignment of a group‘s energy with its larger system goals by integrating basic organizational learning tools into routine meeting design. In addition, group members deepen their own capacity for integrating these tools into their daily work. Read Full Article

Feature

Does being (very) well off enhance our sense of well-being? John Stutz, co-founder and senior fellow at the Tellus Institute, explores the role of well-being in the workplace by reconsidering the pervasive assumption that more income leads to greater happiness. He cites a number of examples in the current economic downturn where companies offering choices to employees about their form of compensation result in lower costs, greater work-life balance, employee retention and a general increase in well-being. As firms seek to increase employee engagement these types of cases can prompt us to rethink our assumptions about what the real hierarchies of needs are in our organizations and how rewards of all types affect performance. Read Full Article

Feature

The central theme of Adam Kahane’s new book, Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change, is that if we want to be able to effect sustainable change in social systems – organizations, communities, societies – then we need to learn to work with two distinct drives that are permanently in tension: power and love. Kahane refers to Paul Tillich’s definition of power – “the drive of everything living to realize itself” – and points out that Tillich also “argues for differentiating between power-to that destroys oppressive institutions and power-over that destroys people.” He (Tillich) defines love as “the drive towards the unity of the separated.” Through the story of an ambitious and tough national dialogue project in Israel, this excerpt highlights “stumbling” (a distinct phase in the process of learning to “walk”) as a metaphor for the most difficult challenges we face in aligning the competing drives of power and love. Read Full Article

Of Interest

Lately, I have been giving some thought to what I have learned and what I might have done differently during my tenure as SoL’s managing director. I’m grateful to Adam for offering the gift of sharing his own experience of the 2008 Global Forum in Oman as an illustration of “stumbling” in this excerpt. Because I had significant responsibility for the design of that meeting and for aspects of the specific incident he mentions, I feel this opportunity should not pass without reflection and comment. For reasons that will become clear, I decided that I should reflect in a letter to Adam that we have both agreed I can share with all of you. Read Full Article