Project Forums — Business Cases from SoL's Organizational members

These parallel sessions engaged participants in substantive business cases offered by organizational members of SoL. We will learn about how Unilever is leading transformation, how NSA uses experiential gaming and social action research to enhance learning, and how work that has personal meaning is making a difference in employee engagement at Intel. We will also hear how the Materials' Pooling Project of the SoL Sustainability Consortium is building collaborations to serve the triple bottom line of people, planet, profit. Consider how the projects they present in these sessions are relevant to your own circumstances. Your questions and feedback in collaboration with other practitioners, consultants, and researchers, will enrich your own meeting experience and help shape the project teams' work going forward.

Wednesday, June 30, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
PF01 Collaborating to Build Sustainable Practices That Bring Competitive Advantage: The Sustainability Consortium’s Materials Pooling Project

The pressure for industries to build more socially and environmentally sound practices into their business strategies is growing. Member companies of the SoL Sustainability Consortium have begun to work collectively to change how business is done through “materials pooling.” By pooling demand and purchasing power, partners can influence the content, quality, and availability of a more sustainable material supply desired by all; by pooling intelligence, research, and information dissemination, partners can better understand and share the long-term impact of the material choices they make; by pooling efforts to recapture, recycle, reuse or remanufacture a material, partners can generate a healthy system of closed loop material flows. Hear experiences, insights, issues, and learnings from these ongoing efforts.
PRESENTERS: Joe Laur and Sara Schley

Wednesday, June 30, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
PF02 Effecting Large Scale Change: Stories from Unilever, DTE, Intel, and AT&T

How can we capture the lessons learned from large-scale change initiatives, both intra- and inter-organization? Hear about one ambitious study that was undertaken to analyze and capture the learnings from initiatives in four multinational corporations: AT&T’s implementation of an e-CRM system (Customer Relationship Management); DTE’s implementation of Lean Manufacturing; Intel’s implementation of a change project in Supply Chain; and Unilever’s implementation of Innovation Process Management system and processes (IPM). Drawing on The Dance of Change, the SoL Applied Learning Process, and questions generated by the organizations themselves, the practitioner-researchers hope to apply the lessons to similar change efforts in the future. Participate in extracting further learnings from the four organizations, and compare your conclusions with the findings of the research team.
PRESENTERS: Brigitte Tantawy Monsou, Nora Hughes, Linda Marshall, Carol Gorelick, and Barry Sugarman

Wednesday, June 30, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
PF03 The Business Impact of Gaming: Potential Transformation of a Large Organization

A unique team from the intelligence community has been exploring the use of simulation and gaming as a way to facilitate organizational learning and transformation within the government and industry. Based on the six steps of the Applied Learning Process—a unique approach that embodies creativity, diversity, risk-taking, debate, and spirituality—the team has made valuable discoveries in enabling organizational transformation and creating knowledge for fundamental innovation. Hear the story of how leaders from the National Security Agency developed a process for sustaining improvements in the intelligence business. Participate in a brainstorming session to explore the use of gaming scenarios to create new knowledge that can be used for fundamental innovation.
PRESENTERS:Pam Murdock, Helen Salter, Roberta (Bobbi) Garon, and Linda Lancaster

Wednesday, June 30, 3:15-5:15 p.m.
PF04 Ford Motor Company’s Educational Experiment in Systems Thinking

Can a traditional manufacturing company engage, build, and sustain a large number of systems thinking practitioners? Over the past three years, Ford Motor Company Information Technology has experimented with ways to expand its systems thinking knowledge and define the systems thinking “competency” for Ford. In one major experiment, the organization teamed with the University of Michigan to offer MBA students the opportunity to learn systems thinking skills and apply them to a real business issue. Explore the students’ experiences learning a new and different analysis tool juxtaposed against the standard business analysis tools offered by their MBA curriculum. Hear how the highly successful results of this project have affected Ford’s development and application of a systems thinking curriculum in the organization.
PRESENTERS: Shelia Covert-Weiss, Gregory J. Clark, and Jeremy Seligman

Wednesday, June 30, 3:15-5:15 p.m.
PF05 A Web-Based Framework for Managing Knowledge and Leading Transformation at Unilever

Most managers are looking for ways to use knowledge management to transform their business. Unilever has developed a web-based tool that facilitates this process by helping managers understand all aspects of the organization—e.g., strategy, organization architecture, leadership, and capability building—and how they interact with each other. The tool guides managers and teams on how and when to address these aspects in a balanced way, and it captures Unilever’s knowledge in managing both change and external best practices. Learn about this organization transformation framework and how it compares to other models. Discover how it was built and is currently being used. See a demo of the web tool, and find out how Unilever has changed.
PRESENTER: Agnes Roux-Kiener

Capacity Building — Processes, Tools and Methodologies for Leading in Action

Members of the SoL community will share processes, tools, and methodologies that embody Leading in Action. Participate in these parallel sessions to learn more about structural tension for outcome-oriented management with Robert Fritz, emergent learning maps with Marilyn Darling, the SoL Applied Learning Process with Carol Gorelick, or the U - a radical new process for profound innovation and change with Adam Kahane and Joe McCarron. All sessions will be presented in the context of business cases and in most sessions we will have representatives from various organizations that have employed these approaches in their development and growth.

Wednesday, June 30, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
CB01 The U—A Radical New Process for Profound Innovation and Change

The U-Process is Generon Consulting’s core social technology for fostering breakthrough thinking and action on complex, cross-sector problems. It enables groups made up of highly diverse individuals to pay attention to, and learn from, emerging realities or opportunities together, and co-create breakthrough innovations and solutions to previously stuck problems. The U-Process is described in the book Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future by Peter Senge, Claus Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers (Society for Organizational Learning, 2004). Learn about the value and effectiveness of this method as generated in business, government, and civil society organizations, and tri-sector regional and national collaborations.
PRESENTERS: Adam Kahane and Joe McCarron

Wednesday, June 30, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
CB02 Appreciative Inquiry: A Strength-Based Approach to Innovation and Transformation

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an approach, a paradigm shift, and a form of action research. It is based on the premise that organizations produce higher quality outcomes by “looking for what works” and building on that foundation, rather than identifying problems and attempting to fix them. AI is a highly participative method of inquiry into the future of an organization based on its previous successes and high points. The essence of AI is the identification of the “positive change core” within an organization and the envisioning of a future based on that positive core. Organizations in government, academia, human services, and business have achieved amazing results using this approach. Learn about AI, and hear examples from business, education and social services. Explore a question around the conference theme and experience the powerful, positive energy and creativity that gets unleashed.
PRESENTERS: Deborah Reidy, Marjorie Schiller, and Jean Tully

Wednesday, June 30, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
CB03 Using Structural Tension for Outcome-Oriented Management

How can an organization combine the forces of leadership, action, and knowledge so that it is capable of advancement rather than stuck in patterns of oscillation? Through exploring the work he’s developed over the past 20 years on structural dynamics, Fritz shows how structural tension—the relationship between an organization’s vision and current reality—can be applied throughout an organization in “outcome-oriented management.” He shares the organizational application of this discipline, which begins with leadership, and moves through tying purpose to business strategy and then to management strategy down to local strategies. Hear many examples of model companies who have used this approach for the past number of years.
PRESENTERS: Robert Fritz, George Barrar, and Bill Brandt

Wednesday, June 30, 11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m. and 3:15-5:15 p.m.
(Note that this is a four-hour session held during both sets of concurrent sessions)
CB04 Improving Organizational Performance through Social Action Research

In the new economy, financial well-being can only be achieved in combination with social and biological well-being. Participants will be introduced to the nature of social systems, social capital, and reflection at work. Learn about tools such as social network mapping, social capital analysis, and the accomplishment model for improving performance in collaborative social structures that span organizational hierarchies. Deepen your understanding by exploring some of the theoretical underpinnings of this work based on the epistemology of J. Piaget, J.L. Moreno, H. Maturana, and others. At its essence the value and performance of social systems in creating results that matter arises not from hierarchical structures but from the emotion of love and the ability of leaders to listen to and enable informal social networks in their organizations. The presenters will share how social action research has had tremendous business impact at NSA and Hewlett-Packard and will provide various practice examples from ongoing projects with leading manufacturers in China.
PRESENTERS: Linda Lancaster, George Greenfield, Dennis Sandow, and Nick Zeniuk

Wednesday, June 30, 3:15-5:15 p.m.
CB05 At the Core of Business Results: The SoL Applied Learning Process

To achieve the purpose of SoL, we need to take action. Using the SoL Applied Learning Process - a six-step rigorous approach to generate, capture, and share new knowledge - SoL members, in particular organizational members, engage in projects to achieve real business results and deep learning. Participate in this session with SoL consultant, research, and organizational members to learn more about this process, its impact on business results, and how you can apply it to your projects and organization.
PRESENTERS: Carol Gorelick, Jeff Clanon, and Robert O'Bryan

Wednesday, June 30, 3:15-5:15 p.m.
CB06 How Leadership Emerges When People Feel Engaged in Their Work

Employee engagement traditionally refers to the responsibility managers have to engage their employees in the organization’s work. But turn this idea around and imagine that employees were engaged in personally meaningful work—what effect would that have on the organization? Furthermore, what effect does enjoying satisfying work have on a leader or team? We want to better understand (1) the connection between the emergence of leadership and leaders’ own perception of personal meaning in their work and (2) the impact that personal meaning has on relationships, productivity, and the leaders’ ability to transfer that personal meaning to the team. Join a continuing conversation that flows from a leadership research project born out of a discussion at a SoL liaison meeting.
PRESENTER: Nora Hughes

Wednesday, June 30, 3:15-5:15 p.m.
CB07 Is There a SoL Coaching Model? A Framework for Assessing One’s Coaching Practices

Does your model of coaching share common features with those of other SoL coaches? Over the past year, nine SoL members responded to an invitation from the National Security Agency to coach 30 of their senior executives. The coaches formed a learning community to share practices and reflect on what approaches worked best. A client evaluation affirmed the high impact of the coaching. Since then, the group has been exploring the extent to which their fundamental assumptions and practices share common elements, and whether it makes sense to speak of a “SoL coaching model.” Hear about the coaches’ findings, learn about a framework for assessing one’s coaching model that they drew upon in their reflections, and apply the model to your own practice.
PRESENTERS: Grady McGonagill and SoL Coaches from NSA

Wednesday, June 30, 3:15–5:15 p.m.
CB08 Emergent Learning Maps: Linking Knowledge and Action

Giving a group a tool to recognize and leverage lessons that emerge during the course of their work can help them make a pragmatic link between theory and practice. The Emergent Learning Map™ is a tool designed to help teams ground their organizational learning in practice and share this knowledge across teams. Using an iterative process that allows participants to process information visually, keep a clear focus, think in a more disciplined manner, and organize the defining moments they hope to learn from, EL Maps provide a way for a team to learn their way through future challenges. They also help surface patterns across teams or projects. Learn about EL maps and how The Nature Conservancy has used them to become more innovative in determining what biodiversity to conserve and where, and to test out new methods to accomplish that end.
PRESENTERS: Marilyn Darling, Charles Parry, and Bruce Boggs