(Click on relevant sections of Julian Burton's visual record of the day to see expanded version)
The idea for the day came from lots of sources. Garth Spiers talked last year about the value of time and space in NI devoted to co-coaching and mentoring. Tony Williams and others on the insider/outsider dialogue day in May said "this is great, but let's get some practical tips on how to solve problems we face in change". The brainstorming at the summer review in June set us thinking about ways we can transfer know how, tips and tactics without resorting to an expert coming in to tell us the answer or where we're all going wrong.
Then Fiona Coffey, inspired by the problem page that appears in the Guardian on Fridays, cooked this into a Live Problem Page process and invited us all to come along and try it out.
Ten of us turned up (Garth Spiers, Fiona Coffey, Jan Morgan, John Wilkes, Julian Burton, Julie Bickerton, Richard Chapman, Steve Moss, Terri McNerney, Tony Page). It was a new group never previously assembled together, mixing people who had attended previous meetings with newcomers.
Freed from the usual constraints of being in "listening, questioning and coaching" mode, we were to offer help directly and at the same time learn from others' experience and perspectives. Quite quickly we negotiated a self-managed (ie. unfacilitated) process developed from Fiona Coffey's proposal for the day. We decided not to break into small groups but to manage the time giving everyone a change to work with a problem. We decided on quick-fire, in-the-moment, top-of-the-head, ten minute idea rounds, planned the time, then took turns presenting a problem, rotating the timekeeper and scribe roles. At the end of each round the "problem owner" was given a list of ideas recorded by a scribe.
Problems ranged through marketing, getting senior management support for internal consultancy, measuring cultures, spirituality, operating in China, re-negotiating role boundaries and leading the NI community, and much, much more!
During the day Julian demonstrated and offered his visual dialogue notes.
At times, particularly after the delicious lunch (thanks Fiona!), the process drifted from quick-fire ideas into dialogue/inquiry and at one point we were firmly reminded (by Richard) of the benefits of keeping the process tight!
At the end there was a real sense of togetherness and everyone seemed to have enjoyed the day. There was interest in repeating the Live Problem Page process again later in the year.
Here are a few reflections culled from emails circulating after the meeting:
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Last week was great, very exciting, an authentic dialogue, I felt, thanks for getting it together
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I got a great deal of energy from our NI day. There was something quite liberating about just giving my own view, whereas i am often more in a questioning mode. I enjoyed the way in which leadership was shared and appreciated the way in which Tony and Fiona worked with their own thoughts and feelings about your leadership in NI, using the process we all worked with (rather than creating a separate agenda).
The process for the day brought out the diversity of approach and personality of each us in quite a vivid way; the approach we chose might benefit from some exploration about how that diversity has impacted on all of us, how has it benefited us, how did it influence our choices of action.
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I found it again really good, nice to be with people and not feel I have to perform or watch what I am saying.
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I thought you might be interested to hear one of the outcomes from my problem shared with you. I chose to walk away from the client and the project today. Your interventions helped me to reach what I know is the right decision and it hurts right now!! Thank you for your questioning around ambivilence. I reflected on that and recognised that my big be strong and all that goes with it were working overtime and not doing me or anyone else any good.
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it really was a wonderful day.... as I write this I'm still suffused with lots of warm feelings and satisfaction that it was a good process which seemed to be enriching for all those present. Sometimes we found ourselves slipping out of the agreed format ...e.g problem presenter engaged in dialogue with person giving feedback. But we pulled ourselves back, because a quick, clean, clear process seemed better and allowed everyone a chance to present and contribute. As consultants used to facilitating others, using open questions etc. it was such a relief and joy to be able to just dish out advice or comments without any comeback!!
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I have to say that I found the September NI meeting very containing. New Intermedaries feels a challenging but safe place to be. I also get a sense of being valued and respected. I do look forward to joining with again soon.
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I really enjoyed last week's meeting too, I came away with lots to think about. Good meeting and such great people! So I'm looking forward to the Oct meeting also.
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I really, really enjoyed our meeting last week: the mood/spirit of the day was sort of uplifting and our task of working through problems together, lobbing in thoughts and ideas, making the rules up and "policing" them together as we went along and….well it was such a rich experience!
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