I like Jeff's idea of sharing examples of stories etc. So here are another
couple from me.
Organisations... I also use something like Jeff's "puzzle" theme, but the
image I use is one of those management toys with several balls strung up
next to each other like pendulums in a line. If you lift up one ball and
swing it to hit the next one, nothing much happens to the ball you've
hit.... but the ball at the _far_ end of the line swings up. I use this to
illustrate that all the aspects of an organisation (leadership, culture,
processes, structure, management practices, motivation, work unit climate,
etc.) are interconnected and we often make a change in one area that has an
unexpected effect in another area which is not necessarily obvious.
Why we need to review processes and systems.... Another story I use has a
military bent. Apparently someone once asked why, when a cannon was being
fired in British military parades (such as in a 21 gun salute), one soldier
always stands in a particular position near the cannon. Research showed
that the soldier was there to hold the horse's reins to stop it shying when
the cannon went off - but horses had not been used for many years! Roger
von Oech tells a similar story in his book A Whack on the Side of the Head
which I also use - when out jogging, he always stops in the same place for
a cool-down... on reflection, he realised that this was where he used to
stop to pat a neighbour's dog and play ball for a few minutes - but the
neighbour and dog moved away a long time ago. The point to both of these
stories is that there are always good reasons why we do things, but
sometimes the reasons change or become obsolete, so we should ask ourselves
every so often if there is _still_ a good reason to do this particular
thing or to do it this way.
BTW, Von Oech's books and his Creative Whack Pack set of cards are quite
good thought provokers and innovation tools which are peppered with useful
stories and anecdotes.
Cherry
--Cherry Vanderbeke, Wang New Zealand Limited Email: ckv@wang.co.nz "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do"
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>