Change programme visibility LO2542

Rachel Bodle (rachel@hanwell.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 24 Aug 1995 10:48:58 GMT

I'm supporting a number of managers who are leading/facilitating
complementary, process-oriented improvement initiatives in a traditional
UK company. Within their project teams, these managers make extensive use
of visual aids (flip charts, magnetic shapes on whiteboards) to support a
collaborative, creative consensus-building group process. Making things
visible has become central to the way the separate teams are operating and
is seen to be linked to their successes to date.

Now they'd like to extend the approach to the meta-level represented by
their own change team. They anticipate setting up a display at key sites
which would convey something of the work going on in each team and also
provide a holistic overview. The concept is analogous to a *war room*
except that there is no top-down, centralised control of the initiatives.

At its simplest this could be no more than a display of materials
generated by the separate groups (their work-in-progress has been recorded
as both text and graphics on a PC) - possibly enlivened with a few photos
and charts recording quantifiable progress. A more sophisticated version
might be like an evolving *learning lab* where previously uninvolved
colleagues could engage with ideas emerging from the project teams. But
resources are tight and we need to assess what level of investment in such
a visibility area would be cost-effective. Also, as I share some of the
doubts others have expressed (the thread on Groupware and Organisational
Learning - incl LO2513, LO2523, LO2528) about the context within which
much groupware is designed to be used, I suspect a lo-tech solution might
fit the bill.

Can anyone suggest sources for descriptions of what others have done along
these lines? Better still, is there anyone who'd like to exchange
practical information (site visits if in England?).

Many thanks

-- 
Regards,
Rachel Bodle
rachel@hanwell.demon.co.uk     Tel: +44-181 840 6174
 *** supporting collaborative thinking, learning, decision-making ***