Anthony:
You mentioned being involved in one of Prince Charles initiatives
intending to bring business and the community closer together and
requested reference to personal experience or relevant articles would be a
help.
If you call Ned Hamson, the Editor for the Association For Quality and
Participation's Journal at 513-381-1959 ext. 104 (1-800-733-3310 if you
are in the USA) you could request the following articles;
>From Dec 95 issue:
Creating Community Out of Chaos Begins With Asking The Right Questions:
The Power of Community Search Conferences by Merrelyn Emery, Australian
National University
Does The Search Conference Deliver On It's Promise? A New Method For
Achieving Community Excellence by Frank Heckman Note - This article offers
a detailed assessment two years after a SC was done of what made it
succeed.
In July/August 95 Issue
The Search For Effective Strategic Design Is Over by Fred and Merrelyn
Emery and Steve Cabana
Motorola, Strategic Planning and the Search Conference by Steven Cabana
and Janet Fiero
The Journal of Quality and Participation is one of the best publications
I've found which focuses on the principles of the learning organization.
In regards to personal experience: In 1993 I worked with the Maine
Coalition for Excellence In Education (funded by seven largest
businesses), the State Commissioner of Education, Task Force On Learning
Results, and a Planning Group made up of the leaders of 22 stakeholder
groups (Chancellor of State University, President of Public Broadcasting,
Corporate CEO, Presidents of Teachers Ass, Superintendents, Parents,
Students Associations etc..) to set up a Future Search Conference. The
purpose was to come up with a vision and five year plan for transforming
education in Maine.
I kept detailed notes of all my meetings and efforts to prepare the system
to go forward. I exchanged letters and had phone conversations with Marvin
Weisbord regarding concerns I had with the method and it's adaptability to
large groups. We had 320 people in attendence. My two colleagues and I
worked with a staff of 12 for two days to prepare to lead the conferences.
At the Planning Committee meetings and Task Force for Learning Results
meetings I saw a microcosm of the turmoil in the large system. Somethings
we were able to influence, some not. Still people made commitments,
supplied money, resources, computers, facilities, lists of people to
invite, wrote letters, made phone calls, donated materials and volunteered
for everything. The things we couldn't influence came back to haunt us.
(Issues of trust, turf, power and control all needed to be explored). The
head of the Coalition and I convinced PBS to film the conference and track
the follow through for the following months in order to program a one hour
progress report on Education reform aired on PBS. I wrote a detailed paper
tracking the whole experience which I shared and consulted with some
colleagues doing the same thing in another State. We had a whole day of
debriefing with the conference managers and another separately with the
coordination group of educational leaders that worked to bring it
together. We published a newspaper so people would see what went on in all
five conferences that people received in the morning of the second day and
a follow up report to all participants on the goals that were articulated
by different groups in the final large group plenary.
What were the results? An increase in working across group boundaries that
persists today, an awareness of the big picture, a lot of information
sharing and exchange and a clear vision of the Future of Education.
What didn't occur? The Task Force on Learning Results published their plan
but failed to bring together the vast number of other stakeholders to gain
their understanding, commitment and support. The jelly rolled down the
wall. There was no ongoing learning planning community which met
afterwards to coordinate implementation of the plan. That isn't in the
Future Search Design. When stakeholders went back to their organizations,
the leaders said we're not committed to that. We did meet with each one of
the leaders and got them to commit to something but I learned a lot about
system boundaries, selection of people who truely represent the puzzle you
are trying to solve and how to figure out what and who ought to be kept
out of the systems boundaries if meaningful change is to take place. Fred
and Merrelyn Emery latter helped me get a thorough hand around the whole
open system mess and how to translate open system theory into a design for
learning and planning in community.
My work lately has been with corporations using the Emery's model for
Strategic Planning. I no longer use the Weisbord model. My discussions
with him and my experience convinced me that the method was weak on
implementation and was less able to create a learning planning community
that would last until the plan was implemented. I recommend the new book
coming out by Dr. Ron Purser and Merrelyn Emery entitled "The Search
Conference: A Powerful Method For Planning Organizational Change and
Community Action which will be published in the spring by Jossey-Bass.
Anthony, I hope this helps. Best Wishes.
-- Steven Cabana StevCabana@aol.com