Implementation of LO & Action Sci LO8362

John R. Snyder (jsnyder@bga.com)
Sun, 7 Jul 1996 21:12:51 -0500

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FIRST COLLABORATIVE TELECONFERENCE
ON IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION

Wednesday, July 24, 1996
11:10 AM - 12:40 PM Eastern
(8:10 AM - 9:40 PM Pacific)

Conference Theme:
** OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTATION OF **
** ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND ACTION SCIENCE **

Collaborative Action Associates, Inc., cordially invites you to
participate in this new forum to exchange practical knowledge about
implementing organizational learning or Action Science.

***** Please respond by Monday, July 15, 1996 *****

PURPOSE: To identify and discuss concrete ways to address recurring
barriers to implementation of organizational learning and Action Science.

WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE: Executives, managers, project managers and
other change agents who have encountered significant barriers to
implementing organizational learning or Action Science in their
organizations and are actively working to overcome them.

FURTHER PLANS: Based on the evaluations of this first conference, we
may offer a series of implementation conferences on other jointly
identified areas of critical business innovation. We intend for these
implementation conferences to provide a means for high-value exchange
of knowledge between those doing the day-to-day work of transforming
their organizations. We want to create collaborative learning
experiences that can become models for team learning in our respective
organizations.

DESIGN: The conference unfolds in several steps:

1. DATA COLLECTION: Individuals participate by returning the attached
questionnaire on critical implementation barriers being
encountered by organizational learning and Action Science change
agents. A summary of the information collected will be reported
back to all participants.

2. FORMING THE TELECONFERENCE GROUP: After the questionnaires have
been analyzed and the critical implementation barriers identified,
a representative group of respondents will be invited to participate
in a 90 minute teleconference on July 24. This subset of respondents
will be selected so as to provide, in the limited number of "seats"
available, a cross-section of industries, roles in change
implementation, and barrier identification.

3. TELECONFERENCE: On the July 24 teleconference a guest panel
(see below) will discuss their own experiences dealing with the
implementation barriers participants have identified. Teleconference
participants will be able to address questions and comments to
the panel.

4. CONTINUING DIALOGUE: After the teleconference, all respondents to the
original questionnaire will receive:

- a teleconference transcript via email (an audio tape will be
made available at cost for those who request it);

- an invitation to continue the implementation dialogue on a
private Internet discussion list activated for 30 - 60 days.

We will also collect feedback on the conference experience itself.
A summary of this information will be reported back to all who
participate.

PANELISTS:

Dr. BRIAN BECKER, VP of Operations, Shamrock In-Home Healthcare,
Rochester, Minn., has extensive practical experience implementing
and teaching organizational learning, TQM and Action Science
in business organizations. Dr. Becker studied with Chris Argyris
at Harvard and has worked with other leading thinkers in the field,
including Peter Senge. Dr. Becker will be able to speak from his
personal experiences in engaging executives in design and
implementation of organizational learning and in sustaining change
by deploying tools for individual and organizational learning.
He has also worked with 3M, Digital Equipment, Carrier and
Norwest Banks. He is an adjunct professor in the Business &
Management Division of Cardinal Strich College.

LAUREN POWERS, Manager of Change Management, Motorola, Inc.,
Austin, TX. Ms. Powers is responsible for implementation of strategic
change projects in the Semiconductor Products Sector at Motorola.
She has extensive experience teaching and using organizational learning
tools as an internal consultant. She is certified to teach Motorola's
systems thinking/organizational learning course and has developed
support structures for practitioners at Motorola. She is an active
member of the organizational learning community and presented at
the 1994 & 1995 Systems Thinking in Action Conferences.

GARY LOSPALUTO, Co-President and Founder, Collaborative Action
Associates, Inc., Medford, Mass. Mr. Lospaluto is a developer of
practical methods for collaborative design and implementation of
organizational change, and for measuring the ROI of change efforts.
He is also the inventor of a unique approach to quality assurance for
consulting practices and change methods. Mr. Lospaluto received his
Masters degree at Harvard, where he studied and worked with Chris
Argyris. He has over 15 years experience consulting to a wide range of
organizations, including Motorola, Amoco Oil, Blue Cross, Owens-Corning,
Tellabs, Digital Equipment and The Boston Globe.

JOHN R. SNYDER (moderator), VP-Southwest Region, Collaborative Action
Associates, Austin, TX. Mr. Snyder has over 15 years experience as
a consultant, manager, researcher and educator. His clients
have included U S WEST Communications, Tellabs, Tanisys, Petroleos
de Venezuela and the University of Washington. He has been an
active member of the Learning Organization community since 1991
and was a presenter at the 1995 Systems Thinking in Action Conference.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE: By MONDAY, JULY 15, please return your answers to
the questions below. We will be contacting a number of respondents by
July 18 to invite them to participate in the teleconference. All others
will receive email confirmation that we have received your completed
questionnaire and enrolled you in the conference.

There is no fee for participation in this conference.

Those participating in the teleconference will be asked to make a
regular toll call to the Sprint conference bridge in Florida.

*** The information you provide will be kept strictly confidential. ***
*** Analyses of the data collected will be reported in generic and ***
*** anonymous terms. Call us if you have concerns or questions. ***

----------------------------- snip here -------------------------------
IMPLEMENTATION BARRIER QUESTIONNAIRE

Name:

Organization:

Role in the organization:

Would you be interested in joining the teleconference if invited?
___ Yes. My phone number for invitation purposes is ____________.
___ No. I want to participate, but not on the teleconference.

For our planning purposes, do you think you will want to receive a
tape in addition to the transcript? (This will not be considered an
order for a tape.)
___ Yes
___ No

1. Think of the most important organizational learning or Action
Science change effort you are currently involved in. As you are
working day to day on this project, what are the 2-3 most critical
implementation barriers you are encountering? Please speak as much
as possible from your inner thoughts (your "left-hand column").

2. Reflecting on these barriers, what about them is difficult to
discuss openly with your executives, colleagues or customers?

3. Speaking from your inner thoughts (your "left-hand column"), what
do you see as the key factors that make these barriers difficult
for you to discuss openly?

***** Please return to jsnyder@pobox.com or fax to (512) 255-0606. *****

(c) 1996 by CAA, Inc.
-------------

John Snyder
Collaborative Action Associates "The end of all thought
Round Rock, TX must be action."
jsnyder@pobox.com - Aldous Huxley
(512) 218-4870 phone
(512) 255-0606 fax

-- 

jsnyder@bga.com (John R. Snyder)

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>