NACUFS Meets Idealized Design

Last week I conducted the Planning Institute for the National Association of College and University Food Service (NACUFS), one of an impressive array of offerings they have for their members. Originally scripted with NACUFS as well as the Society for College & University Planning and conducted in 2007, the workshop uses Russell Ackoff's Idealized Design as a platform for learning about issues in planning.

Part of our rationale in choosing this model was based on the assumption that food service operators should be able to quickly grasp the systems analysis with which the process begins. In 2007 we actually struggled with this piece moreso than any others, so a redesign was in store this time around. Here, we mixed very simple approaches with modest requirements for results, and when this was coupled with the extraordinary work effort that NACUFS members bring to these events the results were incredible. Dubious at first, they all saw their sticky notes transition from chaos to order.

One of the struggles I currently have with this particular approach is that it begins with a deficit orientation; in fact, most of the training I've had so far in systems thinking emphasizes problem-seeking. Rather than just sell Ackoff short, attention was called to that issue as they were asked to reflect on how heavy the atmosphere was as we "designed the mess." We also asked for their own experiences in dealing with positively focused issues as opposed to the usual negative orientation.

They toughed through relatively mindfully, and continued their solid work. The mission statements they developed were as good if not better than most I've seen in the "real world," and they produced them with a minimum of wordsmithing. As they discovered the need for collaboration among groups, they began with a few representatives at first, and eventually entire teams were pairing up to work through issues. The systems thinking approach apparently helped them, as their proposals and solutions clearly had an eye on the total campus context, and not just dining.

We introduced them to a variety of tools. A trends analysis was done by assembling and analyzing a large collage made from magazine clippings. We used Creative Problem-Solving as a reference for careful sequencing of the work, and then added some fast brainwriting to quickly seed idea sessions. CCL's Visual Explorer was used with one group to write the story of "the mess," and with another to help start the Idealized Design. Rather than use the traditional gap analysis to move from Idealized Design to Means Planning, we borrowed from Appreciative Inquiry and helped them collaboratively write Provocative Propositions.

It's often the case after an event like this that we go home full of excitement, but then it passes in the face of the next week's demands. To confront this head-on, we designed a set of reflective questions, based in concept on the Dream stage in AI but blended with Idealized Design, and asked them to work in pairs to write and share a story about what the next year would be like for each of them. Some of the thoughts we heard were:

• The quote I'll remember: It's easier to tame down a wild idea than to wild up a tame one;
  
• The provocative propositions work was really nice. We NEVER write down these things;
  
• I have a great team! I can do this! Let's think bigger!
  
• Sometimes a peak experience begins with a setback;
  
• We're all in this together;
  
• I can start my own story now;
  
• A cookie cutter approach is not what we did this week. Thank you, Bruce!
  

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet

I'm curious if anyone has seen this book. A review showed up in today's newspaper, and it included this paragraph:

T.S. Spivet - his initials stand for "Tecumseh Sparrow," which is fully explained - is a rather peculiar 12-year-old boy, narrating in his inimitably charming voice. He lives with his family on a ranch in Montana, where he spends his days immersed in cartography. No topic is too esoteric for his intricate maps and diagrams, displayed in the book's margins. (They were created by the author and Ben Gibson, who designed the book's quirky typography.)

There is also a very cool website.

A Tip o' the Hat to Squarespace

I first set this blog up right after reading The World Is Flat. It seemed so easy that I then went after my own website, but that's been a little different story. Even software that I call "web tools for dummies" made updates a chore if not an event to be dreaded.

While prowling in Lifehacker I found Squarespace and gave it a try - it didn't take long to convince me. So far I've found it relatively easy to use, and I'm continuing to figure out just what I can do with it. The best part: I can update and experiment constantly.

Their customer service is really strong. They were quick and expansive when I asked questions before signing up. When I blacked out my whole site by putting the wrong code in the wrong place (nothing is completely idiot-proof, huh?) they fixed it and had me back up in an hour. Highly recommended!

Picasso's War

A 5-for-$15 sale at BetterWorldBooks landed a copy of Picasso's War, by Russell Martin. It tells the story of the village and the painting, from 1937 up through the work's return from exile to Spain in 1981. Among the things I learned was that Dora Marr photographed the painting at various stages. Those images are shown in the slideshow below, and a lot more can be found on an extensive website belonging to David M.Hart.

Those tic marks on the horse? They were added by Marr working along with Picasso, and it's believed to be the only time he ever allowed anyone to work on one of his canvases.

"Third Loop" meets the World Cafe

Subsequent to the discussion with the campus group described in the post below, a committee of energetic and creative people was appointed to plan the event. Although I'll lead the cafe event itself, I figured out very quickly the best thing to do was to give them a few pointers and then get out their way! I am not accustomed to such strong, positive forces in a university setting, and it is a TREAT!!!

They've created an event as well as a video teaser, graphics and a t-shirt design. They've identified themes for framing the event. We'll have 175 students and another 75 staff, parents, faculty and alums. Holy catfish - what a crowd!

The challenge to come: designing the cafe's question.

A Third Loop

With some groups I've been using a planning process taught by the Institute for Cultural Affairs. Known as ToP Strategic Planning, it lends itself to a generative way of thinking. In particular, the sequence for developing purpose, mission and values has so far produced succinct results for my groups without the usual tortuous wordsmithing.

As ICA presents it, it's a sequential process, and that bothered me initially. Although they point out the importance of acting on our values, it seemed that those two pieces needed a stronger connection. There was also a need for "reality" to get in there somewhere. It eventually occurred to me to think of this process as two loops that connected through Reality, and I drew it for myself as shown here.

This process is taught for use in a facilitated engagement. To ICA and others who have presented similar sequences I have always inquired: "I work in a university, and we claim to require data. Where does the data come in here?" There's never been a satisfying answer. Recently I was asked to help a campus group talk through the start of a planning process, and their first and highest concern was how to tackle what appeared to be a an enormously complex situation analysis. In the scripted process they were using, this piece of work was near the middle of the sequence. I scribbled out the ToP methodology for them and asked "What if we looked at our situation first, instead of later?" What emerged in the conversation was a third loop that may well answer my questions about data and other tools for getting at reality.

It seemed to me that we might best start by looking at the situation very broadly, and then "noticing what we notice." By taking stock of emergent issues we spend our time on things that are more likely to be important. In this instance, I recommended a World Cafe that might be quite large to assure that we had the entire system in the room. Knowing that a carefully crafted question would yield a cogent collection of topics, we could drill down as needed. Data-gathering and validation methods could be chosen to suit the issue: focus groups, surveys, Walkabouts just to name a few. The findings could then be synthesized and converged into "the story," an elegant narrative easily told by anyone that accurately describes the situation we're about to work with. Once we can do that, we should have a solid and shared context within which to ascertain our organizational identity.Such a whole system/divergent/convergent process has features worth paying attention to. First of all, it doesn't really care about top-down thinking, and instead allows important issues to emerge on their own. It doesn't respect silos either, and there is little that will be off-limits. It can be a hugely creative experience with persistent dialogue among those doing the data-gathering. Although the book Good to Great is sometimes accused of having done harm because it gets used as a cookbook, the really fascinating story in it is about how they discussed and probed their findings in dialogue with each other in order to develop their conclusions.

A few days after this discussion, I began getting ready for a teleconference about a workshop I'll present in June. For this particular association, we use Russell Ackoff's Idealized Design as a framework for surfacing the many issues that arise in university planning. This third loop that has emerged offers some similarities to "designing the mess" as described by Dr. Ackoff. If we were to find a place to insert a bit of systems thinking into this emergent approach to a situation analysis it just might really become something!

Feeding Our Mental Models

Thanks to Richard Karash I’ve been reading O’Connor and McDermott’s The Art of Systems Thinking. I have to admit that as a novice on the topic I found the first few attempts challenging, but that was before mainlining on systems thinking at the Pegasus Conference. I sat down with it again yesterday and it now reads like a novel!

In their explanation of generative learning, they describe the changes that can take place in our mental models. The change occurs in response to feedback that can only be received through our senses. This might be from messages in our body such as pain, discomfort or general un-ease. It can also be messages from other people’s bodies by way of tones in speech or body language. Unfortunately we each have thresholds in that sensitivity, often a product of our mental models themselves, that cause us to miss the feedback.

In what ways might we improve that sensitivity? I’m thinking a place to start is with a change in the medium. In a post below is a description of using Visual Explorer as a tool for finding a message inside us. We can also learn from our own images as described in Fox and Ganim’s Visual Journaling: Going Deeper than Words. Their process begins with noticing the messages from our bodies, and visualizing what those sensations might look like. I have found that as I work into the depths of their program, images and messages have appeared that were astounding. They seemed to have been imported from somewhere or someone as they just didn’t “fit” my usual lexicon. Among my mental models is one that says when I surprise myself, it’s time to pay attention and learn something.

Such visual work can go even deeper if we use Tsultrim Allione’s Feeding Your Demons. As in Visual Journaling one begins by noticing an internal sensation, and then visualizing it. The next step is to then personalize the image by looking for its living features like eyes, ears, hands a mouth; at that point one of your Demons has appeared. A conversation follows that leads you to offering the Demon what it tells you it needs, and then seeing it transform. Under certain circumstances, an Ally can emerge at the end of this exchange.

Among the reasons I was drawn to the book was a conversation I had with Diana Whitney. I had tossed out that old line about how people resist change, and she issued a pointed rejoinder: “People don’t resist change. They resist any situation in which they’re not getting something they need.” Might we work with our Mental Models as with our Demons: by giving them what they need and allowing the transformation to unfold?