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Tuesday, November 15
4:15-5:45p.m.

F01 Weaving Learning into an Organization’s Fabric: The Applied Learning Process
Jeff Clanon and Jon Vogen

How can we weave organizational learning into the strategy and fabric of an organization’s day-to-day work? The Applied Learning Process (ALP) provides an answer. Based on more than a decade of research at the MIT Center for Organizational Learning, now SoL, Society for Organizational Learning, ALP helps practitioners identify the core business/learning questions and assumptions that underlie a project, gather and synthesize data, and integrate and diffuse new learning. Jeff and Jon are pioneers who are applying and testing the Applied Learning Process in both public and private sector organizations.

Jeff Clanon is currently director of partnership development for the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) and is also a founding consultant member. SoL, a nonprofit, member-governed organization chaired by Peter Senge, is dedicated to building knowledge about fundamental institutional change through integrating research, capacity building, and the practical application of organizational learning theory and methods. SoL evolved from the Center for Organizational Learning at MIT, where Jeff served as executive director for five years. Jeff has more than 35 years of experience in the area of individual and organizational learning, having held positions as a clinical psychologist, educator, organization development consultant, and business manager.

Jon Vogen is an independent consultant in the areas of organization development, communication, and learning. He retired early in 2005 from Intel Corporation, where he held various management roles. Jon is currently using his 30 years of management and consulting experience in a voluntary role with the Society of Organizational Learning (SoL) as the chair of the Applied Learning Process Committee, focused on further development and definition of the ALP through project application and research. He holds a BS degree from Illinois State University and an MSOD degree from Pepperdine University.

 

F02 Mixed Up Generations: A System of Life
Bob Stilger, Anne Dosher, and Samantha Tan

Each generation in the prevailing culture has its own reasons for ambient anxiety. Older people are marginalized. Younger people struggle with economic insecurity. Those in the middle feel sandwiched between the needs of their children and their parents! We can all get caught up in a linear framework that is stressful and draining. But what if we remember that life is an interdependent system rather than a linear progression from birth to death? What might happen if collectively we began to appreciate and learn from the unique perspectives and contributions of the generations around us? Join Bob, Anne, Samantha and others in a highly interactive multigenerational World Café dialogue exploring how to connect across generational lines to recognize the interdependent relationships in our families, our organizations, and our communities. Reflect together on how we can help each other bring forth our full capacities, and collaborate for our common future.

Bob Stilger, Ph.D., is a community organizer and social activist in his mid-fifties. His current passion is understanding the new forms of leadership emerging around he world through his work with younger leaders in many countries. Bob is co-president of The Berkana Institute – www.berkana.org – and teaches on leadership at Bainbridge Graduate Institute and Gonzaga University

Anne Dosher, Ph.D., has been a guide, mentor and inspiration for The World Café and other related dialogue initiatives around the globe. Now in her early 80s, Anne was one of the developers of the National Network for Youth and was recognized for public service by the California State Legislature. She is co-founder of the Institute for Relational Development and Elder of the Ashland Institute.

Samantha Tan, a dynamic young leader from Singapore, has served as a research fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and is a founding partner of The Meristem Group, a leadership education and consulting practice that works with organizations serving the public interest.

 

F03 Leading from the Ranks at Carrollton Police Department: Servant Leadership in Action
Mac Tristan and Ann McGee-Cooper

How can a troubled organization break down silos, boost morale, and increase performance—all while building leadership capability from within its ranks? Hear how the Carrollton Police Department overcame chronic internal and external problems not through top-down initiatives and mandates but by inviting patrol officers to create a truly interdependent team. In a short time, the Community Problem Oriented Policing team crafted a compelling vision for its members, reduced crime and gang violence, and improved communication with citizens. Learn how to create a “leaderful” organization, and take away a decision-making template to help guide day-to-day actions.

Mac Tristan is the assistant chief of police for the Carrollton, Texas Police Department. He has a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where he graduated with honors. Mac is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia and the Senior Management Institute for Police conducted by the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Ann McGee-Cooper, Ed.D., is founding partner of Ann McGee-Cooper & Associates, a team of futurists and consultants working with clients to co-create extraordinary lives and organizations through self-transformation and servant-leadership. She is a leader in researching and applying servant-leadership in the workplace, and has worked closely with Southwest Airlines and TDIndustries. Ann is author of You Don’t Have to Go Home from Work Exhausted!, Time Management for Unmanageable People, and The Essentials of Servant-Leadership.

 

Wednesday, November 16
F04 Acting Wisely Beyond “Us” and “Them”
Juanita Brown

We live in extreme times. In many ways, our collective futures hang in the balance, and yet the schisms that divide us seem to have gotten wider and deeper. In an interdependent world, where no single stakeholder can “win” alone on any truly meaningful issue, how can we work together to transcend “us vs. them” thinking as we search for creative paths forward? What tough personal and institutional dilemmas lie on that path? Join Juanita as she explores the “new activism”—discovering innovative ways to inspire committed action across sectors, generations, and ideological divides in our organizations and communities. She will explore how each of us can act wisely with others across traditional boundaries for our common future. Bring your voices to this provocative inquiry.

Juanita Brown is an originator of the World Café approach to dialogue and coauthor of The World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter (2005). Her early experience as a social change activist is now tempered by a compassion born of more than 30 years of working intimately with the dilemmas and paradoxes of personal and institutional change in corporate settings. Juanita collaborates as a thinking partner with senior leaders to create innovative forums for strategic dialogue on critical organizational and societal issues. Her keynotes and seminars have attracted a broad range of leaders from Fortune 100 companies, government, healthcare, education, and community-based organizations. Juanita has served as a research affiliate with the Institute for the Future and is a fellow of the World Business Academy.

 

F05 The Worthy Adversary: Raising the Bar Through Deep Accountability for Learning
Marilyn Darling, Mark Pires, and Joe Moore

The Opposing Force (OPFOR) at the U.S. Army’s National Training Center serves as the “thinking and uncooperative” enemy of the Army’s best brigades. Each month, OPFOR soldiers face a different opponent, almost always winning. Over the past two years, they have had to shift from being Soviet-style tankers to Iraqi-style insurgents. How do OPFOR soldiers make major transitions while maintaining the Army’s highest levels of operational excellence? Marilyn and Mark will tell the story of this remarkable transformation and the core role that organizational learning played in making it possible.

Marilyn Darling is the president of Signet Consulting Group. Founded in 1989, Signet’s research and consulting focus is the intersection between leading, learning and execution. Over the past eight years, Marilyn and her partner, Charles Parry, have conducted research on the learning and leadership practices of the U.S. Army’s Opposing Force, whose mission is to be the toughest enemy American soldiers will ever face. Marilyn is a founding member of the Society for Organizational Learning.

Lt. Col. Mark Pires (retired) is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army and West Point graduate. His last posting was as Commander of an armor battalion consisting of 58 tanks, 550 soldiers, over 160 support vehicles and over $150 million of property. Mark’s postings included Chief of Plans for an entire Army division. His awards include the Legion of Merit and five Meritorious Service Medals. Mark is an expert on the Army’s AAR method.

Colonel (Retired) Joe Moore is a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Army and a West Point graduate. His final posting was as Commander of the Opposing Force at the National Training Center. In that role, he commanded 3,000 soldiers and led the OPFOR through its historic transformation from a Soviet-styled enemy to a flexible force capable of winning in 21st-century conflicts.

 

F06 The Ultimate Obstacle to Collaborative Leadership
Shayne Hughes

As collaborative leaders, we are aware of personal traits that we need to modify and skills we need to develop, yet we often don’t make desired progress. Where does this performance “gap” come from, and how can we leap beyond it? In this session, Shayne will show how our greatest potential in heightening our effectiveness lies not in gaining more tips about what we should do better, but in discovering why we are not already doing it. By identifying and overcoming unconscious barriers, we can lead from our best selves.

Shayne Hughes is co-designer and co-facilitator of Learning as Leadership’s programs. Drawing on over 15 years experience as an executive coach working with such organizations as Shell, CSC, Fairchild Semiconductor, NASA, and Sandia National Laboratories, Shayne works with senior leaders to overcome complex business challenges and build collaborative teams.