Concurrent
Sessions
A broad range
of concurrent sessions will provide you with the opportunity to customize
the conference experience to meet your needs and interests—whether
you work in the business, education, public, or nonprofit sector. Please
scroll down for full descriptions.
CASE
STUDIES give you a look at how an organization
is using systemic tools to take wiser, more effective action, and
offer insight into how you might apply those skills in your own setting.
SKILL-BUILDING
WORKSHOPS offer practical, hands-on tools for
creating and sustaining purposeful networks through disciplines such
as systems thinking, Theory U, social action research, storytelling,
and conversations that matter.

BLOCK A: Monday, November 17, 10:45 a.m.-12:15
p.m.
A01—Introduction
to Systems Thinking I
Ginny Wiley, Pegasus Communications; Gregory Hennessy, Systems Thinking
Collaborative
Systems thinking—seeing the underlying structures that
drive our behavior and the interconnections in our world—is a key management
skill for the 21st century. Understanding the power of structure can help
leaders unlock their organization’s potential and avoid unintended
consequences. For those who are new to the field, this workshop presents
an excellent opportunity to explore the vocabulary and tools of systems thinking
and their application to organizations in ways geared to all types of learners.
In this two-part workshop:
- Learn why systems thinking is the keystone of organizational
learning
- Practice basic causal looping skills and experience the
dynamics of structural traps, using hands-on activities
- Build a foundation of systems thinking knowledge and
explore new ways to address the complex issues in your organization
Ginny
Wiley is president of Pegasus Communications, Inc. Prior
to coming to Pegasus in 1996, she worked at GKA, a systems thinking
consulting company, as a consultant and trainer. Before that,
she spent 12 years building the Huenefeld Company, a consulting
firm for book publishers. Ginny served as vice president for
Chapters of the International System Dynamics Society and holds
an MBA from Northeastern University.
Gregory
Hennessy advises senior leaders on matters of business and
organizational strategy. He has been a consultant at leading strategy
firms (McKinsey & Company and the Monitor Group) and has run his
own consulting practice. Greg provided systems thinking subject matter
expertise to Shell Oil (USA). He earned an MS in Management from MIT’s
Sloan and holds an MS in Economics from the California Institute of
Technology.
|

A02—Festival in the Workplace:
A Tool for Transforming Your Organization
Roosevelt Finlayson, MDR Global Leadership and Innovation Network; Jeannine
Comma, University of the West Indies
The objective of our session will be to discuss the elements
required to develop a strategic framework for improving performance by applying
lessons from festivals and the arts to increase creativity, passion, and
productivity.
Roosevelt
Finlayson is the creative collaborator of MDR Global
Leadership and Innovation Network, a personal and organizational
transformation company based in Nassau, Bahamas, and operating
throughout the Caribbean region. He is MDR’s lead consultant
and founder as well as the co-developer of the Festival in the
Workplace transformation process. Roosevelt is currently engaged
in conducting research on Festival in the Workplace. He is a
consultant member of SoL.
Jeannine Comma is a Caribbean regionalist
who has presented papers and conducted workshops on leadership
in London, Singapore, Delhi, South Africa, Ghana, and
the Caribbean. She is an executive leadership coach and
is currently the chief executive officer and director
of the Cave Hill School of Business of the University
of the West Indies, Barbados. Jeannine serves on several
boards in Barbados. |

A03—Integrating
the Five Disciplines: An Asset-Based Approach
Kara Werner, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Jen Hunter, The Learning
Catalyst
In our efforts to implement rapid and efficient organizational
change, it is tempting to focus on one or two of the five disciplines of
organizational learning. But experience has shown that groups taking an integrated,
synergistic approach can more effectively shift from a reactive orientation
to a creative orientation in which members contribute to shared purpose and
vision—and, ultimately, improved results. Kara and Jen will offer a
framework for mindfully deepening capacity in all five disciplines and for
using an asset-based rather than a problem-based approach to move from thinking
to action. Participants will receive a handout that outlines key tools, resources,
and references to continue their learning journey.
In this session, you will:
- Receive an introduction to tools that are foundational
to systems thinking in action, including the “three-legged stool” and
the “creative tension model”
- Hear about examples from the public and not-for-profit
sectors of specific application of tools and methods
- Learn from two experienced practitioners who have spent
time engaging others in the process of applying all five disciplines to
effect change
Kara
Werner is program associate for Food, Health and Well-Being
at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She supports and collaborates
with senior program staff to carry out the strategic programming
functions of the Foundation. Kara teaches in the Foundation’s
organizational learning capacity building program and facilitates
grantee groups in the application of the tools. Previously, Kara
was the manager of Employment Group Managed Services in Battle
Creek, MI. She is currently working on her master’s degree
in organizational leadership.
Jen
Hunter founded The Learning Catalyst, an organization
committed to developing, sharing, applying, and refining
tools, methods, and processes for leveraging our collective
wisdom. She works with a rich variety of customers who
share her commitment and passion for connecting great
people to great work. Jen is an avid life-long learner
and is proud to declare that her 10-year involvement
in the Pegasus Communications community has significantly
contributed to her learning, leadership, and value in
the world.
|

A04—How
Relationships Make or Break Team Performance
Diana McLain Smith, Monitor Group; Vanessa Kirsch, New Profit
Inc.
No one would dispute the idea that relationships matter.
Cross-functional teams, flatter hierarchies, efforts to move decision making
down in organizations all depend on the quality of people’s relationships.
Yet despite their importance, relationships remain largely a mystery. Like
a firm’s culture, they are part of the informal side of organizational
life: the soft stuff that’s hard to see, grasp, or change. Drawing
on in-depth case studies, Diana and Vanessa will explore how relationships
work, develop, and change, and will offer tools for building relationships
strong enough to master the toughest challenges your teams face.
In this session, you will:
- Focus on how relationships affect the fate of leaders
and their teams
- Learn how to map relationships and uncover leverage points
for change
- Understand how to build a relationship’s “cool
system”—the collective ability to cool down when things get
too hot to handle well
- Identify strategically critical relationships—those
most in need of investment—by applying a tool called the “Investment
Matrix”
Diana
McLain Smith is a partner at the Monitor Group, a global
management consulting firm, where she teaches, consults, and
conducts research. She is also a founding partner of Action Design,
a small firm specializing in organizational learning and professional
development. She is the author of Divide or Conquer: How
Great Teams Turn Conflict into Strength (Portfolio/Penguin
USA, 2008).
Vanessa
Kirsch is the founder and president of New Profit,
Inc., a social venture capital firm that targets innovative
social entrepreneurs and helps them scale up their ventures.
She has more than 17 years of experience in developing
innovative solutions to social problems and is widely recognized
as a leading social entrepreneur. Prior to launching New
Profit, Vanessa founded and led two nonprofit organizations,
Public Allies and the Women’s Information Network.
|

A05—From Embattled Antagonists
to Partners in Problem Solving: Pre-Meeting Practices for Multi-Stakeholder
Dialogues
Grady McGonagill, McGonagill Associates; Maggie Herzig, Public
Conversations Project; Mil Niepold, Verité
How do you set the stage for a successful meeting among diverse
stakeholders on a complex, high-stakes issue? The planning process for such
a gathering must embody the qualities that one hopes to see exemplified in
the gathering itself: genuine inquiry, respect, and collaboration. Through
pre-meeting interviews of unusual scope and depth, organizers can gather
information, foster a sense of partnership with participants, and engage
them as advisors in the meeting design. Grady, Maggie, and Mil will draw
on examples of these practices and outcomes from a recent one-day meeting
between representatives of the cocoa industry and NGOs concerned with child
labor in West Africa.
In this session, you will:
- Become familiar with an approach to preparation for multi-stakeholder
dialogues
- Discover the purpose for particular practices, such as
participant interviews that go beyond information gathering
- Hear about the impact of thoughtful pre-work on a significant
stuck conversation
- Reflect on the impact that exchanges with participants
ahead of time can have on ways that participants talk with each other during
the meeting
Grady
McGonagill is founding partner of McGonagill Associates,
a consulting firm that has for 25 years specialized in building
capacity for learning and change. In addition to expertise in
leadership development and coaching, Grady has extensive experience
in conflict management and in the design and facilitation of
multi-stakeholder dialogues. He holds an EdD from Harvard University,
an MA from Stanford University, and a BA from the University
of Texas.
Maggie
Herzig is a founding associate of the Public Conversations
Project and is co-author of Fostering Dialogue Across Divides.
She has designed and facilitated dialogue about sexual
orientation and scripture, intra-faith community controversies,
Arab-Jewish relations, post-9/11 tensions between Muslims
and non-Muslims, population and development, and other
controversies. Maggie has worked with Grady McGonagill
on multi-stakeholder projects related to forest management
and biodiversity.
Mil
Niepold served as director of policy for Verité—a
non-profit organization monitoring international labor rights
abuses in off-shore production sites. She currently focuses
on programs to help implement the Harkin–Engel Protocol
on child labor in cocoa production. Mil has previously worked
on behalf of the European Commission, Oxfam America, Reebok,
Calvert Social Investments, UNIFEM, and World Monitors, Inc.
She holds a degree in international affairs from the George
Washington University and L’Institut des Sciences Politiques
in Aix-en-Provence. |

A06—Team
Synergy: Setting the Stage to Learn, Share, and Practice Together
Mindy Habecker, Kathleen Haas, and Gerry Campbell, University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension
Conferences can be inspiring, but how does one translate
the energy and new knowledge into action, especially with regard to complex
concepts such as system thinking? After the 2004 conference, faculty of the
University of Wisconsin formed the UW-Extension Systems Thinking Team. This
self-directed group coalesced around the desire to learn about and practice
systems thinking and other tools of organizational learning. Since then,
members have started to apply the ideas within their larger institution and
local communities. They will share the story of how the synergy they have
found on this team has allowed them to accomplish much more than they ever
could have on their own.
In this session, you will:
- Understand how a self-motivated team works and recognize
the benefits of building capacity in systems thinking and organizational
learning
- Appreciate the value of looking at both failures and
successes for increasing a group’s effectiveness and capacity
- Explore some of the practices the group uses, such as
behavior over time graphs, causal loops, World Café, and other inquiry
techniques
- Acquire tips for helping your own team rejuvenate, practice,
and share
Mindy
Habecker is a professor in the Department of Community,
Natural Resources, and Economic Development of the University
of Wisconsin-Extension. She designs and delivers educational
programs to communities, organizations, and citizens of Dane
County on topics such as conflict resolution around local natural
resource issues, land stewardship, community visioning, strategic
planning, and community planning processes. Her degrees are in
history, agronomy, and soil science.
Kathleen
Haas is an associate professor in the Department
of Community, Natural Resources, and Economic Development
of the University of Wisconsin-Extension. Currently, she
directs programs in community development, local government,
and organizational development for business and non-profits.
Kathleen received her master’s degree in Urban and
Regional Planning from the University of Illinois.
Gerry
Campbell is professor, and extension leadership and
organizational development specialist at UW-Madison-Extension.
He currently co-leads the team of University of Wisconsin-Extension
Systems Thinkers and Organizational Development Learners. Gerry
is a fellow of the UW-Madison Teaching Academy. He has also
held leadership roles as an academic program director, associate
dean, and vice chancellor. Gerry is based in the Department
of Agricultural and Applied Economics at UW-Madison.
|

A07—Creating
Synergy Among Empowered Schools
MAK Mitchell and Veronica Conforme, Empowerment Schools, New York City
The challenge: Create systemwide change by putting resources
and instructional decisions in the hands of the people closest to the implementation.
This is the story of how the largest urban school district in the nation,
New York City Public Schools, is taking on that challenge, with the aim of
closing their achievement gap. In 2003, at 30 city schools, principals assumed
more autonomy in exchange for more accountability. These “Empowerment
Schools,” which now number 500, are reporting 93 percent principal
satisfaction ratings and improved student achievement. Veronica and MAK,
who were involved from the inception, will illuminate key junctures and synergies
where systemic learning occurred, and will introduce tools useful to any
school system.
In this session, you will:
- Hear a verbal “learning history” of the change
process
- Learn how to create purposeful networks of schools, tap
their synergistic capacities, and grow the new organization while influencing
the entire system design
- Experience one of the three primary tools used in this
process
- Gain exposure to systems thinking tools as a way to make
sense of the dynamic complexity inherent to organizational reform
MAK
Mitchell is the director of policy and planning for
the Empowerment Schools, a network of 500 public schools in New
York City. She leads the systemic change work with network leaders.
Previously, MAK served as an organizational change professor,
superintendent, change consultant for the Gates Learning Foundation,
and founder of numerous small schools in Alaska. MAK earned both
master’s and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate
School of Education, and is a founding member of SoL.
Veronica
Conforme serves as chief operating officer of
the Empowerment Schools organization in the New York
City Department of Education. In this role, she oversees
70 leaders and managers focused on providing instructional
and operational support to 255 schools and 178,000 students.
Prior to joining the Department of Education, Veronica
was director of human resources at Columbia University
Medical Center and, earlier in her career, held key financial
roles in various non-profits.
|

A08—Claiming
Bold Dreams: Transformation at Texas Instruments Through Servant Leadership
Shaunna Black, Texas Instruments; Ann McGee-Cooper and Gary Looper, Ann
McGee-Cooper & Associates
Texas Instruments had a bold dream: to build a semiconductor factory in Texas
that would be cost competitive with plants overseas, while voluntarily adhering
to strict LEED construction standards. This challenge required a new kind
of leadership—leadership that would enable breakthrough thinking and
a commitment to people, profit, product, and the planet. Shaunna Black shares
the role that servant leadership played in achieving this “impossible” goal
and in fundamentally transforming how people in the company think and act.
Ann and Gary will share tools that other organizations can use to launch
and sustain a similar process of unleashing the potential of their people.
In this session, you will:
- Learn how Texas Instruments received the semiconductor
industry’s first LEED Gold Status certification for an environmentally-responsible
manufacturing facility and, in the process, changed the TI culture
- Hear how servant leadership supported the process
- Explore how to use a visioning tool to create a new future
in your own organization
- Practice using dialogue to create breakthrough possibilities
Shaunna
F. Black is vice president and manager of Worldwide
Facilities for Texas Instruments. She is responsible for the
design, construction, operation, and leasing of TI facilities
worldwide and ESH management. Shaunna is an international speaker
on topics such as sustainability, female leadership in corporate
America, diversity, mentoring, and executive-principal partnerships
in public education. She holds a B.S. in Education from the University
of Texas, Austin, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from New
Mexico State University.
Ann
McGee-Cooper, EdD, is an author, lecturer, business
consultant, creativity expert, and widely recognized leader
in the field of servant leadership. She was mentored by
Robert Greenleaf, the father of servant leadership, the
last decade of his life, and has been teaching and coaching
servant leadership internationally for 32 years. Two of
her longest-served clients have been recognized at the
top of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Places to Work
in America.
Gary
Looper is project leader of the pacesetting Servant-Leadership
Learning Community, a consortium of 11 organizations that meet
together to develop unique, leaderful cultures and practice
the disciplines of organizational learning. He also maintains
responsibility as project manager for Texas Instruments and
is director of publications for AMCA, Inc.
|
BLOCK B: Monday, November 17, 1:45-3:15 p.m.
B01—Introduction to Systems
Thinking II
Ginny Wiley, Pegasus Communications; Gregory Hennessy, Systems Thinking
Collaborative
Systems thinking—seeing the underlying structures that
drive our behavior and the interconnections in our world—is a key management
skill for the 21st century. Understanding the power of structure can help
leaders unlock their organization’s potential and avoid unintended
consequences. For those who are new to the field, this workshop presents
an excellent opportunity to explore the vocabulary and tools of systems thinking
and their application to organizations in ways geared to all types of learners.
In this two-part workshop:
- Learn why systems thinking is the keystone of organizational
learning
- Practice basic causal looping skills and experience the
dynamics of structural traps, using hands-on activities
- Build a foundation of systems thinking knowledge and
explore new ways to address the complex issues in your organization
Ginny
Wiley is president of Pegasus Communications, Inc. Prior
to coming to Pegasus in 1996, she worked at GKA, a systems thinking
consulting company, as a consultant and trainer. Before that,
she spent 12 years building the Huenefeld Company, a consulting
firm for book publishers. Ginny served as vice president for
Chapters of the International System Dynamics Society and holds
an MBA from Northeastern University.
Gregory
Hennessy advises senior leaders on matters of business and
organizational strategy. He has been a consultant at leading strategy
firms (McKinsey & Company and the Monitor Group) and has run his
own consulting practice. Greg provided systems thinking subject matter
expertise to Shell Oil (USA). He earned an MS in Management from MIT’s
Sloan and holds an MS in Economics from the California Institute of
Technology.
|

B02—Speaking
Presence: The Art of Slowing Down and Connecting with Your Audience
Carla Kimball, Riverways Enerprises
Nothing is more important to team success than our capacity
to speak to each other with presence and authenticity. To be fully present,
we must listen and speak from our still center even as complex events swirl
around us. How can we cultivate our ability to slow down internally,
listen to the collective voice of the team, and then speak with thoughtful
clarity? In this experiential workshop, you’ll learn and practice the
very fundamentals of speaking and listening with presence.
In this session, you will:
- Identify key components of authentic presence
- Learn simple ways to slow down and return to your
quiet center as you engage with others
- Practice strategies for authentically connecting with
your audience
- Discover the power of silence to deepen your conversations
- Practice speaking with presence
Carla
Kimball, MA, MBA, is founder of RiverWays
Enterprises and a speaking presence coach. Working from
inside out, she helps clients overcome fears and cultivate the
type of leadership presence so essential in today's world. Carla
has written an email subscription series entitled “The
ABCs of Presence in Public Speaking Toolkit.” Her first
DVD, The Seven Crown Jewels of Public Speaking Presence,
was released this year.
|

B03—Discussing
the Undiscussable: Overcoming Defensive Routines in the Workplace
William Noonan, William Noonan, Ph.D., Consulting Services
Defensive routines—actions we take to prevent ourselves
from experiencing embarrassment or threat—exist in all organizations,
and people feel disempowered and helpless to change them. Every day, these
patterns of behavior result in the loss of productivity, a dispirited work
force, and a cultural malaise of dissatisfaction. In this workshop, Bill
enlivens the scholarly work of Chris Argyris on defensive routines through
the use of reflective exercises that illuminate the basic human experience
endemic to this dilemma. This session offers hope for altering these vicious
cycles by leveraging the greatest opportunity for change—the way we
think and act.
In this session, you will:
- Understand Chris Argyris’s research on defensive
routines in a clear, accessible, and practical manner
- Identify your own specific conditions of threat and embarrassment
that give rise to defensive reasoning
- Break through the “designed helplessness” associated
with defensive routines
- Be able to shift your thinking and take the actions necessary
to reduce the negative impact of defensive routines
- Learn how to share this work with others
Bill
Noonan is an educator and consultant with an international
practice including many leading learning organizations. He was
the content expert for the web-based learning programs Forging
Breakthroughs with Peter Senge, Productive Business
Dialogues, and Managing Difficult Conversations.
Bill is the author of Discussing the Undiscussable: A Guide
to Overcoming Defensive Routines in the Workplace.
|

B04—Managing
Conflict with Power and Presence
Judy Ringer, Power & Presence Training
How can we begin to change our relationship with conflict?
This lively workshop employs the martial art aikido to explore resistance,
connection, power, and presence in order to transform the energy of conflict
into purposeful action. You’ll experience these concepts in physical
ways and learn to apply them in attitude, action, and words. You will find
power in self-awareness and learn useful centering practices. And you will
come to understand why it’s not what happens in life that determines
your state of mind but how you manage yourself and your reactions along the
way.
In this session, you will:
- Learn to direct the energy of conflict instead of reacting
to it
- Draw lessons from aikido, which demonstrates in theory
and practice how to simultaneously protect, support, and assert
- Use active, kinesthetic activities to change hard-wired
reactive behaviors
- Choose to remain calm and increase your options in difficult
situations
- Acknowledge emotional energy and direct it in positive
ways
- Have fun!
Judy
Ringer is the author of Unlikely Teachers: Finding
the Hidden Gifts in Daily Conflict. She provides conflict
and communication training throughout North America with unique
workshops based on mind/body principles from the martial art
aikido, in which she holds a black belt. Judy brings to life
concepts such as self-management under pressure and appreciation
of other viewpoints. Her programs are interactive, experiential,
and energetic.
|

B05—Tapping into the Wisdom
of Citizens Through a New Model of Public Participation
Susannah Childers and Lynette McCormack, Ah Ha!; Warren Miller, Fountainworks
In his keynote last year, Van Jones pointed out the difference
between saying “I have a Dream” and “I have an Issue.” The
typical town hall meeting focuses on issues. In this experiential workshop,
learn how to enable the sharing of dreams among citizens and public officials
with the goal of creating more meaningful outcomes. Through this process,
citizens have a greater voice in public policy development and policy makers
learn to understand the underlying values that drive positions and priorities.
Those in the nonprofit, education, and corporate sectors who desire to engage
customers and incorporate values into their planning processes will also
benefit from these tools and practices.
In this session, you will:
- Learn how to create a setting in which government decision
makers can understand the holistic experience and perspectives of the typical
citizen
- Gain insight into how to move a community from “us” and “them” to “we”
- Experience graphic tools that allow participants to go
deeper and further in their conversations
- Practice a facilitated approach that builds ownership,
commitment, and results from the ground up
Susannah
Childers is founder and president of Ah Ha!, an international
facilitation and consulting firm that specializes in knowledge
creation and helping people think creatively and leverage their
collective wisdom. She has a BA from Washington University in
St. Louis and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate
School of Management. Ah Ha!’s clients include Procter
and Gamble, the Kellogg Company, Fidelity Investments, and Yahoo!,
among others.
Lynette
McCormack is a graphic facilitator and founder
of Ah Ha!. Key to her work is her passionate attention
to structural dynamics and systems thinking. She creates
and uses graphic tools to enable people to see the big
picture, create shared understanding, and converge information
into actionable outputs. Lynette provides a leading-edge
creative force in the Ah Ha! community.
Warren
Miller is founder and president of Fountainworks,
a market research and policy facilitation consulting firm.
He is known in government and nonprofit circles for his leading-edge
approaches to public and stakeholder participation in planning
initiatives. Warren served as policy director to former North
Carolina governor Jim Hunt, where he helped manage the development
and implementation of the governor’s policy agenda and
served as the governor’s liaison to North Carolina’s
nonprofit community.
|

B06—Choice and Voice: Making
All Voices Matter in Public Education
Kim Carter, Elizabeth Cardine, a Recent Graduate, and a Current Student, Monadnock
Community Connections School
Monadnock Community Connections School (MC2) is an innovative
public high school program where students make progress to graduation through
applying, documenting, and defending their learning. Students, staff, and
parents share in the decision-making processes and in the responsibility
for each other’s learning. By having the space and support to use their
voices effectively and with integrity, students develop the ability to speak
out in favor of change that empowers others as they have been empowered.
The school’s director, a teacher, a graduate, and a current student
will tell the story of how they came to own their learning, their school,
and their place in the world.
In this session, you will:
- Learn guiding principles that result in more effective
systems than the standard “command and control” model of public
education
- Hear about structures for engaging students in learning
experiences that are founded on meaningful relationships and are rich in
academic rigor and personal relevance
- Learn protocols for conversations that intentionally
value all voices, elicit diverse perspectives, and surface assumptions
- Acquire tips for navigating the personal dynamics of change
in schools
Kim
Carter is director of MC2, an innovative small high
school program, and executive director of QED Foundation, a nonprofit
organization of students, families, and educators committed to
empowering choice and voice in learning. With more than 30 years
in public education, Kim is a National Facilitator for National
School Reform Faculty. Her passions include high school redesign,
social justice and equity, learning theory, and democratic schooling.
Elizabeth
Cardine is lead teacher/advisor at MC2. She has
held this position for five years, since graduating from
Connecticut College with a double major in Studio Arts
and Physics. Such whole-brained training has provided her
ample experience in creative problem solving through identification
of root causes and effective communication via research-based
graphic design strategies. Both disciplines converge in
her instructional practices and democratic learning facilitation.
Christopher
Vickery and Anna Toegel are a recent graduate
and a current student respectively
at the Monadnock Community Connections
School.
|

B07—Creating Global Communication
Skills and Norms in a Virtual Community
Sue Brightman, Brightman Glover International; An Vandermeersch, Shell
International Business Applications Support
In an increasingly virtual world, organizations are being
forced to pioneer new ways of achieving business success. Whether teams are
spread across states, regions, or continents, members must transcend differences
in language, culture, and norms without the benefit of regular face-to-face
contact. This workshop will highlight how Shell used a systems approach to
introduce three tools for “conversations that matter” to 1,000+
employees around the world in a manner that strengthened their community
while respecting their differences. Through leading-edge audio and web technology
that allowed people to practice their skills, the process created new norms
in a fast, expert way.
In this session, you will:
- Learn and practice timeless tools for conversations that
matter
- Hear how these tools were successfully introduced at Shell
to 1,000+ people dispersed across the globe
- Experience leading-edge technology that allows for high-quality
skills/norms to be introduced fast in a low-cost, high-impact way
- Apply the Shell model to your own team and/or organization
Sue
Brightman is an international OD consultant and coach,
and founder of Brightman Glover International. Her passion is
helping develop strong leaders, teams, and organizational systems
so they in turn can achieve their desired results. In 2007, Sue
taught workshops for Shell on five continents and facilitated
over 70 virtual workshops for participants from another 30 countries
worldwide. Her 20 years of experience spans a variety of industries
including oil and gas, healthcare, news media, IT, public education,
automotive, and the not-for-profit sector.
An
Vandermeersch is an experienced change and program
manager. Since 2005, she has provided full-time support
to the transformation journey of Shell Downstream’s
Global IT application support team. Previously, An held
line management and consultancy roles in the UK and in
Benelux in a variety of sectors, including IT services,
utilities, government, banking, media, and telecoms. She
holds a degree in languages and a degree in economics from
the University of Leuven (Belgium).
|

B08—Sustaining Excellence: The
Hidden Challenges of Perfectionism
Deb Ramsey and Phil Ramsey, Incite Learning
What can be bad about wanting to do our best? Unfortunately,
in our organizations, the pursuit of excellence is often hijacked by perfectionism.
Masquerading as a positive force, perfectionism makes high performance unsustainable
and robs people of joy. It makes it difficult for people to share control
and to be open to new learning experiences. Perfectionism is not only costly
and time consuming, but it can divert resources and energy away from important
matters. This session enables leaders to understand the dynamics of perfectionism
and to recognize it at work in teams. Through a series of engaging, interactive
activities, you will develop strategies for challenging the underlying assumptions
that fuel perfectionism and learn how to encourage the healthy and sustainable
pursuit of excellence.
In this session, you will:
- Use the tools of systems thinking to understand perfectionism
as a dynamic process
- Learn to distinguish between perfectionism (a distorted
set of assumptions about success and failure) and the healthy pursuit of
excellence
- Practice structuring conversations so that they engage
perfectionists and challenge them to work toward balancing performance,
learning, and experience
Deb
Ramsey is a director of Incite Learning, Ltd, in New Zealand. Her
work brings together a deep interest in education, communication,
and drama, which she uses in helping executives develop leadership
presence. This workshop builds on Deb’s research into perfectionism.
She has a master’s degree in education.
Phil
Ramsey is a director of Incite Learning, Ltd., and teaches
organizational learning at Massey University in New Zealand.
His doctoral research examined the impact of organizational
culture on learning. Phil trains school leaders in organizational
learning concepts. He is author of several books including
the Billibonk series, published by Pegasus, designed
to teach systems thinking concepts to young readers and
adults.
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BLOCK C: Tuesday, November 18, 10:45
a.m.-12:15 p.m.
C01—Encompassing
Multiple Perspectives Using Systems Thinking
David Peter Stroh, Bridgeway Partners; Michael Goodman, Innovation
Associates Organizational Learning
Systems thinking offers powerful approaches for enabling
groups with different perspectives on a problem to synthesize their views
into a more accurate and compelling picture of the whole. Using guidelines
for encompassing multiple perspectives, systems archetypes, and case examples,
you will learn how to create conversations that illuminate the underlying
interdependencies across diverse groups and develop commitment to opportunities
that benefit everyone. Cases include strengthening cross-functional collaboration
in a large company and supporting a community-wide effort to end homelessness.
David and Mike will help participants apply the mapping tools to a scenario
from education, healthcare, or business process reengineering.
In this session, you will:
- Review a range of methods that bring together people with
multiple perspectives
- Learn guidelines for mapping the views of diverse stakeholders
so that they can develop a more complete and accurate picture of their
interdependencies
- Hear how these methods and guidelines were applied in
different case studies
- Learn how to apply such tools as balancing advocacy and
inquiry, interaction maps, and the “Accidental Adversaries” archetype
in your own setting
David
Peter Stroh is a principal with Bridgeway Partners and
co-founder of Innovation Associates, the pioneering consulting
firm in the area of organizational learning. He has 30 years
of experience consulting to companies, public sector organizations,
and non-profits on six continents and is a leading thinker and
practitioner in applying systems thinking to change management.
David holds degrees from MIT and the University of Michigan.
Michael
Goodman is a principal with Innovation Associates
Organizational Learning. He is an internationally recognized
speaker, author, and practitioner in the fields of systems
thinking, organizational learning, and leadership, and
has helped create many of the innovations in the field
of systems thinking that have made it more accessible to
business leaders. Michael has degrees from MIT and Purdue.
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C02—Courage to Lead with Heart
Rick Brush, CIGNA HealthCare; Mary Pierce Brosmer, Consulting for
a Change
We often think of courage in terms of extraordinary acts,
when people take on new qualities in the face of danger or difficulty. Yet,
courage is being “who we most are” in the daily course of our
lives. It is about connection, not confrontation. And it is at the center
of individual and collective well-being. Mary and Rick bring relevant experiences
in corporate, community, and personal contexts, and will engage participants
in exploring together such questions as: What is the “source” of
courage? How do we create “safe spaces” where we can access it?
And how do we sustain it over time?
In this session, you will:
- Learn to create spaces that enable meaningful relationships
and inspire integrity and depth
- Experience how synergy and innovation are influenced by
our rituals, values, agreements, and stories
- Practice the courage required to embody and sustain such
values in organizations
Rick
Brush helps people, organizations, and communities create
the changes they most wish for. He is cofounder of Communities
of Health, a social cooperative affiliated with CIGNA, where
he has led long-term change to improve health since 2002. Prior
to that, Rick managed the global implementation of a strategic
leadership process at Ford Credit, and held executive positions
at Bank One, KPMG, and a consulting firm.
Mary
Pierce Brosmer is a business owner and social
entrepreneur. In Consulting for a Change, she translates
learning community practices and living systems leadership
to diverse organizations including business, healthcare,
education, and community action groups. Mary is also
the founder of Women Writing for (a) Change, a multi-faceted
arts, social justice, and community-building organization
with affiliates in eight states. |

C03—A
Group Learning Process for Enhancing Systems Thinking
Gerald C. Swanson, Boeing Corporation
Systems are at work all around us, but they can be difficult
to perceive. One powerful way to begin to “get” systems is to
physically experience concepts such as homeostasis, sub-optimization, system
constraints, and synergistic emergence. Gerald will lead you through a series
of activities designed to rapidly teach fundamental systems concepts. Through
this group process, you will learn to recognize the interconnectedness of
the systems in which you operate and to avoid the issues that arise when
organizations fail to take that interconnectedness into account. New practitioners
will gain understanding of systems properties in behavioral terms; experienced
practitioners will learn a tool they can use with any group working on issues
that are inherently systemic.
In this session, you will:
- Learn a simple, easily replicated method of demonstrating
systems principles
- Experience the concepts of homeostasis, sub-optimization,
system constraints, and synergistic emergence in a manner that makes the
behavioral consequences of these principles clear
- Take away ideas for immediately applying these concepts
in your work environment
- Contribute to the conversation about introducing systems
principles in this way
Gerald
C. Swanson, BS, MS, PhD, MA-ABS, has worked in Boeing
for 23 years applying process and organization development methodologies
to support organizations in improving their business performance.
He has particular passion about two challenges such organizations
face: (1) ensuring that the planned change does not sub-optimize
the larger system and (2) helping the people in the organization
to transition through the change effectively.
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C04—Avoiding
Accidents and Disasters Through Modeling, Collaboration, and Courage
Marc Gerstein, Marc Gerstein Associates
Major accidents such as the tragic loss of the space shuttles
Challenger and Columbia, the failure of flood controls in New Orleans in
the face of hurricane Katrina, and various national security and economic
crises were all predicted well in advance, but these predictions were largely
ignored by policymakers. To avoid financial losses, embarrassment, or even
criminal penalties, leaders sometimes act in ways that put others in harm’s
way. In this session, examine the psychological, cultural, and political
forces that set the stage for such public- and private-sector catastrophes,
or “organizational accidents.” Explore potential remedies, particularly
the essential role of personal courage in preventing disaster in organizational
settings.
In this session, you will:
- Recognize that major catastrophes are just as important
as innovation in affecting organizational momentum and improvement
- See how systems thinking, analysis, and modeling can
help overcome the counterintuitive character of many large-scale risks
- Understand how the seductive pressures leaders at all
levels often face can lead to unwise choices
- Come to appreciate that deep collaboration and trust are
essential to work through the cognitive and political barriers to disaster
prevention
Marc
Gerstein holds a PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management,
and has held positions as an adjunct full professor at the Columbia
Business School and as a visiting scholar at Sloan. He currently
heads Marc Gerstein Associates, Ltd., a management consulting
firm specializing in organization design, innovation, and risk
management. Marc is also president of The Organization Design
Forum, a professional organization, and the author of three books,
including Flirting With Disaster: Why Accidents Are Rarely
Accidental.
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C05—Building a Learning Culture
for Empowered Action: The Kaospilots
Signe Gro Jensen and Christer Lidzélius, Kaospilot International
The Kaospilots is a three-year post-graduate educational
program that started in Denmark in 1991. Today, it has four partner schools
in Europe and attracts young entrepreneurial minds from all over the world.
What sets the Kaospilot program apart from other higher education institutions
is its unique approach to learning. This approach has created a culture that
stretches the individual and develops the collective, inspiring students
and empowering them to act together. Signe and Christer will give a brief
introduction to the school, share the Kaospilot approach to building a learning
culture, and offer concrete ideas, principles, and methods for fostering
empowered action in your own organization.
In this session, you will:
- Hear the story of the Kaospilots and what makes them capable
of consistently attracting creative and entrepreneurial minds from around
the world
- Explore how to create an environment for collective learning,
empowered action, inspired leadership, and innovation
- Acquire concrete practices and principles that you can
apply in your own organization
- Learn from each other’s questions and reflections
about the challenge of creating learning cultures for empowered action
Signe
Gro Jensen is a consultant with Deloitte. She graduated
from the Kaospilots in 2008. Previously, she attended Copenhagen
University, where she studied political science and philosophy.
Signe is passionate about working with organizations in the areas
of process leadership, design, collaboration, well-being, and
change. During her education, she has built her experience by
working with different organizations in Europe, Asia, and North
America.
Christer
Lidzélius is the principal and CEO of Kaospilot
International, Denmark. He graduated from the Kaospilots
in 1998 and obtained an MBA from the Heriot-Watt University
in Edinburgh in 2000. Since then, Christer has held different
leadership positions in the fields of investment management
and business development in Scandinavia. He returned to
the Kaospilots in 2006 to take over from founder Uffe Elbaek.
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C06—Accessing
the Technology of Wholeness
William Isaacs, Dialogos
What if you could access your own internal source of wisdom
and, in the process, produce change and innovation in your organization? Drawing
on the work of David Bohm, brain science, and years of inquiry with transformational
leaders, Bill will cast light on the “technology of wholeness” that
resides in the human psyche and is designed to enable inner transformation
and unleash power and creativity. Accessing this force requires crossing
a series of thresholds in oneself and shedding some of your conditioned
reactions to circumstance. We will explore the four critical “initiations,” or
access points, that must be opened to allow new levels of innovative action
and deeper essences of leadership.
In this session, you will:
- Hear stories of how these ideas were applied in small- and large-scale
organizational settings
- Learn about the contrast between mechanistic change and living change
- Discover four thresholds you must cross to develop this understanding
in yourself
- Discover the limits and obstacles to overcome in each area
- Identify a practical application you can try in each of these domains
| William
Isaacs, DPhil, is the founder of Dialogos and a senior lecturer
at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is the author of Dialogue
and the Art of Thinking Together (Doubleday, 1999). Bill is
considered a world authority on and pioneer in the fields of dialogue,
collective leadership, and organizational learning. He has consulted
to senior leaders of prominent organizations around the world, supporting
them to lead visionary transitions and catalyze collective leadership
within their systems.
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C07—Purpose to Performance:
Synergy in the Antelope Valley Union High School District
Patricia Martinez-Miller and Debra Laidley, UCLA School Management Program; Michael
Vierra, Antelope Valley Union High School District
How did the Antelope Valley Union High School District turn
the threat of onerous “No Child Left Behind” sanctions into a
catalyst for measurable positive change? By applying three simple change
tools to connect people with purpose, teachers, students, and parents made
significant progress toward assuring effective learning for all. In this
session, Patricia, Debra, and Mike will share a storytelling protocol that
forges collaboration from diverse experiences and points of view. They will
teach you how to use “unconditional positive questions” to find
and harness evidence already present in your system of the positive change
you want to see. And they will help you surface patterns of data that you
can leverage to transform performance.
In this session, you will:
- Recognize that the people in schools are the ones who
can change schools to assure effective learning for all students
- Participate in an interview process that connects individual
purpose to performance
- Use a story-telling protocol to harness diverse perspectives
and define common purpose
- Experience an observation protocol that links Appreciative
Inquiry’s “unconditional positive questions” to patterns
of data that generate transformational actions toward positive change
Patricia
Martinez-Miller is director of faculty for the UCLA
School Management Program, consulting with renewing schools in
California and across the nation. In addition to a career as
a teacher and school principal in inner-city Los Angeles, she
served 12 years on the South Pasadena, California school board.
Patricia holds a PhD in Spanish literature from the University
of Southern California.
Debra
Laidley, UCLA School Management Program faculty,
consults with renewing schools in California. In addition,
she is a lecturer for the UCLA Principal Leadership Institute
and served as co-director of the National School Reform
Faculty. Debra has worked as an English teacher and coordinator
of secondary literacy for the Los Angeles Unified School
District. She holds an MA in educational administration
from Mount St. Mary’s College.
Michael
Vierra is assistant superintendent of educational
services in the Antelope Valley Union High School District.
Through his services as an effective high school teacher, principal,
assistant superintendent, and university-level methodology
instructor, he has honed his systems skills. Mike holds a PhD
from the Claremont Graduate School, where he specialized in
applied data.
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C08—Culture Eats Strategy: Building
Organizational Capacity for Long-Term Success
Scott Adler, Insight Strategies; Zeev Neuwirth, Harvard Vanguard
Medical Associates/Atrius Health; Robert Beyer, Insight Strategies
Only a handful of years ago, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates/Atrius
Health was on the brink of bankruptcy. With an aggressive turn-around plan,
financial performance improved, but sustained, long-term improvements required
dramatic changes. Under new leadership, HVMA undertook an organization-wide
process aimed at transforming its culture, focusing on optimal patient and
staff experiences. This process combined the principles of organizational
learning with rapid prototyping to reinforce the learnings and new behaviors
required for long-term success. The result: Through rigorous, productive,
and safe dialogue about emerging issues, employees are better able to solve
the problems of today and anticipate tomorrow’s challenges.
In this session, you will:
- Learn to articulate how dialogue is a vital part of transforming
an organization
- Acquire a tool to facilitate the integration of quality
improvement and engagement initiatives
- Experience the application of a rapid-cycle prototyping
methodology
- Discover the essential elements for creating an environment
where meaningful work can occur as a sustainable change strategy
- Understand how to apply this work in your organization
Scott
Adler is a principal with Insight Strategies, LLC. He has been
in healthcare marketing, business development, and community organizing
for more than 20 years. Scott co-wrote and produced the PBS documentary, “Living With Cancer:
The Windstorms of Life.” He was one of 30 thought leaders
invited to a summit exploring critical questions related to the
future of creating healthy communities. Scott was a 1994–1995
fellow with the Healthcare Forum.
Zeev Neuwirth, MD, MHCM,
is a general academic internist whose life goal is to transform
our healthcare system into one that affords dignity, respect,
and outstanding medical and wellness care to all patients
and their families. He is VP of Clinical Effectiveness
and Innovation at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates/Atrius
Health. Zeev has published articles in medical journals,
The New York Times, and Newsweek; he has been featured
in Forbes, Fast Company, and WebMD.
Robert
Beyer is a principal with Insight Strategies, LLC. Bob
has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare, including
13 in clinical services and 17 as a hospital/system CEO. As
a CEO, his experiences ranged from rural hospitals to a multi-institutional,
regional system with net revenues of $300 million. Under Bob’s
leadership, his organizations received the AHA Nova Award and
a national designation as one of 20 Community Care Network
Demonstration Grant recipients. |

C09—Embracing Elderhood: An Experiential
Exploration into Our Possibilities
Alan Gilburg; David Isaacs, The World Café
We have evolved a culture in the West that has turned elders
into senior citizens, largely to be put out to pasture, patronized, and finally
warehoused. No wonder we resist the natural process of growing old! When
we encounter traditional cultures that revere elders, we feel a deep longing
for something that we are missing. This interactive forum will boldly march
into the world of Elderhood, integrating the life experiences of the leaders
with those of the participants. Using World Café and other processes,
we’ll explore the role that elders might play in today’s society
and uncover how to grow old both gracefully and fiercely.
In this session, you will:
- Begin to embrace growing old as a natural and exciting
part of life’s journey
- Identify the personal resistances to being a powerful,
respected, fierce, wise elder
- Identify the differences between being a “senior
citizen” and being an “elder”
- Discover the exciting benefits of becoming an elder
- Explore the benefits to society of having strong, generative,
courageous elders, who not only bless us but also risk telling the truth
Alan
Gilburg, who is now retired at 71, has been an OD consultant
for the past 30 years, working in a variety of public and private
organizations. His experience of living in Sri Lanka gave him first-hand
exposure to what true elders can be. More recently, he helped create
an elder presence in a men’s training organization, the ManKind
Project. He has been heard to say, “I wouldn’t want
to relive a minute of my life; the best is yet to be.”
David
Isaacs, now 70, is a samtalspartner accompanying business
and organizational leadership teams in designing, hosting,
and convening results-oriented strategic conversations
around their most important questions. With partner Juanita
Brown, he is co-author of The World
Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations
That Matter. In the 1970s, he had the privilege of working
with John W. Gardner’s Common Cause as a non-partisan
political and community organizer.
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