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IDEAS, NEWS AND RESOURCES | February 2017
We hope you enjoy receiving our newsletter which includes constructionist ideas and practices as well as news and resources from the Taos Institute.
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Brief Encounters with The Taos Institute
February 2017
This month we welcome Diana Whitney, Taos Institute Co-Founder, as she reflects on ...
Organizational Consulting with Social Constructionist Twist
By Diana Whitney
Co-Founder and Board Member Emerita, Taos Institute
Founder, Corporation for Positive Change
"Preaching to the choir is a waste of time when you could sing together instead."
From a daily horoscope reading
!
I have practiced organization development with a social constructionist twist for close to four decades. Fortunately, I was generally too busy to articulate how the way I work varies from more traditional OD. Recently, as I prepare for an evening of story telling based upon my work, I've begun to put words to my ways of consulting. The purpose of this short, and in no way comprehensive, essay is to invite you to join with my musings.
Traditional organization development (OD) is defined (www.odnetwork.org) as an effort that is: planned, organization wide, managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health, using interventions based on behavioral science knowledge (Beckhard, 1969). OD consulting is said to progress through five phases: Entry and Contracting; Data Collection and Diagnosis; Feedback and the Decision to Act; Implementation; and Extension or Termination (Block, 1981). As I write these definitions one after another, I am struck by their mechanistic tone.
Consider instead, that the aim of organizational consulting with a social constructionist twist is to help large groups of people - multiple, diverse stakeholders with varying relational resources - enhance their collective organizational capacities to achieve worthy results. Consulting practices, in no special order, can include: Getting to With-ness; Beginning with the End in Mind; Getting to You're Hired; Clarifying what to Accomplish; Negotiating the Meaning of Best; Discovering and Amplifying What Works Well; Designing Programs and Processes; and Experimenting with Relational Structures.
As organizational consultants all that we say and do is a move, an invitation for others - potential clients, clients, and assorted stakeholders - to move, in what becomes a series of relational moves, a co-creative consulting process. As a consultant I am mindful of what I am being invited to, and how my communication invites others. A practice that I find especially meaningful in establishing with-ness and co-creativity is "beginning with the end in mind." For example, if you understand from a phone call that a potential client wants to enhance collaboration among diverse groups within his or her organization, you might suggest a first meeting that includes a diverse group of people, rather than the typical first meeting with one or two executives only. In this way you are following the potential client's move and at the same time demonstrating how to go forward differently, yet in line with his or her wish. Organizational consulting that approximates a desired result from the start creates a practice field for learning and transformation.
What follows is a story of how my work with British Airways began with the end in mind and grew into a successful co-creative organizational consulting process. When I first met Dave Erich, then VP of British Airways NA, he wondered how Appreciative Inquiry (AI) might be used to help employees engage with the business. Having invested significantly in outward-bound type activities for employees, only to have them ask, what does this have to do with the business, he was then looking for a way to engage employees in the business. Rather than attempt to convince him, I suggested that he gather a group of employees from all levels and all functions of the organization to attend a two-day Appreciative Inquiry workshop and then let them answer two questions: one, how might AI be used to engage BA employees with the business? And two, do you think doing it will be a good business decision?
He also wondered how unionized employees and their leaders would view AI. I suggested that he invite them to the workshop and let them be involved in making the decision to go forward with AI or not. As a potential client, he wanted employee engagement with the business so I repeatedly suggested that he do just that - engage them!
Together with a small group of 3 people, I designed a two-day workshop for 40 people. Participants included unionized customer service representatives, a couple of disgruntled old timers, a couple of new hires, directors and VPs. In the last two hours of the two-day workshop the entire group made the decision to design and lead an organization wide Appreciative Inquiry process that would engage 2200 employees in 19 locations across North America, ultimately leading to dramatic increases in employee satisfaction survey scores, the chosen measure of success. Both research and British Airways experience showed that in customer service organizations when employee satisfaction increases so does customer satisfaction.
In this case, beginning with the end in mind led to significant organizational improvement and seeded additional consulting processes in other business units.
Now, having suggested a number of possible consulting practices with a social constructionist twist and having elaborated on one, beginning with the end in mind, I look forward to your reflections.
You are invited to join my evening of story telling at the 1st Global Conference on Positive Change, in Amsterdam, April 13th and 14th.
www.positivechange.org.
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Taos Institute Events and Gatherings - The Many Ways to Get Involved.....
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3rd International Conference of Collaborative
and Dialogic Practices
Conversations with and among Education, Research, Health, Social Practices, Psychotherapy...
March 30 - April 2, sponsored by ICCP and TI,
in the Canary Islands, Tenerife, Spain
A tri-lingual conference - Spanish, Portuguese, English
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A Conference...
July 10 - 12, 2017
(Pre-conf workshops July 8)
Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Institute for Transdisciplinary Development (ITD), in collaboration with Taos Institute, proudly announces 'Succeeding in Africa: Social Construction in Action' to be presented in Johannesburg South Africa in July 10-12, with pre-workshops on July 9th. More than one billion people live on the African continent. It is a continent that challenges its people, amongst others, to eradicate hunger and poverty, achieve universal primary education, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, address fundamentalism and its effects on conflict and relationships as well as to achieve global partnerships for sustained development.
This conference aims to create the context for both large and small group dialogue with the intent to harvest new learnings about how people together - across disciplines and in participation with local knowledges - can co-create innovative practices to address complex challenges successfully. We will focus on the successes of Africa and look into the future of Africa through 'possibility lenses'. It is about witnessing the tenacity of Africans to co-create life-giving possibilities and opportunities in the face of complex challenges and to take these stories of possibilities into the future. By attending this conference you will have the opportunity to join actively in this conversation and reap the benefits of collaboratively exploring and understanding how transdisciplinary, relational approaches can contribute in making a difference in the lives of the people you journey with.
This conference is open to everyone around the globe, and we hope you join us for this
exciting and important conference.
The call for proposals is available at:
For more information see the developing website at:
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Workshops
Taos Institute Workshops
- Social Construction: Premises and Practices | Online workshop - April - May, 2017, An Online Workshop, with Celiane Camargo-Borges and Dawn Dole
- Relational Construction, Inquiry and the Art of Transformative Change | May 10 - 12, 2017, with Dian Marie Hosking and Sheila McNamee, in Herefordshire, England
- Social Construction, Relational Theory and Transformative Change Practice | June 2-14, 2017, with Ken and Mary Gergen, in their home in Wallingford, PA
Friends of the Taos Institute Workshops and Events
- 2nd Annual Meeting of the Collaborative Care Learning Network - February 23 - 27, 2017, in San Antonio, Texas. See:
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Discover Development NYC -
A symposium, workshop & exploration of New York City's Development Community,
with Lois Holzman,
May 19-21, 2017. See: www.eastsideinstitute.org
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Other Learning Opportunities
For practitioners who wish to reflect on their professional practices, and/or to explore new departures in theory and practice, we offer the opportunity for a two-year program of study. The program is designed to enable seasoned practitioners to enhance their understanding and practical capabilities in their particular profession. See:
www.taosinstitute.net/diploma-programs - The specific areas of practice in which the diploma will be awarded include:
- Education
- Mental Health
- Organizational Development
- Healthcare
- Community building
- Taos Institute PhD Program
The Taos Institute Ph.D. program is designed for seasoned professionals who wish to pursue a line of inquiry that will enrich their endeavors and speak to the concerns of a broader audience of scholars and practitioners. The grounding orientation of the program has its roots in social constructionist theory and practice.
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International Relational Research Network Meeting and Global Dialogue
March 15, 2017
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM US Eastern Time
What: We invite you to join with us in conversation to continue to create a space for an international network to generate conversations and collaborations around relational research.
Explore - Engage - Dialogue - Share - Create
- What is relational research to you? How is relational research influencing how you think about and do research?
- How does having the 'relational' as central in your research, change or affect your research design and process?
- How do you see yourself as a relational researcher?
- What are the opportunities for collaboration and learning?
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We are thrilled to bring you all the WorldShare Books and we hope you will take a few minutes to download your free copies today.
Donate to the Peggy Penn WorldShare Books Fund
This fund helps to cover the expenses of offering these online books free of charge to anyone in the world.
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SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVES ON GROUP WORK
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by Emerson F. Rasera
Taos Institute Publications, 2015
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70Candles! Women Thriving in their 8th Decade
Recently featured in the
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by Jane Giddan and Ellen Cole
Taos Institute Publications, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-938552-35-9
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A STUDENT'S GUIDE TO CLINICAL SUPERVISION: You Are Not Alone
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By focusing on the positive aspects of aging, and the availability of resources, skills, and resiliencies, research not only brings useful insights into the realm of practice but creates hope and empowers action among older people. By moving beyond practices of repair and prevention, to emphasize growth-enhancing activities, practitioners also contribute more effectively to the societal reconstruction of aging.
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Participate in online conversations, share resources, ask questions, connect with others doing similar work. Also, we feature special events on this community website.
Join in many different forums, groups and conversations:
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and many more at:
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Welcome (Bienvenidos) to the International Journal of Collaborative Practices. The Journal brings together members of a growing international community of practitioners, scholars, educators, researchers, and consultants interested in postmodern collaborative practices.
Sponsored by Taos Institute and Houston Galveston Institute
I
ssue 7- Available Now in English and Spanish -
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Are you a reader of AI Practitioner? AI-P is a platform where practitioners and researchers meet by sharing articles about the impact of strength-based, collaborative approaches to positive change. In a time when it's not trendy to be appreciative or curious, we want to use this platform as a a place for appreciative ambassadors and activists. We invite you to:
- subscribe to AI Practitioner, even if you get your copy through TAOS, and ask your friends, colleagues, and organizations to do the same;
- send us your articles about your work or research for your colleagues to review. We are looking for robust and relevant articles;
- act as a guest editor or reviewer.
AI Practitioner is co-published by the David Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry and the Instituut voor Interventiekunde.
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You can make a difference...
These are challenging times, and you can make a difference by supporting the Taos Institute's efforts to bring about more promising futures.
Help us to continue our work in:
- CREATING AND EXPANDING COLLABORATIVE PRACTICES GLOBALLY
- PROMOTING DIALOGIC MEANS FOR REDUCING CONFLICT
- PROVIDING DEGREE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRACTITIONERS
- OFFERING CUTTING EDGE PUBLICATIONS IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES: FREE OR AT LOW COST
- GENERATING RESOURCES FOR POSITIVE AGING
- CREATING GLOBAL FORUMS AND CONFERENCES FOR CONSTRUCTING NEW FUTURES
Given the perilous global context into which we are moving, we feel the work in which we are engaged is more important than ever. We hope you can join with us as we continue to develop resources to aid the global community in co-creating more viable futures.
To make your donation, large or small, go to: www.taosinstitute.net/donate-to-the-taos-institute.
The Taos Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and all donations are tax deductible in the US.
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The John Shotter Memorial Fund
John Shotter's death on December 8th was a profound loss for the scholarly world, for the Taos Institute, and for many of us personally. To honor him, to insure the continued availability of his writings, and to sustain his legacy, the Taos Institute is establishing a memorial fund. These funds will be used primarily to support scholars and practitioners whose work applies and/or extends the rich body of ideas with which we have been blessed. We invite you to join this effort. We may have lost John's presence, but his ideas remain vital in their potential.
To make a contribution to the John Shotter Memorial Fund, please go to:
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The Taos Institute's mission is to bring together scholars and practitioners concerned with the social processes essential for the construction of reason, knowledge, and human value.
We are committed to exploring, developing and disseminating ideas and practices that promote creative, appreciative and collaborative processes in families, communities and organizations around the world through a social constructionist lens.
We look forward to your participation in the dialogue.
Keep up with our updates!
Dawn Dole, Executive Director
The Taos Institute
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