I was lucky enough today to come across a company called Delta 7. They take a really fresh approach to their facilitation. Rather than me try to explain what they do check out a selection of their stuff below.
Piers Carter
Leadership Coach & Consultant
Delta7's Conversation Starters - November 2010
Welcome to the November 2010 edition of 'Delta7's Conversation Starters' - a series of images created from a decade's experience running visual dialogues in large organisations.
The first three images this quarter were among those used at a seminar we ran at Cass Business School in November on the subject of "the unspoken at work". Many thanks to the OD Innovation Network for organising the event. Do drop us a line if you'd be interested in attending similar future workshops.
We hope you find these images thought-provoking and amusing. As with all our work, they were created to get people talking, so why not print out and use* them to kick off a conversation with the people you work with? Alternatively, you might like to use them in your blog or a PowerPoint presentation. If you find them useful, please let us know!
This was inspired by a comment from a client recently about the meeting culture they were experiencing at work. They were frustrated: When this sort of pattern persists it can cause significant personal and financial costs.
Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord's four box model
Unless you're a military historian, you probably haven't heard of General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord. He rose to become commander-in-chief of the German army between the wars, and is remembered for being a staunch opponent of the Nazi regime. That is, unless you've read widely in organisational behaviour, in which case you probably only know him for the following, slightly un-PC remark about his officers, that's often used to comment on modern-day organisations:
I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Most often two of these qualities come together. The officers who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Those who are stupid and lazy make up around 90% of every army in the world, and they can be used for routine work. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!
The quote comes from a manual on military command written in 1933. If Hammerstein-Equord was a modern day consultant he would have immediately sensed a two-by-two matrix, so we have indulged ourselves and mapped it out. We've found this picture generates some very interesting conversations!
If this diagram tickles you, you might want to follow up by reading Venkat Rao's trail of posts on "The Gervais Principle" (starting here), which follows a similar idea. This series has attracted a lot of attention and for good reason. Be warned - it's more like reading chapters in a book than reading blog posts. Worth the effort though.
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