In a couple of minutes, in a hermetically closed eternal city, President Obama and Pope Francis will meet to discuss issues around economic inequality.Undoubtedly they will also be talking about world politics, Russia, Ukraine, Crimea and who knows, maybe even talk about my country - the ancient Persian civilization.....
I wonder if they will also discuss the root causes of inequality which go beyond economic issues. Hope they'll address also issues of social inequalities, how lack of mutual respect foments inequality, how resistance to embracing and accepting diversity of views and culture can cause inequality.
I guess for the first time in my life, I wish I was a fly on the papal walls to listen to the conversation of these two giants.
Hope we get some good soundbites and pearls of wisdom from this meeting.
This blog talks about development, knowledge management, social media, change management, organizational behaviour, ICT4D, rural livelihoods, leadership, management and other related subject matters.
Thursday, 27 March 2014
Monday, 3 March 2014
The backstory of the unexpected success of structured chaos - better known as ICO speedgeeking #ifadgsm
If you’ve ever been on a blind date you probably have experienced the accompanying sense of apprehension and anxiety....
As you are getting ready to go on the date, you are thinking to yourself, Oh My God, what am I doing.... What if the guy or the gal turns out to be a psychopath... You are thinking, I must tell someone I am going on a blind date. And you may be contemplating to ask your friends to go to the same restaurant, so that they can keep an eye on you.....
As you enter the restaurant to meet your blind date, the sense of apprehension becomes panic and you start to consider turning around and leaving... That is when you start praying to all the saints in the heavens to let you come out of this experience unharmed.....
On 24 February 2014 at 2pm when my colleague Willem, stood on what a couple of minutes earlier was our nurse’s medical booth, we held our breaths and prayed to all the saints in the heavens to make the speedgeeking work. And surprise surprise, it WORKED.
Willem a born leader #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/UuacS41Qt8
— adriane del torto (@adeltorto) February 24, 2014
It worked because THE PARTICIPANTS made it work. It worked because our country office colleagues gave nothing but their best by sharing compelling stories to engage the folks who visited them.
It worked because the stories were informative, fun and had the perfect blend of facts, figures and cultural aspects of their countries. It worked because the people visiting the various stations were curious and humble to learn.
It worked because everyone had put away their “I know it all attitude” and were wearing their “I want to learn more” garments. It worked, because it was a different way of interacting. It worked because it was of interest to everyone. It worked because it was a nice break from an orchestrated meeting - and was a structured chaos!
It worked so well that there was unanimous request for more of these things. Colleagues wanted the session to be longer so that you had an opportunity to visit more stations. This comment on one of the feedback forms was music to our ears: “We have become a knowledge organization as we’ve embedded KM in all our processes”.
Thank you for making this blind date a pleasant and memorable experience. Hope you found your better half and that you’ll live happily ever after :)
Willem Bettink rallies the troops at the #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/ZnxR2y991S
— Neil Sorensen (@NeilSorensen) February 24, 2014
Backstory of the ICO speedgeekingIn the spirit of knowledge sharing, here is the genesis and the backstory of this structured chaos.
The challenge: Give air time to 34 country offices to show case in 60 minutes three key characteristics of their countries, a challenge, and a remarkable achievement and learning.
The unknown: Number of participants showing up for the speedgeeking.... The million dollar question was how best to divide the participants so that all stations received and interacted with an equal number of colleagues.
The known: Given the time limit, participants could only visit a maximum of 4 or 5 stations
The moving goal post: Do all in the plenary hall.... Divide the speedgeeking between the plenary hall and the conference area.... Use the lounge and the corridor leading to the plenary hall..... If the weather is nice do it in the parking lot....... And you know what, we still had not completely made up our mind until 1pm.
The process:
- Meet with focal points and brief them on what was expected
- Ask our country office colleagues to respond to the above three questions
- Follow-up, follow-up and follow-up
- Organize briefing sessions with colleagues as soon as they arrived in Rome
- Brief volunteers on how we were going to conduct the structured chaos
- Discuss the structured chaos with security folks to get tips on how to move people
- Reassure the planning committee and management that it will work
- Make sure the layout allowed for a seamless flow of the various groups (we had 16 stations in the plenary, 10 in the lounge and 8 in the corridor connecting the lounge and the plenary hall)
- Ensure variety.... Mix the countries and avoid participants visiting countries from the same region
- Give clear instructions and prepare a straightforward itinerary
- Distribute people in such a way to avoid collisions and bottlenecks
- Believe in the speakers
- Rehearse the structured chaos
- Pray that all the stars align in the best possible manner
- Hold your breath when people start filing in through two different doors that you all stands have visitors
The moment of truth: No matter how much you’ve rehearsed, how many times you did your calculations and simulated the structured chaos you will only know it succeeds when it happens.....
Going on a virtual tour of 34 @ifadnews country offices at #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/VBppzEOASc
— Roxanna Samii (@rsamii) February 24, 2014
As the people started filing in with their itinerary in their hands, we realized we had fewer people that the expected 600. This meant that the first stations had more visitors. Thinking on our feet, the volunteers jumped into action by going around and redistributing the participants. This allowed us to have a better distribution.We managed the time in the best possible way, allowing participants to visit between 4 to 5 stations.
Our knowledgeable and extraordinary ICO colleagues did the rest....
The end-result was a memorable and magical moment resulting in people getting acquainted with different country realities, finding out that some of their challenges were already addressed by others, making new connections and learning from each other.
In other words - perhaps for the first time - we finally took a step to find out what we know by connecting with each other!
Lesson learnt:
- Definitely repeat it
- Allocate more time
- Start with making your groups smaller. If you have more participants, enlarge your groups
- Plan and rehearse
- Have an intimate knowledge of your space
- Leave somethings to chance, and think on your feet
- SMILE and have fun
Now that people have seen how this structured chaos knowledge sharing method works and rated it as one of the highlights of the Global Staff Meeting, hopefully it will get replicated in other upcoming events.
THANK YOU for making this blind date a memorable one.
Less pressure for missions you can take your time, visit regions even b/w supervisions : Cameroon #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/kEwnCovY2O
— adriane del torto (@adeltorto) February 24, 2014
.@knwanze visiting kenya country office stand t #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/Xjfns0szPZ
— Roxanna Samii (@rsamii) February 24, 2014
Learning about the country offices' challenges and opportunities #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/0BDTF4vJWQ
— Beate Stålsett (@beatews) February 24, 2014
~ At #ifadgsm, the #Brazil Country office staff member speaks about the activities IFAD carries out to improve lives. pic.twitter.com/cPpsrNWKlE
— Marcello Barnaba╰☆╮ (@vjt) February 24, 2014
Sierra Leone - the mid generation without education because of war. #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/DSCPKyLcpx
— amedeo (@amedeo) February 24, 2014
Listening to Bolivia ICO at speed geeking session #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/RSGDLAiaAJ
— Suyun Kim (@skim2009) February 24, 2014
~ Turnaround at #ifadgsm! We go around each Country Office delegation and hear, get inspired, learn how to do better. pic.twitter.com/sa8PAcAn3P
— Marcello Barnaba╰☆╮ (@vjt) February 24, 2014
@knwanze listening to the experiences from IFAD country office in DRC. #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/x3fRKMog6V
— Beate Stålsett (@beatews) February 24, 2014
~ Value Chain Development strategy explained at #ifadgsm: understand what’s good for the poor, and get it done! :-) pic.twitter.com/Ljh3AvRSHJ
— Marcello Barnaba╰☆╮ (@vjt) February 24, 2014
The wonderful structured chaos of speed geeking and challenge of moving 500ppl #kmers #ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/2gMsKO1kRS
— Roxanna Samii (@rsamii) February 24, 2014
~ Yet another colleague asking for better tools and modern technology. I’ll work hard to make this happen #ifadgsm. pic.twitter.com/3yQWT0Mq8L
— Marcello Barnaba╰☆╮ (@vjt) February 24, 2014
~ #ifadgsm in a nutshell: get all IFAD staff in one place and make them exchange ideas. This is how it looks like :-) pic.twitter.com/YjRTc3qjXe
— Marcello Barnaba╰☆╮ (@vjt) February 24, 2014
~ OK, time is up for me at #ifadgsm for the afernoon. Colleagues need better tools -> /me develops tools -> /me needs getting them done now.
— Marcello Barnaba╰☆╮ (@vjt) February 24, 2014
#ifadgsm pic.twitter.com/3A7O63TikC
— Daniela Cuneo (@dnlcuneo) February 24, 2014
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