Learning Network Network
2004

December 04
Hosted by Gareth Jones - BBC

Thanks to Gareth for hosting this session at the BBC, despite the fact this coincided with Mark Thomson's day of announcements - so Gareth was only able to join us for the last part of the session. Needless to say a timely reminder of organisational change, maybe showing how the BBC adapts itself and reinvents itself again!

We had a broad discussion, about adaptive self renewing organisations, discussing life cycle of organisations, cultures, and subcultures and the need for differentiation within organisations between different parts of the business, e.g. commoditised products and more experimental areas.

It was good to welcome Paul Wells to the group from Nokia, who works with Chris Lloyd, and to spend sometime talking about Nokia culture, its People Strategy and emergent approaches to change which are being used in their People strategy around enabling adaptive, self renewing organisations. Fiona gave an example of a learning diary approach used in Nokia as part of this strategy and some of the patterns emerging from this reflective approach, including feedback and how it is currently happening in Nokia. Creating the conditions for feedback in the organisations was discussed as a key part of creating adaptive organisations as well as when different approaches to change are appropriate e.g. emergent change, AI. Christopher referred to the December HBR by Joe Campazano CEO IBM on their Values Jam and this as a renewal process which allowed people to voice their dissatisfaction and move through this to a positive view of the future. The discussion moved on to how to encourage self renewal and engagement, challenging the word engagement and the paradox of engaging others when people choose whether to be engaged. Also how can people move to a different psychological contract around their approach to change, taking responsibility for their own future, depending on their role.

Gareth brought us up to date with changes announced at BBC  so we did not fully explore role of HR and its various /structures including work done at Nokia.

We then ended by agreeing to focus on this more next time with people sharing their experiences of HR roles and structures, how they have shifted, e.g. BBC, Nokia, PwC, NHS, and of developing capability towards partnering, so anyone who missed this aspect by missing this meeting will be pleased! Other topics of course can be suggested, be good to hear from you.

September 04
Hosted by Margaret Neal in Oxford

We had an update from BA on work they are doing around leadership in troubled times as the next step in their change process, and moved into themes around:

• whether being a people manager was no longer seen as a job

• issues people have re engagement when being managed remotely,
  not feeling hooked in

• changes in leadership at BBC and its effects

• creativity v control

Our host talked about recent experiences at TVSHA in NHS and challenges of sustaining change inspired by poor performance targets when performance measures improved, including a forthcoming reorganisation and its impact.

The second topic was about engagement through a co creation approach in HP EMEA with senior line people and their teams around change and engagement on the customers experience at team level, as an alternative to Strategy sessions for all. This was discussed in the context of the company culture in the merged organisation. We discussed ways of spreading this within the organisation, and how to sustain and need for support to managers.

The next meeting will be on 7th December hosted by Garath Jones, BBC. When the theme will be an area around developing agile, renewable organisations and HR's role in this. Below are some articles on the reconfigurable organisation and boundarylessness:

• The Organisation's New Clothes - PDF
• The Reconfigurable Organisation - PDF

June 04
Hosted and led by Sarah Smart from BA
On the process of emplyees engagement

BA are involved in through current changes around their size and future shape. We explored many themes, sometimes in tangent:

• Challenges of engagement when downsizing, value of starting with research on peoples views and understanding that there may be less resistance than expected.

• Achievements- fast change, since 9/11 as repsonse to crisis.

• Need to engage on business plan/ future plans.

• Self service as a theme in airline business and in culture change.

• How to see this not as a change "programme" but as a catalyst to an ongoing " permanent step change" that is the embedded in way of working.

• Using stories and appreciative inquiry as part of addressing and agreeing expectations of leadership, and consequences of not meeting them, potential pitfalls of AI.

• Active sponsorship and involvement from Leadership team.

• Being clear re style of engagement and parameters, eg whether informing, conulting, seeking consensus, delegating decisions.

Do add any reflections, those who were there to my first thoughts.

Our meeting on 21st September wil be hosted by Margaret Neal. Who will talk about changes she is working with in the Strategic Health Authority in NHS where she is HR director, building on themes of engagement, of staff and managers in NHS agenda for change

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