At the OSonOS in Marysville the question was posed "Are We There Yet?" Harrison has asked me to share MY reflections of the conversation that this question provoked. I was prompted to commit my reflections to print by my direct involvement in a fire that now has burnt over 2 million acres of mostly forest and alpine country in south east Australia. A key outcome to date has been NO loss of life, very few homes burnt and very minor damage to community infrastructure all this in an area that has major Hydro electricity infrastructure, two very large ski resorts and many small towns servicing forestry, agriculture and tourism. My reflections. Robert
Are We There Yet? Are we there yet? A simple question posed by Harrison Owen in the final session of the Open Space on Open Space at Marysville in November 2002. The following notes are my reflections on the meeting and may not be the way others recall or interpret the discussion. Who are we? And what do we mean by "there"? Harrison suggested that "we" might mean those people who are responsible for the running of businesses and organisations or those mentoring, training or coaching these people. He suggested that the "there" might be if we stripped away all the jargon and the process and distilled down the essence of what a healthy, productive leading etc organisation would have at its core could we describe what that would be and could we give practical examples. The group quickly agreed that the answer to the question "Are we there yet?" is yes! The reflections from the group was that when openly working with groups it is very evident that the group knows what and in many cases why the organisation works. "We" know that "the what" that makes things work is more than the formal "plan" ? business or organisational plan. Most recalled that when contracting to work for an organisation we were often given an organisational chart or business plan and as it was handed over the common comment was "well that is how it was but there have been some changes?..". We all agreed that despite the plans being out of date many of these organisations were flourishing and leaders in their field. It would seem that the people knew what had to be done to make things work. As we pushed this further it became clear that the relationship network within organisations was one of the best-kept secrets. When the people of any organisation were asked in an open environment they would have stories like "Everyone knows this place would fall apart if xxxx in accounts left" "If you real want to make things happen???." We also reflected that many of the greatest break throughs or new products or practices are almost always outside the formal plan ? An apple on the head and we get a new insight into physics, "Postit" notes are the result of a failed glue experiment, The modern photocopier and digital printers are the product of a ghostly image on a plate that had nothing to do with the job at hand. And so on. We also know that within successful organisations we will find robust and highly competent management that underpins, supports, resources and reports what the organisation does. The example given of all these factors in action was Forest Fire fighting. This is an organisational response to a unique set of circumstances. We can predict that we might have a forest fire but each fire is unique, how it starts, where it starts, the weather that influences its behaviour and the people who are brought together to "fight" the fire. Essentially a Fire Fighting effort is a group of skilled people or teams of people with the appropriate resources integrated to respond to "what ever comes". Partly it is reactive and intense and partly it is strategic. Forest managers do a lot of risk management work: · Fuel reduction, · Maintaining or sourcing the special equipment that might be needed, · Training people in specific skills that are needed when the fire comes, · Recruiting new people to maintain a viable fire fighting force · Maintaining a sense of purpose and moral among the firefighters, · Ensuring that resources to sustain the firefighting effort are available when required. All this effort is set in place but is not deployed until it is needed. Then the resources are deployed based on current and predicted circumstances ? the fire fighting is deployed, developed and closed down in direct proportion to the state of the fire and its predicted development. The resources that the firefighting effort uses are not, in the majority, dedicated fire fighters but are people with special skills who are deployed as required. In the jargon of the 1980's it is a "Just In time" "zero inventory" type business that is only there while the need is there. An example of meeting a need and moving on! In simple terms once a fire incident starts the Incident Controller leads by deploying the resources required now. This deployment is based on the current situation report, reports that are prepared and delivered at times consistent to the state (both real and predicted) of the fire and the environment in which the fire is located. We have a process of preparedness from very low risk to level one through to level four. So we actually give waning to the people who might be involved as to their possible need and the urgency of any possible response. At the highest level we actually have them standing by to minimise the delay in response should a fire start. We have developed objective tools to measure and monitor conditions that give us the foundation for action. We retain and encourage people who are interested in the business of fire fighting to act as a source of experience and thinking that can accurately and quickly access a situation and deploy the best action even though the site, the people, the resources and the conditions at the spot have never been together at that place before. The business of firefighting is based on a plan, deploy and review cycle, which is constantly acting in new circumstances. The process condemns poor performance to history and limited ability is replaced with new action based on what we know works now and is responsive to the current and perceived situation or conditions. It is a process that gathers intelligence from wide and diverse sources, everything from the food people eat to the latest satellite images of the fire edge. The action or deployment is very strongly based on what is working, things that are not working or are redundant are dropped quickly to give capacity to the things that are working now. There is a heavy reliance on individuals and small teams to apply best practice well away from close supervision. It is a process where teams are formed quickly and then dispersed, where people are required to build relationships and trust quickly and get on with the job. We felt that we could take the metaphor further but the point had been made ? we have a working example of an organisation that mirrors most of the things we would regard as best practice for any organisation. Here we see reflected the essence of a high performing organisation · "High Learning · High play · Appropriate Structure · Appropriate control · Genuine community" Harrison Owen "Riding the Tiger" pp 126 We also see the core elements of Strong Vital Leadership ? doing the right thing Expansive and exclusive Vision ? inventing the future Strong and cohesive Community ? the people, their life and welfare are a deeply integrated part of the business Robust and sound Management ? People, systems and process that optimise resources that are the best for the job are ready when required and are deployed and sustained effectively. Are we there yet? Yes, well, we do have working examples that tell us that we can be there now. No, in our reflections we also recognised that ever present in our community are organisations who are comfortable in staying where they are despite the changing environment in which they exist. It is these 'organisations' who ask, "Who moved my cheese?" while the successful have moved on to "new cheese" and are enjoying it. * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
