Triangles make Waves 2.0

By Larry Philbrook

In the last Winds and Waves was an article called “Triangle Make Waves” by John Epps about the ICA’s social process triangles and his work with Clancy Mann using these with an MBA program in the US.  A colleague with the Taiwan Facilitator Forum read the article and asked if we could offer a session on the social process.  We ended up offering three sessions.  One on the Social Process and two on another triangle called the corporate process, which is about how we can examine the dynamics that help organizations function. I want to describe this experience briefly and to inform you that these sessions are now on Adobe Connect and can be scheduled virtually almost anytime anyone is interested.

Social Process

We offered this session simultaneously online and in meeting.  We had fun gathering online and off.  This created an interesting facilitation opportunity for John and I. In the end we had more than 20 people in the dialogue with 10 in the room in Taipei and John plus as many as 15 others online from Taiwan and China.  We learned how to combine online technology with in room facilitation. 

As mentioned in the last article the social process triangles can be used to examine dynamics in society.  So we had the group use Taiwan as an example and the graphic to the right was created. 

The next session was on the corporate process. This time we worked a little differently since the conversation was all online.  After a reflection on the triangles, John did a quick walk through and then we used McDonalds as an organization we all recognize.  The final exercise was for each of us to develop a profile of our own organization.

Here are some excerpts from John’s talk:  There are three basic dynamics:  WHAT an organization attempts to do; HOW people work together to do it; and WHY it’s important.
 
We’ve labelled the WHAT as the ENTERPRISE. Some call it the BUSINESS and others call it the OPERATIONS, but all of us want to point to the main activity of the organization – what it’s out to do.   The criterion for assessing the WHAT is Effectiveness: how well does it do what it intends? If deadlines are not met and products and services have multiple defects, then there’s probably something wrong with the Enterprise.

The HOW, we’ve called the ORGANIZATION. It’s about how people work together to get something done. How are decisions made?   The criterion for assessing the HOW is Efficiency: How smoothly does the group work together to get something done? If there’s constant internal bickering and conflict, then there’s probably something wrong with the Organization.

The WHY we’ve called the CORPORATE CULTURE. This has to do with the values and purpose that hold the group together. The movie “The Internship” is about the company Google and its corporate culture that they call “Googliness.” It’s what makes an organization stick together.   The criterion for assessing the WHY is Motivation: how committed are people to the group and its task? If people find their work meaningless and boring, then there’s probably something wrong with the corporate culture.

Larry Philbrook is immediate past president of ICA International and
member of ICA Taiwan.