Reinventing Organizations, Open Space and Self-Management, With Suzanne Daigle – PS034

Reinventing Organizations, Open Space and Self-Management – Episode Overview

There are leaders lurking in every organization. There is no dichotomy between life and work. Suzanne Daigle continues to be inspired by the stories of ordinary people achieving extraordinary things. She shares stories where she’s witnessed determination, leadership and passion in action. Organizational reinvention and self-management are the next strategic frontier for sustainable success in business.

Robyn Stratton-Berkessel, host of Positivity Strategist, speaks with former journalist Suzanne Daigle, an open space facilitator and consultant at NuFocus Strategic Group. Suzanne shares her excitements about the incredible times we live in and the huge challenges that we have ahead of us to transform the way we work.

We’re on the frontier of something very exciting – it requires us to take a leap of faith into a new world of work.  Opening Spaces!

The Journey of Self-Management (starts with managing ourselves). The power and potential of Ordinary People doing extraordinary things and how in this world of open communications, it is opening floodgates of opportunity for people to create and shape the new world we live in.

Self Selection and Self Management

In all of life, which includes work, it’s important to be able to have a sense of ownership and pride in what we do by self selecting to be part of certain projects. We do our best work when we have the sense of being included and feeling valued. In today's fast past-world, our rapid fire communications leave little time for conversations and opportunities to share and grow.

Employees, especially younger workers, are seeking to actively participate and to be part of the decision making process.  Growing up in a world of open communications, there is such a strong desire to be included and involved and to have the opportunity to use our talents in the best way.  Across the whole value chain, instead of focusing on presenting to others, we need to shift the focus to collaborating with others.

Suzanne shares that she has come across many people who feel dissatisfied at the end of their workday, even in jobs and at companies they once loved. Over time, companies may lose their overarching vision and begin focusing on the short-term solutions and ignoring the long-term future without necessarily thinking about the impacts and possible consequences.

A good question Suzanne suggests asking when considering a strategy or change is: Is this really going to give us a sustainable, competitive advantage, strategic future that we need? She points out that It will take courage to reinvent work and bring together the best people a company has and to share the load ahead by tapping into the 80% of people who longing to be engaged and involved.

Open Space

The practice of opening space starts with an invitation to convene a conversation that is a matter of importance, urgent to the particular group.  The more diversity you can bring in, the richer the conversation.  In a workplace, Open Space works powerfully to solve urgent business related issues.   You invite those people who are passionate about the topic and want to contribute.  Susanne provides some beautiful stories from her own experiences as an Open Space facilitator.  When working in this way, people begin to develop internal networks that can produce extraordinary results.

We also explored extraordinary networks, external to workplaces, that are transforming relationships.  Social media facilitates extraordinary external networks. You can connect with so many people, and truly find each other and work together for a greater common goal. You can connect inside people with outside resources. Robyn’s references this in her post, “Being OPEN” on Meddle.it’s blog Open for Business.

Effectiveness and Positivity

Today, there is an emphasis on big data and individual efficiency. Suzanne challenges companies to look at effectiveness instead to secure future success. Robyn encourages the use of stories as a starting point to learn about people and to discover what people really care about and their potential for creating desired, positive change. When people are in a more positive frame of reference, then they are much more open, willing to share, resourceful, and creative. Flourishing is a goal to have; flourishing goes beyond thriving and being sustainable.

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POSITIVITY LENS for this Episode

Download Suzanne's suggested “positive activities” for this episode: Hint – Great strategies for you to speak up, stand out and do the work you love, and, at the same time,  open up others to such possibilities.

Openness and Humility

When we truly value all the players in an organization, it awakens us to be mindful about coming from a place of humility, whether we're internal or external, irrespective of our roles, our generation, gender, ethnicity or background. Older, experienced workers should be open to hearing from younger, less experienced workers and vice versa in order to learn from each other and grow themselves and their company. An important way to share is through the use of stories about strategic issues, what was important for them and the organization, and gaining wisdom of what has worked in the past while imagining what might be possible in the future.

How to Connect with Suzanne Daigle

• Suzanne's Website
• Suzanne's Facebook Page
• Suzanne's Twitter Page
• Suzanne's LinkedIn Page
• Suzanne's Google Plus Page

Suzanne's Books/eBooks

• Suzanne's eBook: French Ebook on Open Space Technology (co-authored)

Suzanne's Articles/Papers

• Suzanne's Article: It's time to Open Space in the workplace
• Suzanne's Article:  The Future of Work (team member)

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

 

 

 

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