Discovering Common Ground How Future Search Conferences Bring People Together to Achieve Breakthrough Innovation, Empowerment, Shared Vision and Collaborative Action

by WEISBORD, MARVIN R.

• ISBN13: 9781881052081
• ISBN10: 1881052087
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-03-07
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

Discovering Common Ground brings together cases from around the world of a breakthrough new approach to strategic planning, empowerment, consensus building and whole systems improvement. In this approach - called a "future search conference" - people with diverse interests who have a stake in an organisation or issue come together for 2 or 3 days to explore their mutual past, present, and future in a global context, seeking common ground to invent ideal futures and generate creative strategies.

Author Biography

Marvin Weisbord consulted with business firms, medical schools, and hospitals from 1969 to 1992. He was a partner in the consulting firm Block Petrella Weisbord for 20 years and is a fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science. Productive Workplaces (2012), now in its third edition, is considered a classic. He also authored Organizational Diagnosis (1978) and Discovering Common Ground (1992). He is co-director, along with Sandra Janoff, of Future Search Network (formerly SearchNet), an international non-profit dedicated to community service, colleagueship, and learning.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
The Authors	xvii
Part 1 ORIGINS, CORE CONCEPTS, AND VALUES
Introduction	1	(2)
Applied Common Sense	3	(16)
Marvin R. Weisbord
Inventing the Search Conference	19	(16)
Bristol Siddeley Aircraft Engines, 1960
Marvin R. Weisbord
Building Collaborative Communities	35	(10)
Eva Schindler-Rainman
Ronald Lippitt
Parallel Paths to Community	45	(10)
Marvin R. Weisbord
Conditions for Success	55	(18)
An Exchange Between
Fred Emery
Marvin R. Weisbord
Part 2 FUNCTIONING OF FUTURE SEARCH CONFERENCES: STRUCTURE, PROCESS, CONTENT
Introduction	71	(2)
Search Conference Methodology for Practitioners	73	(10)
An Introduction
Oguz N. Baburoglu
M. Andy Garr, III
Adapting to Rapid Change Using Search Conferences	83	(12)
Lessons from Norway
Rolf Haugen
Informing Participants of What to Expect	95	(6)
Ivar K. Brokhaug
Touring 'The Four-Room Apartment'	101	(4)
A Dynamic View of Future Searches
Marvin R. Weisbord
Future Search Conferences and the New Science	105	(6)
What Process Should We Trust?
Margaret Wheatley
Dialogue as a Path Toward Wholeness	111	(16)
David Bohm
John Briggs
Part 3 SINGLE-ORGANIZATION CASES
Introduction	125	(2)
Strategic Planning in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services	127	(10)
John T. Wooten
Kathie M. Libby
Revising Brigham Young University's Business School Curriculum	137	(6)
Margaret Wheatley
Concept: Theory into Practice	141	(2)
Gary Frank
Dave Angus
Bob Rehm
Human Resource Future Strategy at Storagetek	143	(6)
Gary Frank
Bob Rehm
AMI Presbytarian/St. Luke's Medical Center Develops a New Vision	149	(10)
Dave Angus
Part 4 ISSUE-FOCUSED CASES
Introduction	157	(2)
A Conservation Strategy For Pakistan	159	(12)
Rodger Schwass
Planning for the Electricity Sector in Columbia	171	(16)
Willian E. Smith
Planning, Designing and Managing Large-Scale Searches	187	(28)
Day Care in Saskatchewan
David Morley
Eric Trist
Water Quality in the Upper Colorado River Basin	215	(14)
Bob Rehm
Rita Schweitz
Elaine Granata
Contextural Searching	229	(20)
Cases from Waste Management, Nature Tourism and Personal Support
Beth Franklin
David Morley
Part 5 REFERENT-ORGANIZATION CASES
Introduction to Part 5	247	(2)
Empowering People With Diabetes	249	(16)
The Australian Diabetes Foundation
Alastair Crombie
Setting National and Local Priorities	265	(18)
Australian Consumer Forum for the Aged
Alan Davies
Preserving Freshwater Fisheries	283	(6)
United Sport Fishermen in the United States
Dick Axelord
Part 6 RELATED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CASES
Introduction to Part 6	287	(2)
Northern Entrepreneurs Decide Their Future	289	(12)
Applying the Quetico Model in Ontario, Canada
Cliff Mcintosh
Margaret Wanlin
Rural International Development	301	(12)
Using the ICA Model in India and Maylasia
Patricia R. Tuecke
Part 7 MAKING SEARCH CONFERENCES EFFECTIVE
Introduction to Part 7	311	(2)
From Engineer to Searcher	313	(4)
The Impact of Values on Personal Practice
Tim Hutzel
Leading Search Conferences	317	(8)
Reflections on Managing the Process
Tony Richardson
Training Search Conference Managers	325	(20)
Merrelyn Emery
Doing By Learning, Learning By Doing	345	(18)
A Practitioner's Experience with Theory and Practice
Mary Fambrough
Part 8 PITFALLS IN ORGANIZING SEARCH CONFERENCES
Introduction	361	(2)
The Isle of Jersey Future Search	363	(12)
Pitfall - Whose Idea Is This Anyway?
Maurice Dubras
Ivar K. Brokhaug
The Center for International, Education	375	(6)
Pitfall - Missing the 'Power People'
James A. Cumming
Ohio Childhood Development Conference	381	(8)
Pitfall - Starting in Ohio, Not Globally
Chris Kloth
Part 9 FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Introduction	387	(2)
Effective Dialogue and the New Technology	389	(14)
Can Closed-Circuit TV Enhance Democracy?
Fred E. Emery
The Creative Search Gathering	403	(16)
A Story of Creative Action Learning From the Arts
M. Stephen Burgess
Applied Imagination + Current Events = UNLIMITED POSSIBILITES	419	(6)
Marvin R. Weisbord
References	425	(6)
Authors' Names and Addresses	431	(4)
Index	435