I searching for Centres of Excellence and a possible mentor for a
fellowship that I am applying for. The fellowship allows for 6 months of
carefully focussed study, thought and practise in the United States over
late 1999 and 2000. i have some ideas about who I might approach but
thought it prudent to seek your input.
The issue I wish to address is a continuation of the work in which I am
currently engaged. I have been reviewing the performance management
systems for the people in the New Zealand Police. In doing so I have
taken a radical (for this organisation) approach which has involved
developing a participative structure/process which will allow the
'operators' to engage in deeper levels of conversation around the key
issues, to design solutions that they see as having value, and to create
the space where they can experiment with and learn from their designs.
The process is designed to transfer essential competencies to participants
and to bring the critical issues surrounding individual and organisational
performance into the open. I have leaned heavily on the work of Mark
Feenstra and believe that we have come up with something that, for New
Zealand Public Service at least, has great potential to deliver
significant breakthroughs in performance. I have recently started an
Organisational Learning Forum in the public service here. It is becoming
evident that many of the significant problems and challenges that we face
we hold in common - we only believe through our ignorance and lack of
conversation that they are unique to us.
What I am seeking to do is to enable the fullest possible use of the
collective intelligence available to deliver breakthrough performance in
Public Sector organisations. I am seeking to find how we can make our
organisations more humanly and organisationally effective. There are some
particular areas that I wish to focus on in terms of theory, practise and
results. These include: dialogue, participative workplaces and
structures, self-organisation, systems thinking and community learning.
With dialogue i am looking to find ways of deepening the conversation in
environements that are often racked with the games of power and politics.
With participative workplaces and structures I am looking to identify
organisations that have built high to exceptional levels of commitment and
performacne through genuine participation. In self-organisation i am
looking to identify the 'container' that needs to be constructed to allow
people to push the envelope as to what is possible while still giving the
'management' comfort in stability. With systems thinking I am looking for
application of this discipline while confronting real and difficult public
issues or performance/commitment issues. i am particularly interested
where the maps developed have become significant catalysts for deeper
levels of conversation and experimentation around the subject issue.
Finally I am looking for instances of what could be described as a step
beyong organisational learning - that is addressing the key issues that
confront, challenge and threaten our communities. I want the world to be
a better place for our kids and I do not believe that this can be acheived
without identifying,confronting and grappling with the key issues of
community and society. I would be extremely interested in any communities
or government organisations that have grasped this nettle.
Each of these areas of focus is a worthy topic in its own right. If I
give preference to any issue it is a dead heat between the area of
dialogue and the issue of developing meaningful participation. While I
wish to benefit from new ideas, practices and new contacts in the US, I
also wish to discuss and test the process that we have developed so far.
To gain support for my proposed programme of thought, study and practice i
must identify a clear centre of excellence in the area and a leader in
that field who is willing to act as a mentor. Please do not limit your
suggestions to these areas. i am also interested in what organisations,
people, conferences and communities I should visit to make the experience
as richly rewarding as possible.
I would appreciate any of you taking the time to advise me in this area.
The issues are important to me and my country...
TTFN...
John Cosgrove
j.cosgrove@clear.net.nz
--"John Cosgrove" <j.cosgrove@clear.net.nz>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>