Best Practives in Leadership Development & Organization Change 31

270
BEST PRACTICES IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION CHANGE
Person Obstacle Want/Need
The Wall. Subjective and objective storytelling exercises were performed and
placed on the wall.
Subjective—Find your passion in the vision. Create a story about what this
initiative means to you in a very personal way. Platypi were asked to par-
ticipate in an exercise called “What If?” For example, “What if we could
create a brand that helped children understand their emotions?”
Objective—Tell a story based on something you have observed. Platypi
were sent into the field to perform observational research. They created
stories by watching children play. They identified the physical, mental, and
emotional aspects of what was taking place.
Platypi shared their stories with the rest of the group, then posted them on
the wall. They analyzed them and looked for emergent patterns. The patterns
provided the sparks of the emerging brand story.
Figure 11.2 Person, Obstacle, Want/Need.
Scene 2, Expression
Story
Multiple disciplines
Face-to-face
Bonds and membrane form
Wk. 3
Story
Exhibit 11.3. Bonds and Membrane Form
cart_14399_ch11.qxd 10/19/04 1:13 PM Page 270
The People. Although people were working individually they still needed to
stay connected. A check-in called “Face-to-Face” was implemented. Each morn-
ing the group met in the center of the room, formed a circle of chairs, and sim-
ply connected with each other, as humans, before the day and the work
commenced.

Face-to-Face.
Any human service where the one who is served should be loved in the process
requires community, a face-to-face grouping which the liability of each for the
other and all for one is unlimited, or as close to it as it is possible to get.
Trust and respect are highest in this circumstance and an accepted ethic
that gives strength to all is reinforced.
—Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership
2
Face-to-face served three purposes. The first two are explained here, and the
third will be explained later. One, it provided people with a forum to connect
with each other, and to be “in relationship.” It was important for them to under-
stand their mutual involvement. They discussed topics that were related to the
project, or sometimes, they talked about completely unrelated matters. The idea
was to look each other in the eye, connect, and renew their relationships on a
daily basis.
Two, it allowed people to name and resolve conflict. Someone once said,
spouses should never go to bed angry. The team’s motto was, never go through
the day in conflict. When people are “in relationship” conflict isn’t a bad thing.
In fact, it’s necessary for a living system to survive. Face-to-face gave people the
opportunity to name their differences and seek resolution within a healthy and
respectful community.
At the end of the expression phase the Platypi seemed fulfilled. They created
meaningful stories that they felt passionate about, and by committing their
stories to the wall they “announced themselves” to the community. In an uncom-
plicated way, they were beginning to build trust and respect for each other.
Lessons Learned. Vulnerability ϭ creativity. The group connected on a daily
basis, which held them in relationships of trust and respect. When people are
vulnerable, they are the most open—free to create. Traditionally, employees have
been told, “leave your feelings at home. This is business.” When organizations
strip humanness from the workplace they strip away human potential and

creativity as well.
Scene 3: Alignment (Week 4)
This was the first of three scenes of alignment. It was designed to build on the sto-
ries that the team had created and strengthen the bonds between individuals (Fig-
ure 11.3). A renowned product development firm and an improvisational artist
MATTEL
271
cart_14399_ch11.qxd 10/19/04 1:13 PM Page 271
272
BEST PRACTICES IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION CHANGE
Scene 3, Alignment
Improvisation and brainstorming
Strengthening bonds
Bonds strengthen
Wk. 4
Story BrainstormBrainstorm
Figure 11.3 Bonds Strengthen.
were brought in to lead the group in Creation workshops. The combination of
improvisational theater and product development brainstorming techniques
helped the group create the tools they needed to define their own ideation process.
The Wall. There were twelve stories on the wall, which did they work on first?
They voted. Each Platypi was given three Post-it notes, and they picked the
stories they felt served the vision. The stories with the most votes were the ones
they brainstormed.
The wall evolved into two sections with the original twelve stories in the
center and the more refined stories to either side.
The People.
Group participation and agreement remove all the imposed tensions and
exhaustions of the competitiveness and open the way for harmony.
—Viola Spolin, Improvisation for the Theater

3
Individuals gathered into small brainstorming groups and aligned themselves
around the stories they felt most passionate about. One person facilitated
and acted as the scribe, while the rest of the group added ideas and built on
those of others. A playful atmosphere, mutual respect, trust, openness, and
ownership took center stage. Competitiveness and egos were set aside.
The group defined their own rules for brainstorming: No judgment, go for
quantity of ideas, build on the ideas of others, there are no bad ideas, no
editing, don’t think too much, stay connected, and pass the pen (rotate scribes
during the brainstorm).
This scene put everything the group had learned to the test. They
• Applied their individual and collective knowledge
• Saw how play could enable spontaneity
• Felt what it was like to surrender their ideas to serve the story
• Discovered the intelligence of twelve is far greater than the intelligence
of one
cart_14399_ch11.qxd 10/19/04 1:13 PM Page 272
MATTEL
273
Lessons Learned. The group experienced the power and fulfillment of creating
something together through play. It strengthened the bonds between individu-
als, and competitiveness slipped away.
Organizations often rely on competition to act as a catalyst for innovation.
Employees are left feeling unfulfilled, burnt out, and isolated.
Imposed competition makes harmony impossible; for it destroys the basic nature
of playing by occluding self and by separating player from player.
—Viola Spolin, Improvisation for the Theater
4
Scene 4: Alignment (Week 5)
In this scene Platypi began to express themselves through the stories they felt

passionate about, while still honoring the vison (Figure 11.4). They aligned
themselves around narratives in groups of one or two, and they used the wall
to develop their work, which created a visual representation of the process. A
practice called “Gift Giving” emerged.
The Wall. The Platypi continued to develop the stories here. Some achieved
this through research, drawings, or style boards and others through the written
word or product concepts. Everything hit the wall with the vision at its center.
Each of these manifestations informed each other. A living, breathing brand
began to coalesce.
At one of the open houses we noticed a guest walk to each corner of the
room. He would stop, look at the wall, and then move on. We asked him what
he was doing, and he said, “I can see that wall from every corner of the room.
No matter where I stand, I can see where you are in the process.”
Gifts.
We live in a gift-giving economy. Once you create a gift and give it
away you are empty, and free to create again.
—Sam Hamill, NPR Radio interview
5
Scene 4, Alignment
Alignment around an idea
The individual and the group
Research
Gifts
Realignment
Wk. 5
Story
Brainstorm/IdeasResearch
Figure 11.4 Realignment.
cart_14399_ch11.qxd 10/19/04 1:13 PM Page 273
274

BEST PRACTICES IN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION CHANGE
Participants began to give each other “gifts.” If someone created an idea that
seemed right for another person or group, they would draw or write it and pin
it next to their work on the wall. Since everyone felt a sense of ownership over
the process there was very little competition. Gifts were given away freely.
The People. People aligned themselves around ideas they felt passionate about.
We never said, “You, you, and you will work together on this.” This was the
opportunity for individuals to express themselves. So much of their future work
would be centered on the group. This was the time for a person’s voice to come
forward. Some people chose to work together. The alliances formed organically
around an idea.
For some, this part of the process was threatening. They were used to working
in an environment where they would have a meeting, disappear into their cubes,
and emerge only when they had a solution. “My idea is ready now!” Their process
was isolated and invisible. At first it was very difficult for some members of the
group to commit their idea to the wall because they knew that it meant giving it
away. Face-to-face became very meaningful at this stage. Members of the group
were able to reconnect each morning before they began their individual work.
At first the group didn’t want to relinquish the comfort and security of the group
to work alone. However, they knew they were an organic whole of the living
system. They had the support and trust of the group, which allowed them to open
up and create freely.
Lessons Learned. A system of trust, respect, and support freed members to cre-
ate ideas for one another and give them away as gifts. It made sense. They were
all telling the same story. In some companies, the brand story is held by a cho-
sen few. They consider it their property. But if all employees have a stake in the
story, they will be more willing to share ideas and promote it.
Scene 5: Alignment (Week 6)
The final scene of alignment was meant to bring the brand story into view. The
stories, research, and product concepts were orbiting on the wall. The group

searched for patterns and tried to bring coherence to the story. The wall and
living system had entered a new, yet necessary, phase of development—chaos
(see Figure 11.5).
Chaos theory proposes that when repetitive dynamics begin to interact with
themselves they become so complex that they defy definition. Yet from
these “complex dynamics” there eventually emerge new patterns that
are based loosely on the old. In other words, while chaotic systems
break down order, they also reconstitute it in new forms.
—John R. Van Eenwyk, Archetypes and Strange Attractors
6
cart_14399_ch11.qxd 10/19/04 1:13 PM Page 274