July 2008 Ongoing Discussion Announcement with Ariane David

July 2008

Ongoing Discussion Announcement

In This Issue

Welcome First Timers

OD Details

Future OD Dates

Systems Thinking Newsletter

Thinking Roadmap Seminars and Workshops

Enterprise Thinking

Six Thinking Hats

Managing Variation as a System

Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making

The New Economcs Study Session

Aim and Stats

Now in our ninth year of operation, the aim of the "OD" sessions is to continue to foster an appreciation of Enterprise Thinking, as well as inthinking, within an emerging thinking network that is developing inside Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and beyond. Dates for future "OD" sessions along with additional "thinking" opportunities for 2008 can be found in this announcement.

OD Stats

For an update on OD statistics, this month's invitation is going out to 4000+ partners in the U.S., as well as fellow inthinking partners in Australia, Austria, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Dubai, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.K. Taken together, these individuals represent over 600 organizations in this list of nations, from elementary schools and senior high schools to colleges and universities, from one-person consulting firms to United Technologies, GM, IBM, General Electric, NASA, and Philips Electronics. Among this list of invitees, participation in June's OD conference call with Cyndi Laurin and Craig Morningstar included 36 partners from across the US (200 have joined in so far in 2008, 342 joined in for all of 2007, 444 partners joined us throughout 2006, and 402 thinking partners joined us throughout 2005).

Yes, Grace, the diffusion process of connecting thought leaders continuuues...

Quick Links

In2:InThinking Network Website

In2:InThinking Network Newsletter

InSights

Ongoing Discussions

In2:InThinking Network 2007 Screen Saver

Good morning from the west coast home of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, located in Canoga Park, California, on the western end of the San Fernando Valley in greater Los Angeles.

Having just passed "Independence Day" in the U.S., where those of us in the northern hemisphere are into the prime time of the summer season, it's time to once again come together for a few hours of "thinking together." This month we feature an early edition Ongoing Discussion, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, July 14 and 15, from 12-2pm Pacific Time on both days. Information on this month's Thought Leader, Ariane David, and her audio Thought Piece, follows below.

Click here for the PARTICIPANT SURVEY for this month's OD and to receive the conference call information once you complete the survey.

(Click here if you are having trouble reading this announcement.)

Cheers...
Bill Bellows

Associate Technical Fellow and Lead
Enterprise Thinking Network
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Canoga Park, California
william.bellows@pwr.utc.com

Welcome First Timers

Your names have been added to this announcement list by virtue of your attendance in our series of Thinking Roadmap seminars, workshops, and overviews within Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, or attendance at the annual In2:InThinking Network Forum, or through a personal request, from you or a friend. Welcome to our thinking networks.

Click either link below to send me the name(s) and email address(es) of anyone you would like to have added to this mailing list, or let me know if you would like to be removed. Thanks!!!

ADDITIONS DELETIONS

Thought Leader - Ariane David

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's (PWR) Enterprise Thinking Network welcomes Ariane David to lead a special edition Ongoing Discussion, our 6th of 2008 on July 14th and 15th. We were all set to feature Ariane in April, immediately after the 2008 Forum, in what was to be our first use of a Forum keynote presentation as a Thought Piece. Our intention was to offer some participation in the Forum to network members who could not attend the Forum. Some difficulty with the recording prevented us from doing this in late April, but we have resolved the technical problem and are pleased now to offer this innovative Ongoing Discussion.

Those of us who were able to attend Ariane's keynote, titled "Thinking Outside the "I": Moving from My Space to OurSpace," (Link here to go to the web page for Ariane's Forum presentation) experienced the exhilarating discovery that there is power in learning a new way of thinking. Communication, the essence of the successful journey from "My Space" to "OurSpace", goes well beyond the mere transfer of information, and even beyond the ability to internalize and apply that information. It demands nothing short of being able to think beyond the comfortable, wheel-worn paths of the intellect, i.e., of questioning our thinking and the limits of our thinking in order to expand our capacity to think. This session was about creating the foundational skills you need to be successful leaders, managers, and citizens, the skill of communication, i.e., learning to think critically so that you are able to recognize what is behind your thinking and the thinking of others, learning to listen so that you are able not only to understand what is being said, but why it is being said; and communicating in a way that is clear, powerful and compelling.

As you listen to her presentation (link here to download the audio file of her presentation as well as the pdf version of her prepared charts), you might think about examples in your life when you were able to think about how you think, and the difference that reflection made in a particular situation. What new thinking habits have you developed during your connection with PWR's monthly Ongoing Discussion as well as the In2:InThinking Network? What did you leave behind in order to adopt and nurture new thinking habits? How do you describe your approach to others? What are ways to practice? What other resources have you found helpful in shifting your thinking?

Ariane David is a founding and managing partner of, and human systems development specialist with The Veritas Group, a consulting firm specializing in organizational development. She is a Senior Lecturer and member of the Executive College at California Lutheran University, and the Executive Director of the National University Center for Organizational Excellence. Ariane has served as an advisor to numerous boards of directors and project based groups including the Senate Committee on Corporate Ethics. Ariane's specialties include systems thinking, organizational learning, organizational change, culture development, conflict transformation, strategic thinking, and executive/management development. She holds a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems and a B.S. in Physics. Her research and practical experience in the area of whistle-blowing has made her a recognized expert in this field.

Contact Ariane by email with any questions you would like to share with her in preparation for the OD sessions.

OD Details

Please join us for one or all of the hours of this month's OD. As always, you are invited to participate for as long, or as short, as you can in one or both of these sessions...

Option Time (Pacific Time)
1 - Monday, July 14th - 12:00-1:00pm
2 - Monday, July 14th - 1:00-2:00pm
3 - Tuesday, July 15th - 12:00-1:00pm
4 - Tuesday, July 15th - 1:00-2:00pm

The agenda for each option will be:
Timing: Topic
Opening 10 minutes: Call in & Introductions
Next 45 minutes: Ongoing Discussion
Last 5 minutes: Farewells and Close

Please reply to this note by noon Pacific Time on Friday, July 11th to confirm your plans to participate in one (or more) of these options. If you do plan to attend, please complete the OD PARTICIPATION SURVEY by using the link below...

PARTICIPANT SURVEY

Those of you connecting in Canoga Park can join in from conference rooms 205 and 206 in building 1 at Canoga. Telecon lines (including a pass code and a security code) have been arranged for those who cannot join us at Canoga and are provided upon completion of the participant survey.

As always, please forward this announcement to anyone we missed who would also like to participate.

Regards...
Bill

Future OD Dates

Mark your calendars - future Ongoing Discussion sessions will be held on the following dates, from 12-1pm and 1-2pm Pacific Time.

Month, Dates and Thought Leader(s)
August 21-22, Sheila Ronis
September 25-26 (NEW DATES), Thought Leader To be determined (TBD)
October 23-24, Thought Leader TBD
November 20-21, Joel & Michelle Levey
December 10-11, George Roth (NEW DATES)

Follow this link to find our current list of Thought Leaders for all of 2008, as well as announcements for Thought Leaders in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Systems Thinking Newsletter

Now available online for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne employees...

The Systems Thinker is an electronic newsletter made available monthly (on a subscription basis) by Pegasus Communications. Each issue provides articles and case studies on systems thinking concepts and is available only electronically (as a .pdf file). Tools and techniques for use in the Learning Organization are regularly included in this valuable publication. Featured authors include thought leaders and consultants well known in organizational learning and change management circles.

The current edition of the SYSTEMS THINKER, as well as archived issues from December 2002 through June 2008, is available for reading and printing by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne employees here.

Network friends outside of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne can learn more about this newsletter AND read a variety of sample issues and articles online. Individual and site licenses are available.

Thinking Roadmap Seminars and Workshops

The following in-house "Thinking Roadmap" seminars and workshops are open to employees of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), as well as suppliers, customers, family members, and "Members of the Community." "Members of the community" are individuals who are involved full or part time, or in a volunteer capacity, in community related work.

Background information on PWR's Thinking Roadmap, in addition to seminar and workshop descriptions and upcoming schedules, can be found in a new addition to the In2:InThinking Network website at www.in2in.org/TR/. Links to descriptions for each session are embedded in the titles below.

The schedule below includes the next available offerings for the listed seminars in Canoga Park, California. Contact Bill Bellows to request additonal information.