Aim and Stats
Now in our twelfth year of operation, the aim of the "OD" sessions is to continue to foster an appreciation of InThinking within an emerging network that is developing inside Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and beyond. Dates for future "OD" sessions along with additional "thinking" opportunities for 2011 can be found in this announcement.
OD Stats
For an update on OD statistics, this month's invitation is going out to 5000+ partners in the U.S., as well as fellow inthinking partners in Australia, Austria, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chile, Dubai, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, 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, Philips Electronics, and The Boeing Company. Among this list of invitees, participation in December's OD conference calls with Jane Lorand included 36 partners from across the US and UK, including (in all, 520+ have joined us in 2010, with 450 partners in 2009, 394 in 2008, 342 in 2007, 444 in 2006, and 402 in 2005...ah, yes, variation exists).
And, yes, Grace, the diffusion process of connecting thought leaders continuuues...
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In a week that began with a nation-wide celebration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and ended with the 50th anniversary of the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, here's the announcement of the first Ongoing Discussion announcement of 2011. For those who prefer to work together, learn together, and think together, it's time to come together in the spirit of improving our abilities to do so in our respective organizations...as a starting point. Towards this end, this month we feature Gipsie Ranney as our Thought Leader, in sessions set for Thursday, January 27th and Friday, January 28th. Details follows below.
Link here for the PARTICIPANT SURVEY for this month's ODs and to receive the conference call information once you complete the survey.
Cheers...
Bill Bellows
Associate Fellow and Lead
InThinking Network
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Canoga Park, California
william.bellows@pwr.utc.com |
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50 States and 16,000+ miles in a Year
The cover story of a recent edition of Time magazine is titled, "An American Journey - 6,782 miles, 12 states, 24 days, 576 songs," a journey in pursuit of "the issues people are talking about." Meanwhile, the husband and wife team of Doug Adams and Deb Lewis, who joined us as Thought Leaders in July 2009 on the topic of Reconstruction in Iraq: An Extraordinary Opportunity to Expand One's Thinking on How We "Help" Others, are going further, much further, all in the spirit of "helping" focus "awareness and action" on the issues of U.S. veterans. With Doug on his bicycle and Deb and Daisy, their 10-year old Chihuahua, in the tour's motor coach, Simba, progress along their 50 state, 16,000+ mile "Duty, Honor, America Tour" can be tracked on their website as well as on Facebook. Look for Doug and Deb to share their stories with us, along the tour, as Thought Leaders in 2011. Until then, follow them on their blog sites ( Doug and Deb), as well as on Facebook and using Twitter for day-by-day updates. At last report, Deb and Doug were seen along Interstate 10 in west Texas, not far from Deming, New Mexico, and soon to enter New Mexico, looking for warmer weather and friends they've not yet met, to share their vision with. |
Memories of and from Russ Ackoff
The one and only Russ Ackoff served as our "January" Ongoing Discussion Thought Leader on four occasions between 2006 and 2009. In addition to these "visits" with us from his home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, he also traveled to Canoga Park every year, from 2003 through 2007, to deliver half-day and full-day lectures in our Leadership & Learning Center (picture above), as well as in Boeing's Conference Center in nearby Huntington Beach. In doing so, he inspired us with his countless "systems" stories, from his chance visit to AT&T's Bell Labs to experience the account of the "overnight destruction of the Bell telephone system" (and his discovery of their use what came to be known as the Idealized Design process) to the tale of a cost-cutting paper company client, who continued to offer sales of a paltry amount (think "loss leader") of specialty photographic paper to Claire Booth Luce, whose husband's company, Time magazine, was their number 1 customer. One of these stories, plus many more from his career in the U.S. Army, stationed in the South Pacific, to his lengthy career as a management consultant, is told by Russ in the first of two recent posthumous publications by Triarchy Press, titled Memories. Follow this link for more details on this book, in addition to news of the second book, Differences That Make a Difference.
To view a video (of another previous and upcoming Thought Leader) John Pourdehnad's fond memories of Russ, follow this link on YouTube. |
| Menlo Labs' "Garden of Eden" in LA
Tracy Huston, our Ongoing Discussion Thought Leader in 2007 and again in 2009, with Dave Flanigan, has been putting her green thumb to work in Los Angeles, guided by her systemic thinking and joining minds and arms with Dave Flanigan to initiate an urban farming project that is serving 150 families a week (including 40+ within Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne) with everything from carrots to chilies, employing at-risk youth in the San Fernando Valley, and providing free training for more than 75 employees. In a recent visit to their North Hollywood farm (covered by local media, including the LA Daily News) on land provided by the Department of Water and Power, and a project funded by the city of Los Angeles, Tracy and Dave shared a vision of "an Eden in the middle of a city" and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa imagined "what we could do if the city could now find more land." While we wait for a return visit by Tracy and Dave as Ongoing Discussion Thought Leaders in 2011, link here for more about their recent book, Gardening for People and Planet. |
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Welcome First Timers
Your names have been added to this announcement list by virtue of your attendance in our series of InThinking Roadmap seminars, workshops, and overviews within Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, or attendance at the annual In2:InThinking Network Forum, 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 e-mail 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 |
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Thought Leader - Gipsie Ranney
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's InThinking Network welcomes Gipsie Ranney, from Brentwood, Tennessee, to lead our first Ongoing Discussion of 2011 on January 27th and 28th (and our 133rd session since we began in January 2000). She has selected "Lake Wobegon and Other Places" as our topic this month, in our annual "what-better-way-to-begin-the-New-Year?" conversation with our good friend, Gipsie Ranney. Gipsie previously joined us as a Thought Leader in January 2010, on the topic of "The Trouble With Incentives; They Work," as well as in October 2007, on the topic of "Motivation in the Workplace."
We think you will greatly enjoy Gipsie's Thought Piece ("Lake Wobegon and Other Places."), which is all about the "above-average effect" - "the tendency to believe that one is more "athletic, intelligent, organized, ethical, logical, interesting, fair-minded, and healthy - not to mention more attractive - than the average person..." Gipsie explores this human phenomenon with humor and insight, and a sense of genuine inquiry.
She writes: "To me, the striking thing about the above-average effect, as well as the below-average effect, is the object of comparison. Am I comparing myself to others or am I comparing myself to myself at an earlier time? Is my focus on improvement and learning, or is it on social comparison? Of course, questions by psychologists that ask people to compare themselves to others will automatically bring answers that involve social comparison. How much social comparison do people actually do? How much do they need to do? Is there a need for social comparison to build self-esteem? Is this need a characteristic of all humans?"
When you hear Garrison Keillor's line about all the children in Lake Wobegon being above average, have you ever paused and thought about yourself? Are you above average? In intellect? In height? In driving skills? In physics skills? In ability to deliver a joke? In foul recognition on a soccer (football) field? In leading a team? How about the person in the next cubicle? Is he or she above average? Would he or she agree with your self-assessment? If both of you are above average, where are those below average folks? What questions do you have about how we measure and rank ourselves (or our children)? What's your mental model about comparison? To what extent does one's culture affect this mental model? How do our mental models affect our attitude toward change and improvement?
As for skills as a physicist, Stephen Hawking delivered a 90-minute presentation at Caltech earlier this week. His session, titled, "My Brief History," included commentary on his neuro-muscular dystrophy, and his reflections on being diagnosed, while still in graduate school;
"When you are faced with the possibility of an early death," he said, "it makes you realize life is worth living and there are lots of things you'd like to do."
His lecture ended with questions from three students. The last one, from an undergraduate student, asked Hawking to comment on a story of a noted physist who once compared himself to Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton on a scale of physics intellect. The student wanted to know where Hawking would place himself on this same scale. His quick reply offered insight on his mental model about comparisions; "people who rate themselves are losers."
Biographical Information
Gipsie Ranney is an international consultant to organizations on management, quality improvement and statistical methodology. She was a member of the faculty of the Department of Statistics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for fifteen years. She was a co-founder of the University of Tennessee's Institute for Productivity through Quality, and she developed and conducted numerous seminars on quality improvement. She served as Director of Statistical Methodology for General Motors Powertrain Group from 1988 to 1992. She was the first president of the W. Edwards Deming Institute. She co-authored Beyond Total Quality Management: Toward the Emerging Paradigm, published by McGraw-Hill, and contributed to Competing Globally Through Customer Value, published by Quorum. She has published papers on quality improvement and statistical methods. The American Society for Quality awarded her the Deming Medal for 1996, "for outstanding contribution in advancing the theory and practice of statistical thinking to the management of enterprises worldwide." Gipsie holds a B. S. in Mathematics from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Statistics from North Carolina State University.
Contact Gipsie at gbranney@comcast.net with any questions you would like to share with her in preparation for her OD session with us. |
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OD Details
Please join us for one or all of the hours of this month's ODs. As always, you are invited to participate for as long, or as short, as you can in one or more of these sessions. Note that the conversations vary from session to session, due to a variety of causes, such as who participates and what questions are asked. This diversity is captured every month, as the calls are recorded and posted as mp3 files on a PWR OD website that is being created.
Option - Date/Time (Pacific Time), with Gipsie Ranney;
1 - Thursday, January 27th - 12:00-1:00pm
2 - Thursday, January 27th - 1:00-2:00pm
3 - Friday, January 28th - 12:00-1:00pm
4 - Friday, January 28th - 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 Wednesday,
January 26th 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 us in the Omega Room at the DeSoto facility for both days.
Telecon lines (including a pass code and a security code) have been arranged for those who cannot join us at the DeSoto facility 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 |
International Participants
Our conference call sessions are toll-free within the U.S. and Canada. Several international participants have been able to connect toll-free using Skype for a VOIP connection, which we now recommend to others calling in from outside the U.S. and Canada.
First, you'll need to establish a Skype account at www.skype.com. Once Skype is set up and functioning correctly the only thing that is different when connecting with our "InThinking Roadmap" conference call sessions ("OD" or "The New Economics Study Sessions") is the use of a pass code and security code. For our "OD" sessions, these numbers are provided once the "participant survey" is completed. For the "The New Economics Study Sessions," these numbers are provided in an email from Tim Higgins, who hosts these calls. In either case, when prompted by Skype to enter these codes, use the keyboard not voice option and be sure to turn off the computer's microphone, otherwise the numeric keys don't function. If the microphone is left on when the codes are entered, Skype's automated operator will reply with "number not recognized," as no number has been transmitted.
New users of Skype are encouraged to perform a conference call test in advance of the scheduled "InThinking Roadmap" conference call. Contact Bill Bellows to arrange for a test call. |
Future OD Dates
Mark your calendars - future Ongoing Discussion sessions will be held on the following dates (subject to slight changes), from 12-1pm and 1-2pm Pacific Time.
Month, Dates and Thought Leader(s):
February 15, "day 2" with Arnold Goodman
February 24-25, Bob Dickman
March 24-25, Leslie Peters
April 28-29, Peter Stonefield
May 23-24, John Pourdehnad
Note that the "OD" home page on the In2:InThinking Network web site is being moved to a PWR website. Stay tuned for the new address. |
Systems Thinking Newsletter
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 December 2010, 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. |
InThinking Roadmap Seminars and Workshops
The following in-house "InThinking 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 InThinking Roadmap, in addition to seminar and workshop descriptions and upcoming schedules, are being added to a new PWR website, to be announced. The schedule below includes the next available offerings for the listed seminars in Canoga Park, California. Contact Bill Bellows to request additional information.
Note that the dates listed below are subject to change. All times listed are Pacific Time. |
InThinking Together (formerly "ET")
Description: This seminar explores the philosophies of a variety of management theorist, including but not limited to Russell Ackoff, W. Edwards Deming, Edward de Bono, Tom Johnson, and Genichi Taguchi, among many others; as they apply to the management of organizational resources, including ideas, innovation, knowledge, money, equipment, and space. Among the topics of discussion will be the concepts of "better thinking about thinking" (InThinking) and "Purposeful Resource Management." The seminar will introduce you to these ideas through a series of questions that are specially selected to create awareness of a new approach to working together, learning together, and thinking together.
Registration Fee - there is NO fee to attend
Prerequisites - there are NO prerequisites
Format - two 4.5-hour sessions over two days, offered as an in-person event
Presented by: Bill Bellows
Schedule for InThinking Together classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Class #CP-2011-01
Part 1 - 27-Jan-11 - 7:00-11:30am
Part 2 - 28-Jan-11 - 7:00-11:30am
Class #CP-2011-02
Part 1 - 24-Feb-11 - 7:00-11:30am
Part 2 - 25-Feb-11 - 7:00-11:30am
Class #CP-2011-03
Part 1 - 24-Mar-11 - 7:00-11:30am
Part 2 - 25-Mar-11 - 7:00-11:30am
Register to attend InThinking Together |
Six Thinking Hats
Description: This seminar is designed to present a more structured approach to thinking, for individuals and teams. We have developed many excellent thinking tools for argument and analysis. Our information technology methods are constantly improving. We have, however, developed few tools to deal with our ordinary everyday thinking - the sort of thinking we do in conversations and in meetings. What is needed is Parallel Thinking or Thinking Together, where each thinker puts forward his or her thoughts in parallel with the thoughts of others. The Six Thinking Hats method is a practical way of carrying out Parallel Thinking. This seminar explores Edward de Bono's concept of Six Thinking Hats as a way to unbundle thinking, separating out its different aspects. Use of the Six Thinking Hats can result in more productive meetings on the road to better resource management within a growing environment of "InThinking Together."
Registration Fee - there is no fee for PWR employees to attend. For visitors, we charge $165, payable to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Prerequisite - there are NO prerequisites
Presented by: Tim Higgins
Schedule for Six Thinking Hats classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Class #CP-2011-02
12-Apr-11 (7:00am-4:30pm)
Class #CP-2011-03
16-Aug-11 (7:00am-4:30pm)
Class #CP-2011-04
18-Oct-11 (12:30pm-4:30pm)
19-Oct-11 (12:30pm-4:30pm)
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Lateral Thinking
Description: This seminar provides participants with a number of deliberate, formal tools for creative thinking followed with opportunities to practice building usable skills. Seminar content is based on the work of Edward de Bono, an international authority on creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking skills. Edward de Bono's Lateral Thinking tools are based directly on how the brain functions as a self-organizing information system. Here are some notes from Edward de Bono on the definition of Lateral Thinking:
1. You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper.
2. Lateral Thinking is for changing concepts and perceptions instead of trying harder with the same concepts and perceptions.
3. In self-organizing information systems, asymmetric patterns are formed.
Lateral Thinking is a method for cutting across from one pattern to another. This course develops skill in the use of the Lateral Thinking tools by means of practice exercises. Skills learned will build upon concepts covered in other classes on our InThinking Roadmap.
Registration Fee - there is no fee for PWR employees to attend. For visitors, we charge $120, payable to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Prerequisite - Six Thinking Hats
Format - two 8-hour sessions, offered as an in-person event
Presented by: Tim Higgins
Schedule for Lateral Thinking classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Class #CP-2011-01
1-Feb-11 and 8-Feb-11 7:00am-4:00pm
Class #CP-2011-02
1-Dec-11 and 8-Dec-11 7:00am-4:00pm
Register to attend Lateral Thinking |
Managing Variation as a System
Description: This seminar continues to explore the prospects of better thinking as defined by the management and leadership philosophies of Russell Ackoff, W. Edwards Deming and Genichi Taguchi and other like-minded systemic thinkers. The topics of discussion will be "Resource Management" (the systemic application of resources, including activities without problems, but featuring opportunities for investment) and it's applicability to variation management and systems thinking. This seminar will introduce you to these ideas through a series of questions specially selected to reveal a refreshing perspective when managing variation as a system.
Registration Fee - there is NO fee for employees to attend. Visitors are asked to bring a copy of the course textbook (Donald Wheeler's
Understanding Variation), which can be purchased online for as low as $25. Follow this link to Amazon for one purchase option.
Prerequisite - there are NO prerequisites
Format - three 3-hour sessions over three days, offered as an in-person event
Presented by: Joe Onstott
Class #CP-2011-01
17-Oct-11, 19-Oct-11, 21-Oct-11 8:00-11:00am
Register to attend Managing Variation as a System |
Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making
Description: The seminar presents more rational approaches to problem solving, decision making, and successful planning. The seminar content is based on the work of Charles Kepner and Ben Tregoe who studied the methodology of "successful" managers and concluded that better skills in problem solving, decision-making and planning were a key distinction.
Registration Fee - there is no fee for PWR employees to attend. For visitors, we charge $330, payable to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Prerequisite - there are NO prerequisites
Format - three 7-hour sessions over three weeks, offered as an in-person event
Presented by: Tim Higgins
Suggestion: If you are unable to attend all three sessions in a given monthly series, we encourage you to attend the first session and then attend the second and third in any order during a future monthly series.
Schedule for Kepner-Tregoe classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Class #CP-2011-01
31-Mar-11, 7-Apr-11, and 14-Apr-11 7:00am-4:00pm
Class #CP-2011-02
13-Sep-11, 20-Sep-11, and 27-Sep-11 7:00am-4:00pm
Register to attend Lateral Thinking |
The New Economics Study Session
Description: A group of participants assembles, some in-person and some via teleconference, for this 14-hour series. Participants discuss W. Edwards Deming's last book, The New Economics, in which he introduced his concept of a "System of Profound Knowledge." The group reads specified chapters before each session and discusses the meaning and application of the ideas, as well as personal reactions to the ideas. Supplemental reading material become part of the conversations, as do reactions to video tapes of Dr. Deming.
Registration Fee - there is NO fee to attend. In addition, this is a toll-free call from the United States and Canada. International participants are welcome to join in as well, provided they do so at their own expense for the conference call.
Prerequisite - there are NO prerequisites
Format - seven 2-hour sessions over three and a half weeks, offered as a teleconference event
Presented by: Tim Higgins
Session #CP-2011-01
Sessions begin on 19-Jan-11 and run on Mondays and Wednesdays through 11-Feb-09, from 3:00-5:00pm
Session #CP-2011-02
Sessions begin on 23-May-11 and run on Mondays and Wednesdays through 15-Jun-11, from 3:00-5:00pm (skipping Memorial Day)
Session #CP-2011-03
Sessions begin on 31-Oct-11 and run on Mondays and Wednesdays through 21-Nov-11, from 3:00-5:00pm
Register to attend the TNE Study Session |
Design of Experiments & Taguchi Methods -An Overview
Description: This seminar introduces the fundamentals of both Design of Experiments (DOE) and Taguchi Methods and also serves to relate both bodies of knowledge to PWR's InThinking Network efforts. This course is a condensed version of two extensive 40-hour Taguchi Methods seminars. The shorter overview is designed to provide a strong foundation in the thinking and applicability of DOE and Taguchi Methods for both process and product improvement.
Registration Fee - there is NO fee to attend Prerequisite - there are NO prerequisites
Format - eight 2-hour sessions over four weeks, offered as an in-person event
Presented by: Bill Bellows
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