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Aim and Stats Now in our fifteenth year of operation, the aim of the "OD" and "BTA" sessions is to continue to foster an appreciation of InThinking within an emerging network that is developing inside Aerojet Rocketdyne and beyond. Dates for future "OD" and "BTA" sessions along with additional "thinking" opportunities for 2014 can be found in this announcement. OD + BTA Stats
For an update on OD and BTA statistics, this month's invitation is going out to 1900+ 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, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, 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 GenCorp, United Technologies, GM, IBM, General Electric, NASA, Bechtel, Kuwait Energy Company, Philips Electronics, and The Boeing Company.
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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 Aerojet 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 |
Meeting Notice Service - OD and BTA If you'd like to receive meeting notices on your Microsoft Outlook schedule for upcoming Ongoing Discussion conference calls and Better Thinking About... webinars, reply to Bill Bellows at william.bellows@rocket.com and your name will be added to our meeting notice list. |
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 (or inside) 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. Also, please note that the "pound key" in the U.S. (#) translates to the "hash key" in the U.K. 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. |
Additional Reading Beginning in 2009, a series of articles have been prepared for the Lean Management Journal (LMJ) to share InThinking insights with the Lean community. This month's feature LMJ article, Mixed Model Management (released with the permission of the LMJ), was prepared to introduce LMJ readers to the concept of managing variation as a system. Contact Bill Bellows with questions, comments, or observations about this article. |
| Good afternoon from the Los Angeles campus of Aerojet Rocketdyne, located in Canoga Park, California, on the western end of the San Fernando Valley.
Aerojet Rocketdyne's InThinking Network welcomes Julie Goodfellow, from Abergavenny, Wales and Hugh McAllister, from Henderson, Nevada, to lead our third Ongoing Discussion conference call of 2014 on March 27th and 28th and also our 171st session since we began in January 2000. As for a topic, Julie and Hugh have selected "From My Seat in the Stadium Continued...", in their first time with us as Thought Leaders.
(Please note: daylight saving time is in force in the USA) Hugh has been a friend and thinking partner since 2008, when he worked in Los Angeles and joined the team for the In2:InThinking Network's Forum. Both of us met Julie at the 2010 Forum, where she was joined by 4 fellow graduate students from Cardiff University's Lean Enterprise Research Centre. Beginning in 2013, Julie and Hugh have supported the Forum by presenting a Pre-Conference session, to be offered again on June 18th at the In2:InThinking Network's 2014 Forum (June 18-22). As seasoned specialists in continuous improvement concepts, the focus of their Pre-Conference session is to share their front-line experiences in leading improvement efforts within their respective organizations, against the odds of the prevailing system of management, to borrow a characterization from Dr. Deming. Julie and Hugh begin their Thought Piece (link to either the 8.5x11 format or the A4 format) with these words,
Go to a conference on creativity; attend a symposium on personal growth, on organizational effectiveness or any other topic of interest around the goal of getting better. What is the common thread? What elements converge to make the dream possible? For us, it is the ability to think differently; to embrace different perspectives and to understand from those perspectives and the enhanced context they provide. In short, to see the playing field of life from different seats in the stadium unlocks a doorway to creativity and to enhanced living.
We will draw on shared experiences from previous In2:InThinking Fora and from each person's individual life's path. Perspective is the key. With an enhanced ability to see life as a kaleidoscope of perspectives, patterns will emerge where we have seen none; creativity will flourish where we once saw limited solutions; and personal and professional relationships will flourish in the light of new understanding. Their Thought Piece continues with these comments, Intuitively, people know that doing the right thing for customers, known also as clients/patients/constituents depending on the organization, brings the best results yet, so often, this perspective is lost. The bigger the organization, the more complex the operations, the greater is the challenge. There are often structural impediments that drive behaviours inconsistent with excellence (from the customer point of view). Additionally, colleagues are sceptical and disillusioned by the change programs they have watched come and go over the years and although they are motivated, intrinsically, they won't easily believe the program du jour is anything more than the latest in a long procession of fads. Their view of the game on the field is blocked by pillars of scepticism due to the number of times they have had their hopes raised and dashed in the past. Have you ever heard anyone say this is just the latest fad that will pass?
If we are serious about engaging people closest to the work, who participate daily in the GEMBA (understanding and knowing the work), we need to provide a method through which they can share their view of the playing field and through which others, whose seats give them different perspectives, can share theirs as well. Perhaps the most critical point is that only if we are advocating for sharing perspectives only with a plan for sustained action toward these objectives, can the goal of continuing "betterness" (maybe this isn't a word but you probably understand it) be attained.
The barriers that beset the people closest to the field are significant. There are other seats in the stadium, however, whose positions provide additional points of view and, as we noted earlier, often result in different paradigms with respect to what needs to be done and how it ought to be accomplished. These are the perspectives of middle management and senior management. There is also the perspective of spectators who sit at home and second guess the people who are involved directly in the action at the stadium. We'll call them the "Spectators" , whose participation will take time to nourish.
Link here to register to attend.
Looking ahead, our Better Thinking About... webinars continue next month, with a focus on How Literature Speaks to Business, hosted by Elaine Johnson on Thursday, April 10th, from 11:30-1pm. Link here to register to attend in advance of the announcement. Associate Fellow and Lead InThinking Network Aerojet Rocketdyne Canoga Park, California |
| March 27th - 28th OD Details Please join us for one or all of this month's series of OD conference calls. As always, you are invited to participate for as long, or as short, as you can in one or more of these sessions, Options 1-4. Note that these conference calls are "conversations, not presentations," which vary from session to session, due to a variety of causes, such as who participates, what questions are asked, and what learning transpires. This diversity is captured every month, as the calls are recorded, with links to these audio files shared with all who register to attend. (Please note: daylight saving time is in force in the USA) Option - Date/Time (Pacific Time); 1 - Thursday, March 27th, 12:00-1:00pm 2 - Thursday, March 27th, 1:00-2:00pm
3 - Friday, March 28th - 12:00-1:00pm
4 - Friday, March 28th - 1:00-2:00pm The agenda for each option will be: Opening 15 minutes: Call in and Introductions Next 40 minutes: Ongoing Discussion Last 5 minutes: Farewells and Close
Please reply to this note by noon, Pacific Time on Wednesday, March 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 Telecon lines (including a pass code and a security code) have been arranged for those who cannot join us in a conference room at our Canoga Park 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 |
Future Ongoing Discussion Conference Calls Mark your calendars - future Ongoing Discussion conference calls will be held on the following dates (subject to slight changes), from 12-1pm and 1-2pm Pacific Time.
Month, Dates, Thought Leader(s), Topics (link on each session to register): |
Future Better Thinking About... Webinars
Mark your calendars - future Better Thinking About... webinars will be held on the following dates, from 11:30-1pm Pacific Time. Details for how to participate in this webinar series are provided upon registering using the participant survey for each event.
Date, Presenter, and Topic (link on each session to register): June 12, Emma Langman, Systems Thinking - Part 2
August 14, Mike Tveite, the System of Profound Knowledge
September 11, Gipsie Ranney, Causes
October 9, Don McAlister, the Interdependency of Project, Risk, and Knowledge Management
November 13, Tim Higgins, Thinking Tools and Processes
December 11, Bill Bellows, InThinking |
InThinking Together Seminar 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 as well as Purposeful Resource Leadership. 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 Aerojet Rocketdyne Class #CP-2014-03 - to be hosted by College of the Canyons in Valencia Part 1 - 27-Mar - 7:00-11:30am Part 2 - 28-Mar - 7:00-11:30am Class #CP-2014-04 Part 1 - 24-Apr - 7:00-11:30am Part 2 - 25-Apr - 7:00-11:30a
Class #CP-2014-05 Part 1 - 19-May - 7:00-11:30am Part 2 - 20-May - 7:00-11:30am
Register to attend InThinking Together |
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. Aerojet Rocketdyne attendees will be given copies of The New Economics. Non-Aerojet Rocketdyne attendees can purchase copies on Amazon at this link, with used copies selling for $15 and Kindle copies available for $15.95.
Prerequisite - there are NO prerequisites
Format - seven 2-hour sessions over three and a half weeks, presented as a teleconference event
Presented by: Tim Higgins Schedule for The New Economics Study Session Class #CP-2014-02 Starting on 12-May, seven sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3:00-5:00pm (skipping 26-May and ending on 4-Jun) |
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March 2014
