Leading the Big Conversation

Participants from Accenture, ABRSM, BAE Systems, Defra, and Oxfam agreed:

• Machines will take over many roles but people will remain at the centre of successful organisations
• We will all need to acquire new skills to cope with new technology and its capabilities
• Some will struggle to keep up with smarter working patterns and the cultures required to support them while traditional work/life balances will suffer
• But the speed of innovation and the shift from hierarchy to network structures will also liberate people
• Customers will benefit and new service relationships evolve
• Competition will become fiercer, arrive from global sources and to stay competitive we will have to keep automating work
• Risk management will require rethinking as threats to reputation and security multiply
• Big data will transform what we do but we do not know how

The group translated this into a Big Picture and then used this to explore what it meant for them. As it was a pilot we collected lots of feedback on the impact of the process and implications for using it within their organisations. Feedback included:

• “This approach is powerful”
• 100% strongly agree that they appreciate the value of conversation as an approach to change
• 100% agree today has been a good use of my time
• “Fantastic day!”
• “Feel a real sense of achievement.”

Here is a short video that captures the day.

I was helped by David Gifford who did his usual fantastic job of interpreting people’s ideas and scribbles into a coherent whole. I am also hugely indebted to the strategic facilitator and supporter of numerous colleagues Michael Ambjorn

Michael helped put the short video together and provides strategic facilitation and other services.