Post-Lyon Reection:

The Power of Metaphor, Toolkit, and I.D.E.A.

Marco Cassone
July 19, 2013
MSOD 616 ! OD Practitioner as Global Citizen ! Dr. M. Lacey
616 Post-Session Reection Paper
Lyon, France Practicum 1: Small Systems Change Management
Client: EMLyon School of Business, MSc in I.D.E.A., and The Fab Lab
Goal: Present tools to enable client to transform their evaluation system
from the current professor-oriented and grade-driven model to a more
student-oriented and growth-driven model.
Team: The FabFour, consisting of Laura Woodward, Jason Stubbers, Elaine Zitner, and myself.
Challenge: Our 615 study of Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions prepared us to be cautious about
confusing American ideals we take for granted with solutions that would actually make sense to
our client. We needed to document for ourselves the many di"erent kinds of motivators and
cultural di"erence we encountered both in study before France as well as during our client intake:
Americans French
! are highly explicit ! are highly implicit
! value the present and future; good at action ! value the past; good at analysis & criticism
! binary: "it is true or false" ! contextual: "it depends"
! like what is simple ! like what is complex
! do not lie (it is bad) ! reality is exible
! want to be loved ! want to be independent
! social identity is based on the individual ! social identity as member of a group
! law and contracts must be respected;
everything is in the contract once it is signed
! tradition is to be respected; signing a
contract is the beginning of a relationship
! a contract is not linked to the relationship ! the contract is strongly tied to relationship
! process oriented : everything must be clear
and documented ; reacts as planned
! like grey zones, nuances; very creative &
quick to react & sometimes more inventive
! try to get a win-win deal ! if one wins, its okay the other may lose
! DOING: you are judged on what you do ! BEING: you are judged on what you are
! value quality of work ! value quality of life
! a "doer" gets things done ! a "faiseur" is arrogant and obnoxious
Taking stock of our own cultural biases, our FabFour team realized we were at risk of too quickly
matching client needs for a less rigid and critical grading system with our more growth-oriented
American and MSOD lenses. This would prevent us from truly hearing the clients pain point within
the client context and potentially let us too easily recommend quick xes from within our context.
We even found ourselves questioning our potentially di"ering denitions of e!ectiveness.
Goal: What we have witnessed across much of our MSOD literature is the value of metaphor in
creating access to insight. As Morgan shares in his Images of Organization, metaphor bring value
on two levels, showing us what a metaphor allows us to see as well as what it doesnt. Thinking
about Ed Scheins concept of creating cultural islands noted in his Organizational Culture and
Leadership, it became clear to our team that a neutral cultural island in the form of a metaphor
616 Post-Session Reection Paper
would best allow us to meet halfway between French and American perspectives. We also wanted
to nd a metaphor that would enable two levels of client insight, acknowledging their clear and
observable reality while revealing hidden or covert drivers that might be out of sight and perhaps
felt but not expressed. Given the organic and evolving nature of the I.D.E.A. program itself, we
chose the metaphor of the ecosystem of a tree, showing both above-ground presenting problems
and fruits of the program as well as important areas below ground that need to be nurtured.
616 Post-Session Reection Paper
The Complex
Integrated
Ecosystem of
McS in I.D.E.A.
& FabLab
Our team was thrilled with the success of this metaphor; a palpable sense of relief settled
throughout the room during our presentation, framed by immediate client feedback that they felt
deeply heard in having their reality mirrored back to them and validated.
From this opening, we then shared a website we had created for the client. Inspiration for this site
came from the 615/616 metaphor of an OD toolkit developed in tandem with student consultant
readiness. In fact, as part of our presentation we spoke to the distinctive approach shared by the
MSOD and MSc in I.D.E.A. programs in bringing students to a place of leadership readiness
supported by a multi-disciplinary array of skills and tools upon which to draw. With their own
educational model as a guide, the FabLab program director and design team felt empowered as
they toured our toolkit site of evaluation methodologies and grading rubrics. Presentation of the
I.D.E.A. ecosystem metaphor had created a readiness for the client to understand and value the
grading toolkit website in a meaningful and immediately actionable way.
Thinking about potential improvement, an engagement of longer duration could have imparted
more of an OD perspective to our client, honing awareness of the learning potential of using
grading and evaluation as participatory interventions themselves. We did allude to this concept,
but pulled back when the conversation started drifting into French pedagological philosophy,
which may have been interesting to this author, but was clearly not our intended outcome.
Reecting on my role in Team FabFour, I
contributed a creative element and sense
of playfulness to our deliverables that
appropriately matched the experimental
and innovative nature of design thinking
itself. With my background in international
performing arts education, I couldnt ask
for a better t in terms of client, venue,
industry, and presenting problem. Where I
can be self-critical is in appreciating that my comfort zone with this engagement may not have
been shared by team colleagues for whom high structure and more of a formal or corporate
presentation is their norm. I believe Team FabFour worked incredibly well together given the
diversity of our backgrounds, however Im aware that my creativity has generated prejudices that
pigeon-hole me as less capable of non-creative, structured, analytical work. As someone who
excelled equally in the sciences, calculus, logic, statistic, and even an honors astrophysics course
in my undergraduate years, I pride myself on my versatility, however am disappointed at the
limited view of my abilities that some members of our cohort may have. Such pre-judgment does
616 Post-Session Reection Paper
not happen without cause or reason behind it, so this is good for me to reect on to understand
my role in co-creating the perceptions people have of me. My Practice Point of View is beginning
to incorporate a systems perspective that incorporates aspects of cause-and-e"ect, reason, and
alignment that are subtle, simple, and beautiful to me.
On the positive, a successful way of handling the above circumstance for me was to align with a
member of our team with whom I could check in about my perceptions. Having someone function
as a touch stone for me and vice versa allowed us to voice and check our perceptions with
each other rather than bottling up thoughts and emotions in our heads. This in turn allowed us to
shrug o" and take less personally aspects of group dynamics in our team. I am learning to accept
that all individuals have a right to their preferences for the ways in which they must address the
four questions important for all groups to work out together according to Schein:
! Identity Who are WE as a group and how do I t in here?
! Purpose What are we doing here and does this align with what Im up to?
! Aggression Who is in charge and how does authority work between us?
! Intimacy How are we connected and how do we express intimacy between us?
In closing, I learned a tremendous amount from this consulting engagement. I learned to perceive
when my values and preferred ways of working are congruent or incongruent with immediate
group needs. I also realized that in as much as Schein describes leaders as those who
successfully help groups decrease uncertainty related to the above four questions, any behavior
that inadvertently increases uncertainty in those areas can be perceived as threatening to group
cohesion. In consideration of leadership qualities in myself, I can realize the importance of
judiciously letting my creative and self-expressive nature take a back seat to more collective
needs for certainty, structure, role clarity, and task accomplishment.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I submitted my paper earlier forgetting to share a nal page that Alchemy envisioned together on
our last day in Lyon. We are proud of our performance and e"ectiveness as a team, and we truly
value the relationships we are growing together. Towards this commitment, our group engaged in
a Start Stop Continue intervention designed to keep us growing and to re-integrate our stateside
member, Ana, who missed Lyon and was apart from Alchemy due to her pregnancy. It was our
intention to collectively submit this nal page as demonstation of our growth and reection.
Thank you Dr Miriam for your extraordinary commitment to your students and to this program.
616 Post-Session Reection Paper
616 Post-Session Reection Paper
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Add regular group dynamlc checkup" dlscusslons (lnLerval or frequency 18u).
o lnqulre abouL and dlscuss how well we are or are noL worklng LogeLher. Are our meeLlngs effecLlve?
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Add dlsclpllne around organlzlng our LhoughLs succlncLly before we speak Lo ensure more Llmely dellverles and
beLLer use of our Llme.
Looklng aL Alchemy as a dlverse sysLem LhaL requlres appreclaLlon, paLlence, and sLraLeglc use of our dlverslLy.
CuLllnlng expecLaLlons more Lhoroughly.
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o uo we all agree wlLh Lhe sLrucLure proposed for Lhe lnlLlaLlve Champlon?
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Allowlng room for learnlng whlle accompllshlng Lasks (wlLhouL lL feellng llke a war).
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Mlnlmlze
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SLop
Any sharlng of Alchemy group dynamlcs ouLslde of our group. WhaL happens ln Alchemy sLays ln Alchemy."
Pearlng preference for leLLlng Lhlngs evolve organlcally as a re[ecLlon or fear of sLrucLure. 8rlng curloslLy and
graclousness Lo each oLhers' preferences, Lo each oLhers' processes, and Lo each oLhers' glfLs.
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wlLh Lhe group. Can we open up dlscusslon and welgh alLernaLlves?
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o WhaL ls needed / mlsslng ln order for oLhers Lo feel safe wlLhln sLrucLure?
ueveloplng flxed ways of seelng each oLher, whlle Leam members have preferences, Lhere ls no one who
dlsagrees wlLh any/every" sLrucLure lnlLlally deflned, exLreme pre-[udgmenL can become an unhealLhy lens.
ConLlnue
1o be radlcally supporLlve and commlLLed Lo each member's conLlnued professlonal and personal success.
1o allow each oLher space ln case Llfe geLs ln Lhe way".
1o demonsLraLe honesL care and concern for each oLher.
ueveloplng a sense of communlLy and closeness wlLhln our group.
uemonsLraLlng compasslon, appreclaLlon, and respecL for oLhers. We have lL good!
uellverlng LxCLLLLn1 work producLs (wlLhouL over-exerLlng lndlvldual Leam members).
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8elng supporLlve, encouraglng and challenglng. 8elng who we are aL Lhe core -- no preLense.
Allowlng Lhe breadLh and depLh of our dlverslLy Lo Lhrlve!
ueveloplng whaL wlll become core, susLalnlng professlonal relaLlonshlps and llfelong frlendshlps.
8lC SMlLLS! PAvlnC lun! LCvlnC LACP C1PL8! Anu WA? 1CC MuCP LAuCP1L8!!!