I recently facilitated a workshop for Hong Kong Knowledge Management Society using the Organizational Zoo techniques in particular the Organizational Zoo character cards. We focused on the notion of what makes a good knowledge leader in behavioural terms. The Organizational Zoo metaphor helped us look at positive behaviours that might need to be present in order to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing, and those that were not acceptable. The group then compared the behaviours and characteristics with their own profile they had completed on line before coming to the session. This generated excited discussion and conversation amongst members of the group, debating between themselves what would be ok in terms of behaviour. In doing so they clearly illustrated that there was no right or wrong behaviours , only those which were more effective than others.
The group had then grasped the concept and went on to explore a number of other issues they devised themselves, sharing ideas between the sub groups. If the noise level was any indication, they were deeply involved in the exploration. Conversations were hard to stop when our time ran out. Several participants took packs of the cards with them to use in the workplace as they liked the fun concept and related to the notion that using metaphor was an extremely safe way of having discussions about behaviours.
Thanks to the members of OZAN who provided me with ideas and discussion on this presentation. To see presentation click on HKKMS presentation
