I recently facilitated a workshop for a Government department Young Professionals Network. This particular department had recently gone through massive organizational restructuring. Valued relationships were broken down and new ones needed to be formed to achieve the necessary work. There was a prevailing level of frustration and hopelessness as well given the change process had been long. People were being required to form new working groups and teams which was proving difficult. We decided to look at the behaviours necessary to achieve collaboration and working together. It was also necessary to make the process fun in order to free up some of the tensions neurophysiologically. This would open people up to different ways of doing things. The workshop used the Organizational Zoo metaphor techniques developed by Arthur Shelley. It was highly interactive, using a variety of scenarios and exploration techniques to better understand behaviours. The group responded with great energy and even playfulness. In one exercise a group of participants decided to draw rather than use the animal metaphor cards as pictured above. Below is the end result of the drawing.
Another group invented their own animal as they couldn’t find what they wanted in the pack. Again a wonderful example of playfulness and a great way of freeing up the tension, engendering hope and opening people up to new ideas.
Feedback from the workshop has been very positive. ” It was a fantastic workshop. We all appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed it.”