FUTURE SEARCH TEN PRINCIPLES for Changing the World One Meeting at a Time Sponsored by: Marv Weisbord and Sandra Janoff, Co-Directors, Future Search Network

Webinar Agenda Introductions Ten Principles Questions &Answers

3 Sandra Janoff, Ph.D., and Marvin Weisbord have led hundreds of meetings and trained more than 4000 people worldwide to use their principles. They co- direct Future Search Network (FSN), an international non-profit that pioneered the "whole system in the room" for effective planning. FSN received the “Outstanding Global Work Award” from the OD Network. Marv and Sandra 3

4 Principle #1 - Get the Whole System in the Room KEY: People with Authority, Resources, Expertise, Information, and Need in the same room. Make it hard to avoid responsibility. 4

5 Principle #2 - Control What You Can, Let Go What You Can’t Control: Purposes, Agenda, Air Time, Room, Who Attends, Group Size Let Go: Participant Attitudes, Behavior, Motivation & Commitment

6 Principle #3 - Explore The Whole Elephant Look at all aspects of a situation before acting on any part.

7 Principle #4- Find Common Ground Treat problems and conflicts as information, not action items, Resolution not needed to find common ground.

8 Principle #5 - Let People Be Responsible No need to diagnose group norms Or “pysch out” motives. Free yourself from “hidden agendas,” “Resistance,” and “Defensiveness”

9 Principle #6 - Master the Art of Subgrouping A little-known structural method to keep groups on task Learn to tell functional from stereotypical subgroups Use functional subgroups to head off unproductive conflict.

10 Managing Yourself [Four Leadership Principles] Make Friends With Anxiety Get Used to Projections Be A Dependable Authority Learn to Say No (If You Want Yes To Mean Something) 10

11 Principle #7 - Make Friends with Anxiety Work with “blocked excitement Contain anxiety in yourself and in a group Turn anxiety to creative energy

12 Principle #8 - Get Used to Projections Accept “projections,” loved and hated parts you see reflected in others. Awareness of how you project makes it easier to work with diverse people Learn how to avoid “taking it personally”

13 Principle #9 - Be a Dependable Authority Accept your authority without being authoritarian Learn to accept authority projections on you

14 Principle #10 - Learn to Say No If You Want Yes to Mean Something Watch out for requests for “outcomes” and “Deliverables under impossible conditions Stick to your experience and your boundaries Offer alternatives No NO NO! How about... 14

Resources See web site for public workshops in Weisbord, Marvin & Sandra Janoff. Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, Janoff, Sandra & Marvin Weisbord. “Three Perspectives on Future Search: Meeting Design, Theory of Facilitating, Global Change Strategy.” in Scandinavian Journal of Organizational Psychology, Volume 13, Weisbord, Marvin & Sandra Janoff. Future Search: Getting the Whole System in the Room for Vision, Commitment, and Action. 3rd Edition. San Francisco: Berrett- Koehler, Weisbord, Marvin & Sandra Janoff. “Faster, Shorter, Cheaper May be Simple; It’s Never Easy.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 41, No. 1, 70-82, Weisbord, Marvin. Productive Workplaces: Dignity, Meaning and Community in the 21 st Century. 3 rd Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2012.

Comments? Questions?