Post on 20-Jan-2016
Essential conversations
How using basic anthropology will improve your outcomes
Albert Linderman, Ph.D., CEO, Sagis Corporation
alinderman@sagiscorp.com612.868.1056
My attitude: You are the theorist of your world
My goal is to understand how you see and work within that frame of understanding
This brings with it certain feelings, depending on the situation and project: vulnerability, uncertainty, anxiety, confidence
Copyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
How I Approach Working with Organizations
Each time you work with an org (or a new division or dept) you are essentially doing ethno-research
Right ethno-research, wrong ethno-researchInterviewing is at the heart of ethnographyKnow how to ask the right questionsKnow who to ask
Our goal today—to understand principles of efficient and effective conversation with clients
Copyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Organizations are societies with a culture
They know what they want but they don’t always know how to explain it to someone else.
Your clients often mistakenly assume that you:
Know what they are trying to accomplishKnow how their systems workKnow what is more or less critical to themOther??Copyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Organizations and the humans that run them
Projects and initiatives lose momentum Internal and external relationships disrupted - with customers, suppliers and distributors Communication suffers Blind spots cause problems Resources shifted to training rather than work Documents/processes must be re-created
From the Client’s PerspectiveEffects of Poor Software
Design
Cost Metrics: Lost Sales/Decreased Time to Productivity/
Higher Operating Expenses, etc.Copyright © 2013 Sagis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Why Working with Clients Can be Complex: Handling a continuum of
knowledge Explicit knowledge Tacit
knowledge
“Surface Knowledge” “Deeper Knowledge”
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The continuum is found on both the individual“expert” level and the larger system level
Identifying Organizational Knowledge
“Explicit”
“Tacit”“Tacit”
“Explicit”
Descriptions
Procedures
Explanation
s
Relations
Strategies
Evaluations
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Complex Organizational Knowledge
The baseline facts (who, what, where, when) that contribute to an expert’s
activities.
Descriptions
The way the system is organized
with its multiple elements.
The efficient and successful actions that are
an expert’s repeatable activities.
Procedures
The sequential actions (human or machine)
embedded in the larger system.
The reasons why an expert’s activities
contribute to his/her success.
Explanations
The reasons why the system behaves the way it does between its elements.
The way in which an expert leverages his/her social
network.Relations
The way in which individuals and other
systems affect the system in focus.
An expert’s plans and executions toward a vision. Strategies
The deliberate and emergent responses the
system undergoes within its environment.
An expert’s perceptions and convictions that drive his/her actions in business
contexts.
EvaluationsThe capability of the system
to adapt and transform itself.
Copyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Copyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Clients don’t know what they know.
The complexity of organizational systems and culture leads us to conclude that we need to understand how to ask the right questions so that we discover what they
know
To accomplish this we need a basic understanding of human sense-making
How do I know what I think till I see what I say as well as how I say it.
People Organize Experiences Into Time Segments
Micro
Macro
Time
Moment by MomentDay by DayWeek by WeekYear by Year
March 27
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
28 29 30 31 April 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
April 06
Some Experiences Seem Longer, More MeaningfulWhile Others Seem Short & Meaningless
People can remember in vivid detail important experiences in their life - a critical work project, an award, 1st semester of college, a wedding,
a child’s birth, foreign travel, and so on.
Each one of these experiences can be remembered as a whole or as a series of short segments.
Time
Your experiences are made up of actions (initiated by you or by someone/something else that affects you).
These actions are anchored in your memory at a particular time and place.
As You Move Through Time You Are Always “Making Sense” Of Your Situation
Time
When you make sense you: assess the situation, explore questions, harbor feelings.
You may also at this point in time: draw conclusions, make decisions, formulate wishes.
There Is A Time-Gap Between Actions
Gap
Social & Family I nfluencesIQ & EducationPast Experiences
Language & CultureValues
Time
You draw from your internal resources (who you are) to make sense of this moment which is anchored in time and place.
The process of how you pull pieces together for the moment can be illuminated.
Your Sensemaking Moment Can Be Illuminated
Time
GapSocial & Family I nfluences
IQ & EducationPast Experiences
Language & CultureValues
Through careful interviewing the process of how a person constructed (made sense of) moments along the way can be
illuminated.
Experiences Consist Of A Number Of Actions & GapsMoving Through Time
MoreConscious
LessConscious
Time
Social & Family I nfluencesIQ & EducationPast Experiences
Language & CultureValues
This interviewing requires multi-level questioning to bring less conscious elements of sensemaking to the surface.
Experiences Consist Of A Number Of Actions & GapsMoving Through Time
MoreConscious
LessConscious
Time
Social & Family I nfluencesIQ & EducationPast Experiences
Language & CultureValues
This will illuminate the “why” of a person’s actions and reactions.
Experiences Consist Of A Number Of Actions & GapsMoving Through Time
MoreConscious
LessConscious
Time
Social & Family I nfluencesIQ & EducationPast Experiences
Language & CultureValues
Where does Sensemaking come from? B. Dervin
Built on the nearly universal way humans experience their move through time and space
By anchoring their talk around actions, the sensemaking under the surface can emerge to consciousness when the right type of questions are askedCopyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Sensemaking Questions
Level 1 questions—Anchored to time and space
Situation—How do you see yourself/your context?Questions—What are you trying to figure out? What questions do you haveEmotions—What are your emotionsConclusions/decisions—What conclusions and decisions are you making at this point in timeMagic wand/wishes—What are you wishing for? If you had a magic wand what would you have happen?
Copyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Categories of Sensemaking Questions
Level 2 questions—Anchored to Level 1 responses
“What is leading you to see yourself this way?” and/or “What influences you to see yourself this way?”“What leads you to ask these questions?” and/or
“What is influencing you to ask these questions?”“What is leading you to feel this way?” and/or
“What influences you to feel this way?”“How would that help?” or “What leads you to that?”“How would that help?” or “What leads you to that?”
Copyright © 2013, Sāgis Corporation www.SagisCorp.com
Categories of Sensemaking Questions