You are the person in charge of factory "B". The chief of your maintenance Department manages 6 eight man teams, working under 6 foremen. You are worried because these teams don't work e fficiently. As a matter of fact, the workers in the teams tend to do just what strictly concerns their specific tasks. As a result, work and programs of this Department are slowed down. Only in cases of emergency is this routine overcome. You also know, on the other hand, that the capabilities and competence of the workers are higher and allow for more effective utilization.
How would you deal with this problem ?
Again, the results of the discussions were elicited and tabulated with the full group. During the full group discus sion of the results potentially relevant distinctions were introduced to the group and evaluated as to their significance and practicality.
Role Plays and Simulations
Following the scenarios, participants enacted role plays, which were based on the scenario and constructed as a result of the themes and patterns derived from the tabulations of discussion results. Participants were also asked to create simulations that were less restricted and more relevant to their own personal contexts to allow for more personal involvement and spontaneity. The role plays and simulations were conducted in a 'fish bowl' style, first with the whole group as observers and then breaking into smaller experi mental groups. The role plays were run such that there was the option to substitute group members into the leadership
role so that differences and similarities between styles, skills and use of tools could be identified and compared.
The role plays were organized to include lateral and one to-few relationships as well as one-to-one vertical relations depending upon the issues that came up during the discus sions.
The following is an example of a role play/simulation that was used to explore some of the interactive and relational leadership skills (as well as the cognitive and linguistic skills) associated with effective problem solving:
Roles: 1. Personnel Manager 2. Marketing Manager
3.
Production Manager 4. Project Leader Context:The Project Leader must organize a team to design a product for an expanding market - for example, to design a car to be introduced into Eastern Europe. The project leader has no technical competence in the product area. The policy problems have already been solved. The task of the project leader is to coordinate the various specializations to achieve the goal but be aware of real problems.
Observations of specific behavioral and cognitive patterns were made explicitly by the members of the research team during the role plays, as well as any patterns relating to specific NLP problem solving tools, such as "Well-formedness conditions for Outcomes" or the "'As If ' frame," etc .
As a method to insure the "code congruency" of various NLP distinctions, the participating managers were also asked to make comments on their observations, from the perspec-
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tive of either being in the role play or as an observer. As the NLP distinctions were introduced, the research team mem bers noted which ones seemed to be picked up and incorpo rated naturally into the comments of the mangers, and which ones seemed to "fade into the background." For example, terms which were picked up and incorporated immediately by the participating managers included distinctions such as:
"problem space"
"levels of change" (i.e . , "environment," "behavior," "capa bilities," "beliefs," "values," "identity" - "where," "when," "what," "how," "why," "who")
the S.C.O.R.E. Model distinctions ("symptom," "cause," "outcome," "resources," "effect"),
"perceptual positions" "dreamer, realist and critic"
Other terms, such as, "accessing cues," "submodalities," and "anchoring," seemed more foreign, and even confusing, to the managers' way of thinking and organizing their experi ence; even though the other NLP terms were just as new to the managers.
Modeling Filters
In order to identify the most relevant skills and tools used by the leaders , the research group members applied the following filters to their observations of the participating leaders as they completed each modeling activity:
1. Which distinctions were consistently demonstrated at
the level of unconscious competence, as evidenced by the leader's actions, language patterns and responses? 2. Which distinctions were immediately activated at the
tions of the seminar participants from observer position in the 'fish bowl' activities? The "code congruency" of the distinctions was also checked by asking the participants: a . Are these effective/relevant distinctions to describe,
release, learn, or transfer the skills of leadership? b. Is this an effective instrument to get at the essence of
leadership?
c. Does it "fit" - i.e., draw out or illuminate a structure that expands or enriches your leadership capabilities?
Those distinctions which arose as patterns of un conscious competence but were not activated through the NLP labels, were to become an engineering prob lem for the Zero Base seminar. It may have been that they were biased (negatively) in terms of intuitive fit by the mode of presentation or by the specific type of situation.