[Ailist] thoughts on working in pairs in small groups

[Leif Josefsson]

I ran a worskhop with a small group of 4 people working with the topic of
"the board of directors of the future..."  - It was a group of people from
the Swedish Association of Board of directors (Not exactly sure of the
correct English word)

It was not framed as an AI workshop but the background was an expressed
interest from a major Stockholm design hotel to create spaces for Board
Meetings.  I thought the concept of AI would fit in order to look into

   1. Exploring and defining the context of this meeting
   2. Stories of good board work of the past
   3. Dreaming the perfect board work of the future
   4. How the Nordic Light Hotel created the perfect meeting solutions
   for board work of the future

As we only had a few hours and we had 4 active people + me I tested an idea
of "hot chair" for questions.

For each phase we had a person in the chair - and who this was was quite
natural.  The instruction was:

   - You will ask questions to this person around the topic
   - You are not allowed to comment or debate
   - After we have finished asking questions the "questioneers" will do
   reflections as a team.
   - I will simultainiously document what is said.

I acted as a facilitator and in the first phase I had to remind the
participants about the rules in order for them not to start discussing.  In
the dream phase they were perfectly in to "roles" - taking about board work
2017 as if it was in the present, and in the final phase the Chairman of the
Swedish association of board of directors went into the position as being
the CEO of Nordic Light Hotel telling the extremely succesful story about
how they had created the concept "Board room as a service"

The same night I could e-mal i 8 page report telling about the "good board
work", "Board work of the future" and the story about "Board room as a
service"

Conclusion: You can always find ways using the ideas and concepts of AI, if
you use common sense when designing.  On the other hand, I have used pair
interviews in a lot of settings without the context being AI.

regards from Leif

2007/7/5, Lynne Gilliland-Garber <CoachLynne at comcast.net>:

> Please let me know your experience and thinking on having people work in
> pairs when the large group is very small - maybe 5 or 6 people.  The
> last small group (7 people) I worked with some group members resisted
> working in pairs as they thought it was a small enough group to discuss
> the appreciative questions as a group.  I am working with a group of 5
> next week and anticipate the same resistance.  I myself like the pairs
> as it is was to create more intimacy and trust but perhaps I am off the
> mark here.
>
> I look forward to knowing others input on this.
>
> Kind regards
>
>
> Lynne Gilliland
>
> People Development for NGOs
> www.gillillandjud.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Appreciative Inquiry Discussion List is hosted by the David Eccles
> School of Business at the University of Utah. Jack Brittain is the list
> administrator. For subscription information, go to:
> http://mailman.business.utah.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/ailist
>



-- 
Leif Josefsson
Förenklare / Facilitator
Leander Kommunikation & Förändring AB
.:Communicate & Change:.

Ölandsgatan 48
116 63 Stockholm
tel +46 (0)70-773 00 54