Achordus intro oct 2011

Achordus IntroductionOctober 2011

change: the conversation

A process to enable a distributed community to come together around pressing organisational or business issues. Guided by a structured methodology, led by a facilitator, Achordus offers a time-limited online engagement to invite employees, stakeholders and communities to participate in a purposeful online conversation.

The engagement is designed to result in rich, qualitative contributions within a framework to translate this into actions/themes to integrate with and inform further activities at many levels within the organisation or community


• Process developed with IBM in 2001• Honed over dozens of engagements• Achordus founded in 2009 (as a division of Teamspace Canada) with

a license to deliver the process independently of IBM • Software as a service plus process consulting

2001 2003 2005 2008


Web 2.0/ technologies to

enable large-scale

conversations

Stakeholder engagement

Change/ organisational

consulting


ActCodify

Frame: Requirements analysis, preparation, training

Discuss

Discuss: Collaboration in the web-based discussion space

Codify: Capturing themes and actions from the conversation

Act: Use the findings to influence decision-making and action

Frame


Topic Overview(What is the future ideal state?)

Issues (What will inform and shape our discussions about this ideal state?)

Phase 1Share current and past experience

Phase 2Survey priorities

Phase 3Brainstorm for the future

Phase 4Actions

What is the real issue or root cause? What are current and past experiences of the situation?

What should we address first? What deserves the highest priority?

How can we tackle the issues? How can it be done differently?What can we do?

What ideas and actions are we going to execute? Which ones do we need to develop further?

This Frames discussions: What do we want to discuss and why? What input do we want from the participants? What are we hoping to achieve together?


Some examples of use within IBMHelp a business unit improve their customer satisfaction points by providing focus and energy on

finding clear, actionable ideas Help a community of practice define “coaching” within IBMHelp the IBM Law function come to agreement about how to support the IBM corporate imperatives

on Corporate Responsibility

External to IBM (with change consulting)Help a new merger company have a global, organisation-wide discussion around the kind of

company they wanted to build together (in conjunction with IBM change consultancy using the Tangible Culture methodology)


Recent projectsWorking with an entire UK government department to assess, evaluate and discuss a massive

strategic shift in their operations

Help an internationally renowned academic and consulting organisation work together with staff, associates, alumni and clients on their 5 year strategic agenda

Help a UK political pressure group prepare for the UK General Election by consulting their members on strategy

Provide support and a project workspace for teenagers following a 2 week intensive conflict resolution course provided by a UK based charity


Success factors

From the outsetClear motivation and truthful desire to consult or co-create with participants Organisational/Sponsor/Executive commitment to do something with the outcomesHelping people make time and space for active, thoughtful participation and clear invitation and

thoughtful consideration of why people would take part

In the set-up processA small, effective, authoritative Leadership TeamCompelling, attractive and relevant contentGood timing for the participants – what else is going on?Effective, early and often communications to participants

During the eventCommitted, trained moderators drawn from participant organisations Time and space for participants to contribute

After the eventFollow up on outcomesCommunication to participants


Achordus is a full service offering:Consultant / Facilitator led processVirtual team working Topic creation and set upSecure access from the web “Skinning” the tool to fit with your brandHosted on our own serversComprehensive user technical support

Additional options include:Face-to-face facilitation/workshopsPost conversation analysis (culture)User orientation sessionsComprehensive branding redesign of the tool


38 DegreesJust 16 weeks ahead of the anticipated date of the UK’s general election, between January 12th –

February 15th, 2010, 38 Degrees used Achordus to work with its members on the “complicated, convoluted” task of designing its election strategy. Chief executive David Babbs explains: “It did that job for us, and it did that job for us really well.”

“At the top level, the outcome we wanted - and we got - is that we can say 3,000 of our members helped write our election strategy.”

“If you’ve got a clear question you want answering… it’s a very, very effective way of getting that conversation going and getting those answers...I think it’s shaped our thinking and understanding about how 38 Degrees can work in the future.”

David Babbs, Chief Executive

http://www.38degrees.org/

Ashridge Business School

Ashridge supports strategic development, leadership and change in some of the world’s leading business organisations. Corporate communications director, Toby Roe, said taking part in the Ashridge dialogue was “very much practising what we preach. It’s very much about including large parts of the organisation.”

Kai Peters, Chief Executive, said opening up debate on strategy to the entire organisation, from key clients and alumni, to academics and ground staff, demonstrated that most of the participants really cared about the organisation’s activities.

“... a really very good way of engaging with many people both within and beyond an organization. It’s a good way of getting an impression of the mood, areas of interest, levels of enthusiasm, directions that people want to go in.”

Kai Peters, Chief Executive

DFIDThe Department for International Development (DFID) used Achordus to hold an All Staff Conversation

between 30th November -11th December, 2009 to generate innovative ideas to drive significant policy change affecting how the organisation works.

The DFID management board were keen ensure wide participation. Achordus attracted input from every grade from C2 up the Permanent Secretary and from every DFID location across the globe. Group feedback revealed that staff saw the conversation as an “inclusive exercise.”

Achordus was a“...successful innovation that resulted in good policy ideas to accelerate White Paper implementation and strengthened staff engagement in policy and organisational change”

'This was a great opportunity to contribute to the debate on how best to deliver DFID's objectives. It was pleasing to see such broad participation, from junior staff through to the Permanent Secretary, and it really helped generate a widespread sense of involvement in DFID's decision making processes.

Chris Hindley, staff participant, DFID