Whom Do We Want to Engage?

I started working on 'Guidelines for Selecting Interview Candidates' last night. It feels good to have actually begun producing something.

The Board Meeting

Today I had my 15 minutes at the board meeting. About half an hour before the call, Leah called and changed what she wanted me to focus on during my bit. That blew the little bit of preparation I had actually mananged to work up, but in the end it turned out okay. I think it freed me up to go ahead and speak extemporaneously, and gave me the self-permission I needed to flub up. Just that little bit of permission was all I needed to speak from the head and the heart.

Members of the board were receptive and asked some good questions. For example, one of the employee networking groups is brand new in the Columbus market. The chair of that group wanted to know if she could interview people in another market since there was no history here. I was able to improvise a decent answer, and it gave me a chance to expound on the immediacy of the appreciative approach. I told her she could certainly interview members in another market, or she might want to use this opportunity to identify potential new members in this market and tailor the interview protocol a bit to emphasize the idea of building a new organization. That option could begin generating excitement and energy about her group.

I had a chance to 'observe' Leah as she facilitated the call. This added familiarity with her style humanized her for me and made the process less intimidating.

Initially I thought the board comprised 17 people. With the expansion of the Cultural Exchange from seven employee networking groups to nine, the 2006 board consists of 22 individuals. This is good news, as it will potentially provide us with a larger number of interviews and a wider variety of stories, quotes, and ideas.

All in all, I think it went well. Now I need to produce some materials to support the board in moving forward with the interviews. First, they will need a few sentences requesting that they identify members of their groups for interviewing. That message will give them some guidelines for choosing people. Leah and I will also need to talk about the appreciative topics around which we want to build the interview protocol. Then, I will need to actually produce the protocol. All of this needs to happen this week, probably.

The Long Weekend

Leah and I spent about 20 minutes on the phone late this afternoon talking about the project. This weekend we will bounce the appreciative topics around. I will update the time table, listing the activities and the numbers of people expected to participate.

I also need to put together a one-page brief for the board on the criteria I want them to use when selecting candidates for interviews. I told Leah we will want to request 5 names from each board member. We will ask the board to interview at least one and up to 3 individuals from other ENGs.

Leah said that she wants to: look at the past (2005), understand the current state, and identify where we can get the most return this year. She also stated she "doesn't have much hope for the future." I'm thinking CE and the other ENGs are threatened with extinction in the new world. Maybe this project will demonstrate their value and help to keep them alive?

Answers About the Board Meeting

Leah says there are typically 15 attendees at the board meeting. It's a conference call, and she plans to allot 15 minutes to introduce and discuss the project. That means no visual aids, unless I develop a Sametime meeting.

I wonder how comfortable the board members would be with that technology? If comfortable, does it add credibility? If uncomfortable, does it create frustration and distrust? What are the risks?

Questions about the Board Meeting

I forwarded a list of questions about the board meeting to Leah a few minutes ago. I almost sent it off with just the questions and not much else, but I thought better of it and decided to spend a few more minutes on crafting a frame for the email. The framing is short (2 sentences), but I think it turned out pretty well. I guess maybe HB has added something to my repertoire after all.

On Board

Last night's family conference call was helpful to me. The consensus is that I should move forward with the Cultural Exchange project by preparing for the board meeting.

Today I will write to Leah and get some details about the board meeting. Who will be there, and how much time will I be allotted to describe the project?

Contracting?

Leah wrote me that, although she hasn't had an opportunity to run the project past Earl, she thinks "we should go ahead to plan on this and do our best to make the results as impactful as it (sic) can."

She also asks me to prepare to speak to the board during its first meeting of the year January 20.

Whaddya think? Do I have a project or not? I guess I need to prepare a contract of some sort so that we can both (all) be committed to making this happen.

Video Killed the Graduate Student

Earlier this week I did a bunch of web-based research on video editing and the like. I didn't find much that was very useful. I also identified someone at my employer who listed video production in his online profile, and I left him a voicemail. Yesterday he called me back and we spoke at length about things I might do to get the stories from the interviews produced. Some of his ideas included contacting other students at Case who might be studying video and walking into CompUSA and just looking at the shelves to see what kind of off-the-shelf video production products they have.

It occurred to me that I could potentially approach the Communications department at Otterbein, from which I graduated 10 years ago. They have a campus television broadcast production facility and students who are majoring in broadcast. Maybe someone there would be interested in working on this little project?

Take Me To Your Leader

Leah and I had a good conversation yesterday. She seems supportive and enthusiastic, and she is taking the idea of the action research to Earl, the Cultural Exchange's executive sponsor.

She made some very minor changes to the proposal I sent to her; I think that demonstrates that she is sincere about and committed to moving forward.

It may take as long as a week to get Earl's decision. We have an appointment next Friday at 4 to talk again, although I've asked her to let me know before that if the news is not encouraging.

In writing my paper for Eric, I noted that I had approached the wrong people in many of my scouting activities. I tend to approach people I know or who are referred to me because it is the most comfortable thing to do. In this case, too, I think I made the same error. I guess I should be approaching the decision-maker in these organizations if I want to create excitement and interest and move quickly.

I started scouting for this project before I wrote that for Eric, so I can probably be forgiven for having made the same mistake. However, I don't know that I will be able to change my approach, even given what I feel I have learned. It's much more difficult to identify and approach the decision-maker in these situations. These outlyers are gatekeepers, anyway, and are supposed to be playing this role.

I'm torn about this learning point. Is it accurate? Any thoughts from my family?

Another Day

I didn't call anyone yesterday. I meet with Leah this morning. Cross your fingers.

Mary M. emailed me that she thought the MPOD generational learning initiative (GLI) would be a good project. Pam liked the idea, too. If this thing with Leah goes south, I am going to ask Eric to seriously consider this for my project.

Now what?

Leah and I are scheduled to meet tomorrow, but I think that I should be doing 'something else' to move this thing along. What can I do to improve my chances of turning this opportunity into a real live project?

What about the alternative, back-up plans? Should I call Connie at Global Gallery? I haven't heard from her since she offered some background information. Should I call Theresa at the branch? I haven't heard from her, either.

Is Half a Paper Better Than None?

Last night I shipped off half a progress report paper to Eric.

Ouch.

My heart hurts from writing this paper. These reflective papers just expose every raw nerve and every failing I have as an efficacious human being. I guess that's the point. Until you can see the problem, you can't address it.

Happy New Year!

Eric needs my progress report "by Monday," so today's the day.

Wish me luck.