Large Scale Interventions (LSI) are approach for organising sustainable changes with active involvement of stakeholders throughout the whole system (organization or community and its environment). LSI is a process in which participants work in small and large groups. The latter are so called Large Group Interventions (LGIs). The number of people involved can vary from five to a thousand. An LSI is an excellent approach for changes concerning the whole work system or a whole community. LSI is also referred to as Large Scale Change, Whole-Scale Change or Whole Systems Change. Fundamental assumptions are:
· Past, present and future are inseparably connected in the organisation/community
· Reality is defined by meanings as well as facts
· Active participation enhances commitment to change, learning and working together
· Action learning facilitates real time change (thinking and doing are not separated)
· Meaningful experience is created by engaging the whole person (mind, body, soul and spirit)
Along the way, one or more collaborative conferences (LGIs) are held, according to the principles of LSI. What is the difference between an LSI-process and common change approaches?
Key distinctions between Large Scale Interventions and traditional change approaches are:
| Aspects of organisational change efforts | Large Scale Interventions | Traditional change approaches |
| Vision | The vision is shaped through involvement of the whole system, building capacity for change. | The vision is shaped by an elite group of experts and senior management. |
| How buy-in and ownership is gained | As a natural by-product of involving people in the process of change. | Through a campaign implemented by a small group of people promoting their strategies, plans and recommendations to the rest of the organisation. |
| Information available | A large group's broad, whole image of reality forms the basis for information and strategic decisions. There is extensive stakeholder involvement. | A small group's limited views of reality form the basis of information and strategic decisions. Stakeholder involvement is limited. External stakeholders groups like suppliers, customers and the local community are often ignored. Certain issues are not discussed. |
| Commitment and ownership | People feel and are responsible for the organization’s effort as a whole. The need for change is self-determined and the process is self-managed. | People feel and are responsible for only their part. |
| Communication | Change strategy is developed and communicated in real-time. | Change strategy is communicated through messages. |
| Flexibility | Systems thinking produces a cyclic process of designing steps and reviewing goals. Awareness of current reality is comprehensive. | Linear thinking produces a programme with a pre-determined sequence of steps leading the organisation towards a fixed goal. Rarely are there any opportunities for the goal to be reviewed and if necessary re-defined. |
| Peoples perspectives | Change is viewed as an integral component of people's work. | Change is viewed as a disruption to people doing their "real work". |
| Pace | Change occurs at a fast pace and in real time throughout an organization. | Change occurs at a slow pace and in pockets of an organization. |
| Kind of changes made | Substantial changes are made across an entire organization. | Either substantial changes are made in part of an organization or limited changes are made across an entire organization. |
| How change occurs | Simultaneous planning and implementation, initiated in the whole organization at the same time. | Planning and implementation are sequential. It requires the world to stand still while the planners do their work. |
The term Large Group Interventions (LGIs) cover a wide range of methods, from the very structured (Future Search, Conference Model, Search Conference) to those that are almost open (Open Space) and everything in between (such as Real Time Strategic Change, World Café, Participative Design, SimuReal).
The guidelines for applying a specific method vary quite a lot, depending on the author. Here’s a mind map from http://www.largescaleinterventions.com which can be used for choosing a suitable Large Group Intervention method. Some LGI methods can be used in small groups as well as large groups.
A Large Group Intervention can be used to present, discuss, validate and/ or develop the Learning History. It can also be a powerful method to come to new actions, in real time. It creates opportunities to come to new conversations, new actions, and strategic choices. This is based on the principle to invite a wide variety of people, if possible everyone who is part of "the system in focus", and to create a setting that crosses boundaries between hierarchical levels and between teams.
When to use LGI:
- Complexity of the issue
- Degree of uncertainty of the circumstances
- Is the outcome pre-defined or not?
- Plurality of stakeholders/agendas
In fact these criteria also hold true for Large Scale Interventions, because they comprise at least one Large Group Intervention.
Reflection
Large Scale Interventions are very useful as it helps organizational members induce their creative intelligence in changing the future of the organization. It involves different members of the organization (whole system), not just the top management and the consultant. It is a fast pace process with quick response that results in immediate action while in the traditional process, it’s slow and limited changes are made. While in LSI, open-system is used so the data base source is now shared throughout the organization. People learn from each other, they develop a common knowledge. This shared knowledge and values are good and beneficial as it influences voluntary collective action that would help improve the organization. LSI makes the process not only interesting but also fruitful. And the consultant role which formerly was reserved for data collection and feedback, now also includes structures and facilities for data analysis and action planning. Everyone is involved in this change process that what makes it different, more engaging, and more interesting than the traditional approach.
Sources:
Notes from class
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~rpurser/Large%20Group%20Intervention%20OD%20Handbook.htm
http://www.gervasebushe.ca/aiodj.htm
http://www.largescaleinterventions.com/
http://www.learninghistories.net/largegroupinterventions.htm
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