Inquiry + Advocacy

The palette chart*

 

 



Learning how to balance inquiry and advocacy in an organization can be difficult because people within the organization are already advocating and adhering to their current ways while others attempt to inquire and discover other methods; finding the perfect balance of the two can cause serious headaches.

For further explanation on these two words:

Organization leaders as advocates – they must have the ability to create a strong argument that defends their views. 

Organization leaders who incorporate inquiry – they have the wisdom to create groups to come up with new and innovative ideas for the organization.

Together, advocacy and inquiry balance out original ideas and reasoning while appropriately challenging those ideas by creating new ways of thinking.  This is only successfully developed through a certain set of skills.

 

One way to find a balance is through the palette chart, an expansion of Diana McLain Smith’s Inquiry/Advocacy matrix.  It creates a diagram through which people can create a conversation with pairings from each section of the “palette.”

Balancing conversations can be dysfunctional, such as interrogating, withdrawing, or politicking.  Other ways of balancing advocacy and inquiry, however, can be helpful.  For example, explaining, dialogue, clarifying, and sensing can all work together to create a great conversation about the organization and its goals that balances both inquiry and advocacy in a respectful and productive manner.

 

 

 

 

 

ashton

 

*The palette chart can be found in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook 

Sail the Seven Cs

Creating and maintaining communication is essential to every organization.  It is ideal to have every employee understanding and striving to achieve the organization’s vision.  Senge’s book describes the seven Cs* of mobilizing and sustaining organizations.  We felt it was important to understand how these seven words beginning with the letter “C” can apply to the organization that we are currently working with and consulting.

Capability – this can be achieved by discussing with the whole office to determine everyone’s vision of a sustainable campus as well as the ways to achieve it.  Does everyone understand the organization’s vision and know their roles of achieving the vision?

Commitment – the question to ask is, “How committed are the employees to the sustainable vision?”  To clarify, are the employees within the organization working simply for themselves or are they striving toward the shared vision of the organization as a whole.  Literally, how committed are the employees to their organization?

Contribution – What can the employees (and/or others) do to contribute to the organization’s vision?  Specifically for the organization we are consulting with, contributions to the mission of the organization can include (but is not limited to) a reward system in which employees of the organization are highlighted.

Continuity – establishing relationships with other organizations can help achieve continuity.  Also, routine meetings to help maintain the emphasis on the organization’s goals will help with the continuity of achieving its vision.

Collaboration – routinely highlighting new research and ideas of the employees will allow for collaboration within the organization.  This can be done through physical meetings and newsletters.

Conscience – this can be achieved by reminding employees and others of the ultimate goal of the organization as well as the mission statement.  However, it is still necessary to be considerate of others’ thoughts and needs of the organization.

 

 

 

 

 

ashton

 

*The 7 Cs can be found in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook