Scan

The creative process is encouraged when we explore information outside the traditional boundaries of our work and business.

Viewing the world from a new vantage point and sharing your experiences and ideas with others allows us to create a common language with a group of people, including those with whom we may not interact on a daily basis. From the foundation of common language and common experience of the Scan a collaborative spirit can flourish.

Project and events often begin with a Scan module that may include a reading assignment, information gathering exercise or other way of introducing new ideas or approaches to the issue the group is exploring. Learning is the key objective for everyone.

The NavCenter Library offers books on a variety of subjects from strategic alignment and creativity to gardening and the flocking habits of birds.

Our Internet access opens your exploration up to the virtual world.

The only true test of an idea, concept or theory is what it enables us to do (axiom),Our Focus is on testing the ideas that emerged during the Scan and selecting the ones that are most useful to the work.

The NavCenter is an excellent place to explore new applications of the Scan results, and then to test your ideas and theories. The library can again be helpful, as well as tools such as our model kits and WorkWalls.

Taking action is what this phase is about -- making decisions on the next steps of the work, participants stepping up to take ownership of the work and communicating these goals to everyone involved.

A timeline marking specific goals and responsibilities is often the major output of the Act phase. This is typically developed quickly once a team has successfully completed the Scan and Focus phases.

Many project planning systems can be used at the Act phase. The ANDMap system is one approach that the NavCenter supports. Instructions and magnetic ANDMap symbols that can be used on WorkWalls are available to groups as they plot the work to achieve their goals on a timeline.

The ANDMap (or other plan) can be photographed or entered electronically using Visio software. Some groups may use the printed the version; others may post their plan on a website where remote team members can access it.

Co-Design

Broad participation is vital to a group as members comes to understand issues and craft solutions to problems. Participants may be from a cross-section of the organization, or even members of the larger community. They must be people with 'skin in the game' -- those who can implement what they design, without needing to obtain an 'okay' from someone who is not present.

"Titles are left at the door" -- as users of the NavCenter work in partnership on challenging and complex issues.

Work in small groups is encouraged to facilitate dialogue. Composition of those groups is often changed in the course of an event or project in order to encourage exposure to multiple perspectives.

Complexity & Chaos

Complexity science helps us learn how we (and our organizations) can thrive as a living system. It is the study of complex adaptive systems in order to understand how they work - the relationships among their parts, ways they evolve and sustain themselves, and how they generate outcomes.

The NavCenter library offers many books and articles on the subject of complexity science and its application to organization life. These help us view Borgess through the lens of complexity.

The designs of project and events also consider principles of complexity that pertain to management issues.

The NavCenter environment - including the books, toys, furniture, music, plants, etc. - is deliberately designed to be conducive to new insights and interaction between individuals. It also facilitates collaboration by being a flexible and neutral space where everyone can freely express their thoughts.

Complex systems operate in environments that are frequently unpredictable. Likewise, new and unexpected structures, patterns and processes within those system can arise in response to the environment and out of its internal relationships. It's important to make room for these unpredictable happenings, as they can be valuable outcomes that will ultimately support the system.

Large group dialogs as well as iterative exercises encourage a group to examine a subject from several different perspectives. This can facilitate the emergence of new ideas and thinking about and solving a problem.

Each person often has a preferred learning style that influences how that individual takes new information. When working with others, it's important to attend to a variety of learning styles in order to support everyone's engagement in the task. In that way the group gains the benefit of multiple perspectives that comes from a diverse team.

Knowing what learning style we favor can increase awareness about how work more effectively with others.

The NavCenter environment and processes take into consideration that every person has a different style of learning, teaching and interacting.

For example, the words of a facilitator will often be illustrated in words as well as in pictures on a WorkWall™ by a scribe. A toy boat or tinker toy may represent a model of an idea that can be studied, pulled apart and rebuilt. Participants may read a book or build a model in order to learn about a subject.

The need to respond to an ever-changing environment challenges each of us to act upon our ideas more quickly. We don't often have the luxury of time for lengthy consideration and working out all details before acting. Ready access to information and limited steps for development and approval of ideas supports time lag reduction, so that plans can be implemented "real time".

Groups often schedule their work at the NavCenter for longer periods of time, e.g., 4+- hour blocks in order to eliminate the "down time" between shorter meetings when productive energy can be lost.

Action is also encouraged on smaller chunks of work, more quickly, rather than waiting for all the details of an entire complex project. The project planning system used by a team can facilitate attention on both the "fast" and the "slow" work.