teaching

Facilitating Scenario Planning Workshops Through Trumpetology

course overview

This course introduces the student to the fascinating technique of scenario planning which we, at ‘Too Serious', have dubbed 'Trumpetology'. The material is divided into the 4 main topics of (1) theoretical considerations, (2) applicable and inapplicable areas of use, (3) session design and (4) practice.

course objectives

• Understanding the fallacy of predicting the future
• The natural emergence of complexity in a system and the introduction to Simplexity
• The business organization as information processor
• The dilemma of leadership and action
• The theory of mess management
• Areas of 'Trumpetology' application
• Session design
• Practice
• Having a great time

Learning Experience

Your learning experience with this ‘Too Serious' course is designed to deliver to you a high level of interactivity and personal challenge. You will experience a richness and depth in every aspect of this engaging and practical topic. You will not be presented with static theoretical ideas, rather you will be expected to engage, decide, design, extend your skills and apply the concepts to which you will be exposed.

Course Curriculum

Understanding the fallacy of predicting the future

• basic introduction to Turing's Halting Problem
• hilarious and troubling real world examples of the Halting Problem
• realistic consequences to Turing's observations

The natural emergence of complexity in a system and the introduction to Simplexity

• an introduction to Self-Organized Criticality – The Sandpile Law
• consequences of The Sandpile Law in business
• applications to risk management

The business organization as information processor

• the relationship between uncertainty and information
• how information flows healthily and unhealthily in an organization
• organizational agility and how to measure it

The dilemma of leadership and action

• management's need to control the future
• belief systems and unwarranted mental limitations
• the triple tyrants - Hierarchies, Teams and Perfection

The theory of mess management

• define the difference between "meeting management" and "facilitation"
• define messy problems
• explore the components of messy problems and their consequences
• develop an appreciation for the psychological aspects of human functioning and sense making
• extend the psychological aspects to group work

Areas of 'Trumpetology' application

• learn five 'Trumpetology' models for structuring group work
• develop the skill to choose between the models based on the session outcome
• practice combining the models for special situations

Session design

• define the roles of broker, client and stakeholder
• explore the outcome of the session, timeframes, focus areas and relevant trends
• select a workshop model
• interactively modify the model to produce a session design
• set appropriate prework
• clarify meeting logistics and documentation support
• learn four methods of trend and issue generation
• learn four methods of trend and issue shaping
• build a suitable system model for scenario generation
• choose an appropriate action planning format
• apply the principles of double loop learning to session design
• learn how to ‘block out' suitable chunks of time to achieve subordinate outcomes
• appreciate the landmines in this type of session

Practice

• appreciate the session as theatre
• set up the audience with an icebreaker
• understand the do's and don'ts of presenting
• keep track of time and sensitively redirect unproductive group rathole chatter
• determine when to use technology
• discover handy templates to facilitate sub-group work
• show a group how to present their work
• redesign a session ‘in the moment'
• handle personal fear in a time of crisis
• wrap up the session and recognize the productive work done
• post session audit follow-up with the broker

Having a great time

• learn to relax
• enjoy the experience
• put your workshop audiences at ease through the use of humour and story telling

course logistics

For more information or to book Dr. Saunders to teach for your organization, please contact us.