The WorkMats focused on a number of issues: Where the company had come from, its rich and varied history.
A chance to look at the future and see how it might affect
individual lives in 2010.
A look at how customers and press might view the 2010 vision.
An examination of ICL’s potential role in making the futures happen.
An exploration of ICL’s vision, strategy, and goals as developed by
the management team.A learning guide was produced for all participants and a WorkMat was
specifically designed to facilitate and support conversations after the event
about the actions that teams would be agreeing.
A 15-member team was assembled from all over the world and
drawn from different business units. It was tasked with offering every
employee the chance to take part in a small group dialog over a 12-week
period.Two hundred ICL volunteers were trained as facilitators.
Conversations for Change was then run, using one facilitator for
each group of about 24 employees. Using the Café VIK area of the
company’s intranet, employees booked a place at the most convenient
location.As sessions began, feedback from them was also posted on the
intranet as it was received. Most sessions were whole-day affairs, with
special arrangements made to tailor them to the specific needs of certain
employees working flexible hours, for example, in call centers.
To ensure that people really had the opportunity to engage their
minds in this important piece of organizational and individual learning, each
employee received a personal email inviting them to attend, followed up by
a poster campaign in ICL building throughout the globe and on the intranet.
Not surprisingly, employees were initially skeptical about the degree
to which this was a communication exercise, however imaginative, or about
consultation and engagement. But, as the management group began to
publish its responses to suggestions, clearly heeding employee advice, it
soon became clear that the program was genuine in its intentions.
18,000 employees chose to attend the Conversations for Change,
an impressive total by any reckoning. It proved that if you give people the
big picture in a mind-friendly way, you are much more likely to get their
active engagement.216 Power Up Your Mind