The fishbowl

In a government organization, the initiative to become more responsive came from the business. This department had actively started designing and implementing the agile way of working. Naturally, they wanted to tackle this together with the IT department. However, the IT director’s assignment was to improve continuity, and that’s what the IT department was directed to do. The effect was that everything the business came up with for the new joint setup was rejected by IT, simply because it disrupted the continuity. This resulted in the change program becoming stranded at an early stage.

Transforming to agility will only work if the business and IT see this as a joint task. This task must be prioritized, just like other initiatives and projects, so that everyone knows where the available capacity will be spent. As an Amigo, initiating and achieving this is a significant challenge. You can only succeed if you have a sponsor at the executive level. That person can ensure that this is on the agenda of the executive meeting. Once you have achieved this, you can facilitate the dialogue with the “fishbowl” activity. This activity facilitates discussions between (large) groups and ensures that everyone receives the same information, listens to each other, and has space for conversation.

Exercise:

• Create two circles of chairs: an inner circle where the conversation happens and an outer circle where people listen. So, only a few people speak while the majority listens.

• Introduce a case or statement for the inner circle to discuss. For example: the direction of our organization in the coming quarter. Or: the most significant improvement we should implement immediately. The inner circle discusses this for ten minutes.

• Afterward, the people from the inner circle move to the outer circle, and some from the outer circle move to the inner circle. Before continuing the content discussion on the case/statement, the newcomers in the inner circle reflect on what they noticed in the group’s process before them. How was the dynamic? What wasn’t said? Where does the core seem to lie? These reflections are valuable. Then they pick up the thread around the case/statement. This group also has ten minutes in total.

• In a third round, again with a renewed inner circle, the focus is on summarizing and determining actions. What has been said, and what are we going to do (or stop doing)? This round also lasts ten minutes.