I helped a Non-Profit Organization (NPO) organize an annual event which was joined by hundreds of participants. The event was organized by only ten staff, a small, who managed to hold the event smoothly. However, after the event, something did not sit right with the staff.
Some participants expected perfect services from the organizers. Many requests were sent to the organizers. Most of the requests are quite right though, a concern has emerged among the organizers.
Many of the participants are members of the NPO, the same status as the organizers. Despite the same membership, we built a relationship between customers and a merchant, under which opinions were sent one-sidedly. According to a book “The Design of Questions*”, This relationship is indeed a fixed relationship. Each side possesses an implicit assumption, and a gap has been built between the two sides.
Based on this analysis, the organizers came up with a question.
“Can’t we break the customer-merchant relationship and build a co-creative relationship?”
Having this question in their mind, the organizers held a follow-up meeting with some of the participants. The dialogue showed a few hints for the solution.
First, the process should be shared with the participants by the organizers, such as the process of determining the theme of event. Next, some of the organizers’ tasks could be undertaken by volunteered participants. And finally, a place for information exchange is made in which participants help one another. That is, the organizers can build a mechanism which nudge participants to walk up to the organizer’s side.
A similar approach could be applied to project management, as well. A new way of making relationship should be created. To achieve this goal, organizers may need to take a step from the place where they take granted. ■
* The Design of Questions, Facilitation for Creative Dialogues ANZAI Yuki and SHIOSE Masayuki, 2020, Gakugei Syuppan-Sya