IOMBA LOOPS!
Third Year in a Row! 


Based on the positive response of students and staff to the professional planning process experienced by previous IOMBA classes, LOOP was offered for the third year in a row to the biggest class ever (34) graduate students at the University of Geneva (studying for their Masters in Business Administration with a focus on International Organizations).  The first time LOOP was offered (2005) it was at the end of the year.  Students said they wished they had had the workshop earlier.  It was too late.  So, last year, all  ten steps were offered at the beginning of the year during orientation week.  The students said it was too early in the term.  So, in 2007 we have divided the workshop into two parts:  (Part I) the first four steps in October and (Part II) the rest of the steps, in March.  So far the results have been highly positive.  Some comments about the LOOP (IT the small groups (WE);  the facilitators (THEM) and the student (ME) follow:

•         LOOP: The LOOP course was offered at the right time.  We need  this kind of course.   It was a fun, interesting approach for career focus and an opportunity to find out about others.  Very interesting technique.  I love the color/drawing.  It’s very creative way to think. I did not know  “post its” could help my career.   Surprisingly beneficial in creating an environment which encourages self reflection. It encouraged me to set up more detailed plan with confidence. I think it was a great experience in looking at my goals and narrowing down some activities to achieve them

•         THEM:  The facilitators were structured, helpful, focused, well paced, well organized.

•         WE:  We needed and were able to talk about very personal issues, ambitions and goals not easy to achieve such a short time period.  The group was fun to work with.  Sharing is helpful for learning. 

•         ME:  It was fun.  Surprisingly I managed to be very reflective and came up with new insights about myself.  I realized that all my experiences can be helpful to set up my future goal. I was introspective and examined a subject I prefer to avoid. It was an opportunity to put my wants in words. Insightful enlightening. 

Of course the participants wanted more time to discuss themselves, their insights and their futures—and some were a bit frustrated by the lack of specificity of benchmarks.  However, all of that will come as we proceed through the rest of the steps in March—when each student will do a professional objective tree, as well as log frame.

Formulae for Management

After the LOOP workshop which DH co-facilitated he did a presentation to the IOMBA students using the management formula and then illustrating each component with an experience he had in the field.  He started out by asking the groups to come up with their own formulae—many of which, he said, added several new dimensions. 

OOOPs! The OOOP is Born !

It was exciting when Linda Love, one of the first LOOP coaches ever trained,  asked us to do a “LOOP” for a department of a huge, global corporation at its headquarters in London.  She had long believed that the process could  be applied to the business context successfully—to benefit employees finding their “best fit” in the company.    In fact she had organized a focus group a few years back in which a small group of business leaders went through the LOOP process and gave us feedback about how it might be  adapted to the business world.   We took their ideas to heart, some of which were:  (1) shorten the process to one day; (2) focus on one department at a time; (3) use small groups of three or four people instead of individuals; (4) create instruction cards; and (5) work within the mission of the company.   So, we started out with the “ LOOP for Orgs” and ended up with the “OOOP”—Organization-Oriented Objective Planning, which it truly turned out to be. 

The workshop was called “Vision 2009” and was designed so that team members could visualize themselves in their department in two years.    They created a path, developed objectives, and then analyzed their do-ability—from  the individual, departmental, organizational and global perspectives. They even put themselves in the picture.  In fact one person put  herself in her boss’ place!  They chose some prerequisite objectives to “bridge the gap”  from their present departmental situation to their future vision.    Then they did several activity wheels to develop the set of tasks necessary to achieve those first objectives.  The team was surprised at how the day flew by and many really iked the methodology.   Some of their evaluation comments were: “Good starting point and opportunity to understand some of the team’s perceptions.  Good to think individually and as a team to visualize and begin to plan for a future and to begin to see how to get there.”  And the boss stated,  “ It helped me identify some actions to take both at the team and business level.”  In fact, the group ranked the workshop very high  (4.9 on a 6 point scale) on the statement, “Overall I found this visioning workshop quite helpful.”