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My Experiments with LSI 2/2


In my last blog, I shared my journey of using FutureSearch to create a New vision for i labs at TISS. In this blog, I share the journey of co-creating an LSI for a social sector organization in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

Part 2: How World cafe Transformed an NGO in Kolhapur



Two months after we conducted the i labs visioning exercise, One of the core members of i labs, who is a student of Livelihoods and Social Entrepreneurship- Social Work went to Kolhapur for her Rural Practicum. It was a one-month stint with an NGO in Kolhapur that works with farmers in areas of livelihoods, health and education.

The NGO was a 15 Member team, of which three were founding members- The Director, Secretary and Treasurer. The other twelve were employees of the organization who had spent between one to seven years with the organization.
During the stint with the organization, the TISS students noticed several dysfunctional elements in the team- there was no clarity of the direction in which the organization was heading, there was inter generational diversity that manifested in the form of mistrust and complaints and individuals in the organization couldn't get along with some other members.

Through the internship, these issues deepened and they soon realised that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Five members were on the verge of quitting the organization. Some fundamentals of the organization had to be addressed immediately to prevent it from collapsing.    
The students who was a part of i labs visioning exercise sensed that there was a need for a similar intervention involving all stakeholders where they express and discover certain aspects of the group and organization and she reached out to me to help design an intervention for the NGO.
Over the next two days, we designed an LSI based on World Cafe on thre major themes- Organizational direction, Working Norms and Individual Goals and Aspirations. The World Cafe was facilitated by two Social Work Students.












The intervention was a huge success. The students saw for the first time that the senior members- the founders patiently listened to the concerns of the new employees and empathized with them. Similarly, the younger employees could see the intent behind certain "harsh" actions of the management and were now open to rediscovering the relationship with the management and the organization.

TISS, truly being a place for inter-disciplinary earning also gave me an opportunity to put to use my learnings from a "management" class in the Social Sector.

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