Skip to main content

SimuReal- Adaptable Method for LSI


We have been talking about various large scale intervention methods like World Café, Future Search, Open Space, certain workshops etc. Let us go through another adaptable method for large systems interventions which is “SimuReal”

What is SimuReal?
It is an approach to organization change. As the word itself defines its meaning, SimuReal is a method that uses simulation to help an organization become more visible to itself. It enables the key members of an organization to work together on a task and issues while at the same time helping them to become more self-aware of and skilled in dealing with organizational dynamics in a simulated environment . This method help client systems explore differences, solve complex problems, working on redesign, determine goals and priorities and engage in future planning. SimuReal has real people doing real work in real time where the participants achieve specific objectives in situations in which their effectiveness depended on their ability to form coalitions, overcome oppositions and influence decision makers.  It is often misunderstood with a role-play. SimuReal is like action learning. The duration for this activity is one entire day. The confined room is designed like a structure of organization where the participants work together, examine their work and modify their process and structure to work more efficiently.      

Structure of the SimuReal
Usually a one day SimuReal workshop consists of 1 Introduction/ context setting by the facilitator, 3 action rounds, 3 analysis rounds and 1 Summary round.  
·       Action round: A task is given to the participants in which they have to discuss and try to implement it then and there. The whole focus is on the participants. They do the real work in action. These are generally 1 hour long alternate with 20-30 mins of analysis round. During action rounds they explore options and plan strategies or make proposals to other groups.
·       Analysis round: Then there’s a debrief stop which focuses on people reflecting on “how they are working”, “how they are contributing to the larger group” and are there any detraction's from the task. The goal is to help the organization have experiential learning and then create an action plan moving forward. In this round, participants raise questions and exchange information to understand the dynamics of interactions in which they just participated.
·         Prior to the workshop, 6-8 people form an ad hoc organizational change task force representing different program areas and levels of responsibilities who works with the facilitator for one to two days to decide on the task, the organizational “map,” and the process for decision making during the event.
·       Summary round: After a successful SimuReal, participants leave with new awareness, real work progress, and an improved organization or process. There are continuous follow ups after every session.

Advantages
SimuReal is a wonderful tool for OD consultants and their clients. If used at the kick-off point, it can identify issues that need to be addressed. If used in a “test-drive,” it can show how the new organization might respond to its work challenges, and what gaps exist in the design. Clients estimate that SimuReal helped them reduce implementation time on major decisions or projects by up to 18 months.
It provides the participants a platform to display their creative energies and problem solving capabilities. SimuReal is a way of helping develop a self-reflective system. In the process the actors become aware of the one another’s roles and responsibilities, perspectives and concerns.

As an ending remark I would like to quote Peter Senge’s (1990) words, SimuReal is a way to help an organization realize its goal of becoming a “Learning Organization”.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reinforcing Loop in Action

A system represents a complex dynamic between its various sub-units. One of the most visible parts of a system is the reinforcing loop. The reinforcing loop is perhaps most visible because it works on an incremental basis. It is that fundamental element in a system that defines growth and increment. As defined by Senge, a system is said to be in a reinforcing loop when each small action builds on the other. This snowball effect of each action building on the previous one can either lead to a virtuous cycle or can actually lead to decline of the system. Most often reinforcing loop, perhaps because of it name, generates a perception of it being that element of the system that fosters growth, thus giving it a positive connotation. In systems thinking however, the concept is far broader. It refers to those elements or actions within the system that lead to amplification and maintenance of certain behaviours. This amplification does not necessarily mean that the behaviour that is gen...
2 comments
Read more

Foundational Structures of Systemic Thinking: Reinforcing and Balancing loop

A  reinforcing loop  is one in which an activity creates an outcome that impacts business as usual activity in this manner bringing about development or decay. The reinforcing loop is one of the two basic structures of systems thinking, the other being the Balancing Loop.  Because of the manner in which this structure reinforces itself it generally produces exponential growth or decline. This exponential change may be unnoticeable for a period of time until it reaches a certain threshold. The structure then seems to change very rapidly causing one to wonder how it began all at once, when in fact it really didn't. The growth just wasn't substantial enough to be noticed. A  balancing loop  tries to move things from the current state (the way things are) to the desired state (goal or objective) through some action (whatever is done to reach the goal). A balancing loop is representative of any situation where there is a goa...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to calculate ROI of Large system change intervention?

It’s true that companies spend a lot on large system change interventions; this makes it very crucial that companies are able to measure the added value. Companies always need to know if they are getting return on investment; even if we are getting ROI how can we calculate it? One of the reasons that ROI can be particularly difficult to calculate is the different factors that impact an intervention. These factors can be time and quality but are not essentially quantity and money therefore is difficult to put into a basic equation of: output / input equals productivity (output/input = value). Real problem here is that if we consider that if money as input, output will be money too. However this is not always the case in terms of large system change intervention. So how do we measure an impact which can be expressed as currency value? Calculating the full financial ROI of Large System interventions has been elusive resulting in undermining the perceived credibility of large syst...
1 comment
Read more