Activity
‘Who Invented the 8:00 a.m. Meeting?’: An Interest-Based-Approach Scenario
Situation: The Pleasantville National Bank has a policy of holding a daily meeting at 8:00 a.m. to go over the day’s priorities, get input and feedback on existing services, customer services, and any other information related to bank activities.
There are 25 employees at the bank, ranging from bank tellers to mortgage and business loan consultants, accountants, marketing coordinator, and a branch bank manager.
Recently, the branch bank manager observed that whenever these meetings took place, certain individuals were late, some were ‘dozing off’, and still others weren’t’ participating, and still others were ‘doodling’ drawings. One person dominated the conversation and generally seemed to be highly engaged and interested in the meeting.
Closer inspection and some informal conversations with the participants indicated the following issues
Mary (Bank Teller) had a child who had to be dropped off at child care by 7:45 a.m. and had to ‘rush’ to the meeting, feeling frazzled and ‘not ready’ to ‘switch gears’, and participate in the meeting.
Bill (Marketing Coordinator) was ‘dozing’ because as he explained it he ‘wasn’t a morning-person’.
Jean (Loan Officer) explained her lack of participation as being someone who likes to process and analyzes information before ‘making comments’ at a meeting.
Lou (Customer Service Manager) candidly said he doodled because the meetings weren’t stimulating enough and he felt ‘edgy’ during these formal, monotonous meetings
Margaret (Accountant) said she ‘loved’ the 8:00 a.m. meetings because she was a ‘morning person’ and loved to get ‘that jump on the day’, get the meeting out of the way and get on with her work.
Henry: (Branch Manager) when asked why there had to be an 8:00 meeting stated ‘I guess it’s just always been that way it was that way when I got here and I just kept it as no one seemed to object to it.
*All are valuable employees in that they are highly talented and possess great expertise in their areas
Please use the scenario above to demonstrate how the Interest-Based-Approach can be used to ACCOMMODATE the FUNDAMENTAL INTERESTS of the stakeholders to this issue, and SEARCH FOR A MUTUALLY AGREED- UPON SOLUTIONS.
You’ve been given the STORY for each ‘Stakeholder’ to the ‘conflict’ or ‘issue’. From each STORY, try to ‘surmise’ and list what might be the underlying ‘FUNDAMENTAL INTEREST’ of each ‘Stakeholder’. Remember, if you can satisfy the ‘fundamental interest’, the ‘Stakeholder’ will be highly amenable to a proposed solution for EVERYONE in the group. After ‘brainstorming’ OPTIONS with this hypothetical group, please list a proposed solution or combination of proposed solutions that would ACCOMMODATE each ‘Stakeholders’ FUNDAMENTAL INTERESTS that might be ‘mutually agreed upon by the group. Be sure to tell how your solution would specifically accommodate each INTEREST. When complete, please forward to [email protected]
In an actual IBA session, please note the following:
The facilitator records each option offered by stakeholders exactly as presented without making any judgments as to value. After all options have been noted, the group must reach a consensus on which option or combination of options would be mutually agreed upon. It is not a vote. Majority doesn’t win, etc. All must be willing to abide by the decision and in fact agree to use this process prior to engaging in the session.