predict your future activities with shocking degree of accuracy: learn this power.

2. Title: The Organization Workshop—Building Partnerships.
Dates: September 13 (Day 1) and September 20 (Day 2).
Venue: The Ascot Wedding & Conference Centre, 210
Woodhouse Road, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg. (033-386-0801)
Starting/Finishing Times: 08h00 for 08h30 on Day 1—to finish
by 16h30 latest. (The starting time for Day 2 will be decided by
consensus before the end of Day 1. Day 2 is slightly shorter in
length.)
Cost: R3,995 per person. Cost includes teas, lunches, materials,
manuals.
Joining Instructions: Brief Joining Instructions will be sent out
by e-mail a few days prior to Day 1.
We are pleased to invite you to
The Organization Workshop—Building Partnerships.

3. YOUR HOST: BILL MILLER
Bill Miller Centre for Interactive Leadership PO Box 633
3245 Hilton South Africa 033 343 2042 +27 33 343 2042
082 551 5837 +27 82 551 5837 wdm@futurenet.co.za

5. HOW TO CLEAN SIDEWALKS
Skill training has its place, but what we are exploring here has
less to do with skill than with something more elusive,
something that, for the point of this discussion, I’ll call “being”.
Skill training has to do with “doing”—how to do this & how to
do that. So let me be clear: I strongly recommend skill training.
If you are to spend time in meetings, it can be very useful to
develop greater meeting skills. The same holds true for
handling conflicts, dealing with difficult people, brainstorming,
problem solving, & a myriad other things one must do in order
to survive & thrive in systems.
There are, however, many situations in which skill—how to
do—is less to the point than being—how to be. Let me take a
hypothetical case.

6. Let us say I am the youngest in the family; my brother is the
oldest. Let us say that the two of us live on similar urban
streets but in different cities. And let us say that both of us are
troubled by—in fact, incensed over—the huge amounts of dog
droppings that litter our sidewalks & sometimes find their way
to the bottoms of our shoes. And let us say that both of us
have spent considerable time whining & complaining about
those inconsiderate dog owners who allow their pets to
indiscriminately foul our sidewalks. And let us say that,
coincidentally, on the same day, my brother & I separately
experience epiphanies regarding the dog droppings. Suddenly,
it strikes each of us separately that we have been ‘Bottom’ in
the matter of dog droppings. And it strikes us that, rather than
continue to be victims of this problem, we could be central to
making it go away. For both of us, this is a liberating &
exhilarating thought.
Be central to making problems go away

7. My brother, the first born, has proclivities to leadership. I, the
last born, tend to do things myself. My brother organizes the
neighborhood; I go out & buy a huge broom. We both
succeed. He & his neighbors work out their methods; I delight
in going out periodically with my broom. (Neighbors across the
street mistakenly assume I was hired to do the job, so they hire
their own dog-dropping technician.) Both my brother & I are
delighted in our power, in our abilities to convert this complaint
into an accomplishment.
Is there a “skill” to this? Should I learn about community
organizing or should my brother learn about broom pushing?
I think not. In this, as in so many other cases, we are dealing
less with doing than with being. Once the shift in being
occurs, we manage to find our way to doing. On the other
hand, unless there is a shift in being, all the skill training in the
world will not help.
convert complaints into an accomplishment.

9. TESTIMONIAL
THE “BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS” WORKSHOP
I attended this two-day training intervention and surprisingly enjoyed it.
My enjoyment of the programme was on different levels: the ease of
facilitation by Bill Miller (I shall henceforth call him “the organisational
life story teller”), the meaningful, albeit brief, friendship shared with the
participants, the organisational exercise and other interactive exercises
experienced by participants, the challenging tasks and assignments
provided and, importantly, the course content.

10. The story teller’s message was a simple truth about life as
experienced by position holders differently defined as tops,
middles and bottoms in organisations of diverse nature (social
settings such as family, schools, corporate and public sectors
and so forth). The import of the message is that each category
of employees collectively view and experience their raison
d’être, goals and tasks in organisations from their vantage
point. There does not seem to be a pulling of resources and
energy in the same direction to achieve the goals of the
collective-simply put, to please and exceed the customer’s
product and service expectations! Each group simply operates
on auto pilot to get the job done and often miss many
opportunities to do better than when on their own. The result
is organisations that cheat themselves out of reaching the
proverbial limit of the sky!
Do better

11. Did I want to be on the programme? The truth is no! My
reluctance was for many reasons ranging from lack of time,
scepticism that I could learn anything new or relevant to
implement post the intervention and the choice of a venue-a
high school setting. I did not want to re-experience life at a
tertiary institution. (The venue was at a high school because
most of the participants in this particular workshop were
teachers.) It took the selling skills of an Eskimo peddling ice to
his fellowmen for “the story teller” to get me or any of my
colleagues to attend the course. In fact, I take my hat off to
him because it took him a very long time to persuade me to
sample the programme. His tenacity is amazing because he
never gave up wooing me to do so! I am happy to report that
my colleague Patrick Zuma and I thoroughly enjoyed the
journey of discovery we embarked upon in this workshop.
Tenacity

12. Should I say I am grateful to have been flexible and
adventurous to have tried it and liked it or should I say thank
you Bill Miller for not giving up on those like myself with
warped views about training and development interventions?
Both, I guess!
Thakane Motebang
Human Resources Director
The Natal Witness Printing & Publishing Company (Pty) Ltd
Post Script: As the result of her experience on this workshop, Thakane was a driving force behind the The Natal Witness putting a significant number of their people through this workshop.
Warped views

13. The ‘Building Partnerships’ Workshop
(Tops-Middles-Bottoms-Customers)
This workshop has been run in companies around the world,
including Microsoft, Boeing, Bell Helicopter, Lockheed Martin,
NASA, Unisys, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Oracle Asia-Pacific,
Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, GE Plastics, Harley-
Davidson--to name a few. I have run it here in SA with Old
Mutual, Unilever, Woolworths, Deloitte & Touche, Lion of
Africa, Colenbrander & Associates, Illovo Sugar, Eurosteel,
Huletts Sugar. . . among others.
There is nothing else like it in SA. Participants are guaranteed
an unusual, but practical, powerful, enjoyable learning
experience. . . with material relevant to any organization.
It explores partnership. . . what partnership IS, why it's so
important, what knocks people out of partnership in
organizations, & how people can create & sustain effective
partnerships for their own good & for the good of the
organization.

14. It increases system sight. People begin to "see" their
organization & their role in it in new light. They are given skills
to operate in their organization across departmental &
hierarchical lines. They begin to understand that the different
spaces (top--middle--bottom--customer) in an organization are
very different, with different dilemmas, pressures,
opportunities, obstacles, and responsibilities. (Note: To the
degree people are "system blind", they will often do things
without malicious intent that get in the way of organizational &
individual effectiveness.)
It builds a new language in an organization around which to
deal with successes, failures, problems, & people.
It enhances organizational morale and
communication. Participants gain a sense of empowerment as
they realize more fully the choices they have with regard to the
way they interact with others in the organization.
It builds synergy & partnership.
It is relevant for all levels in an organization. It helps people at
all levels see into the 'worlds' of others.

15. It helps make people more receptive to other skills training as
they begin to see their role in the organization and their
centrality to its success in a new way.
It contributes to the development of leadership behaviour at
all levels in an organization.
Here are three testimonials from people who have attended or
used it in their organizations:
Leon du Toit, the ex-HR Manager of Woolworths Financial
Services, after they ran many of their people through the
workshop some years back:
"This is a very powerful, experiential learning workshop that
gave the transformation effort in WFS a huge boost when we
began our journey of transforming the business from a Card
Processing business into a Financial Services business. It was
one of the key points of leverage that helped us to get to a
radically different level of engaging with one another across all
levels of the organisation.

16. We first ran a pilot workshop and then launched a series
internally and exclusively for the employees of WFS. About
80% of our employees at the time went through the workshop
and senior management participated in all workshops.
It provided a platform to really engage with one another across
all levels and experience the different spaces people occupy
within a hierarchy in a manner that we all developed a new
appreciation & understanding for the different work pressures
we experience. The seeds of a new camaraderie and different
level of collaboration, respect and trust were planted with most
people that attended the workshops at the time, which
contributed to the development of a uniquely empowering and
responsible culture in WFS which has been sustained over the
last 7 years or so."
Anthea Dallimore, MD of DRA (Development Research Africa):
"The OW-BP is an excellent tool for simulating the realities of
the workplace, identifying where the gaps exist and addressing
problems in an open and often fun manner. The best part
about the workshop is that it gives you real insight into the
demands and pressures that each different level within the
organization experiences. It leads one to be more empathic,
less critical and more supportive of others and the challenges
they face."

17. Bobby Nefdt, Headmaster of Scottsville Primary School:
"The Senior Management of our school was privileged to
attend this workshop and found it extremely practical and
inspiring. You will understand others in your school more fully
and be able to empathise with them. I really encourage you to
put aside these two days. If you are too busy, then that is the
reason why you should attend."

18. THE ORGANIZATION WORKSHOP—BUILDING
PARTNERSHIPS
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL?
You don’t just talk about issues of partnership &
empowerment—you experience them directly.
► Our classic organization exercises bring the issues of
partnership & empowerment to life. An organization is
created. Participants become Top Executives, Middle
Managers, Workers or Customers. The times are
turbulent. Change is imperative. All of the dilemmas,
challenges & opportunities of partnership become
reality. This ‘living case’ enables people to feel,
appreciate & understand what partnership in the
workplace is all about.
You get a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes.
► In these exercises, participants experience firsthand
what life is like in other parts of the system. They
experience frustrations, pressures & stresses others
feel daily. The result? Myths & stereotypes melt away
& are replaced by a real understanding & respect for
one another’s worlds.

19. You realize that you do have choices & that you can
make a difference.
► It hits participants like a wake-up slap: they see the
choices they have. They feel less victimized by
circumstances & more in charge of their own lives.
They experience their centrality to the wellbeing of
their organization. There’s less focus on ‘them’ & more
on ‘we’. There’s less complaining & more problem-
solving. In short, situations that seemed hopeless now
seem capable & worthy of change.
You take a systemic view of organizations.
► Participants gain a clear understanding of the systemic
causes of so much conflict, tension &
misunderstanding surrounding day-to-day
organizational life. This systemic orientation takes the
sting out of many costly, avoidable conflicts. It de-
personalizes them & makes them more manageable.
It also makes participants more savvy about how to
strategically influence their systems.

20. It’s a powerful System intervention.
► The workshop can produce real changes in your
organization. A common framework develops. There’s
more mutual understanding & respect across
organizational lines. Clear & practical strategies
emerge for working together more effectively. There’s
a structure for coaching & supporting one another.
And there’s less blame, more individual responsibility
& a shared understanding of what the system needs
from each of its parts in order to prosper.
It’s fun.
► Just as important, the Organization Workshop is fast-
paced, energizing & unforgettable. The time flies & the
learning sticks.

21. Book Now
• Contact
• Bill Miller
• Centre for Interactive Leadership
• PO Box 633 3245
• Hilton South Africa
• 033 343 2042
• +27 33 343 2042 082 551 5837
• +27 82 551 5837
• wdm@futurenet.co.za