Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

Event Intermediation
An event for which the planning process and actual event are strategically used to bring about
large-scale change across a Utility and its larger stakeholder group.
Supports: change management, knowledge flows, knowledge sharing, customer relations
LEVEL OF EFFORT
SIZE OF UTILITY
SCOPE OF WORK
MED-HIGH
MED-LARGE
WIDE
Event intermediation is the use of a planned, collaborative event to move from intention to
reality. An intermediary connects knowledge seekers with knowledge sources by relating,
researching, validating, reshaping, and transferring information. Planned and supported
through groups, teams and communities, event intermediation is a tool for facilitating the
horizontal and vertical sharing of knowledge at a point in time as part of a larger change
strategy. Historically, humans work and strive to create change with only slightly visible results,
then some event occurs which connects all this prior activity, and the understanding of change
pushes everyone to a new strata of recognition, with the entire plain of behavior shifting upward
to a new starting point. A good analogy would be the growth of bamboo. For the first four years
the young bamboo plant is watered with relatively little visible evidence of growth. But during
this time, out of sight, the roots are spreading, interconnecting and growing in strength. Then,
during the fifth year, the bamboo plant streaks upward some 20 or more feet.
Using an Appreciative Inquiry Approach, sources within an organization or within the water
industry are identified where desired actions are successfully occurring, and these are
highlighted, widely shared and rewarded at this event. Although each of these sources may
bring to the event only part of the process needed to accomplish a desired end state,
collectively they provide the evidence that what is being attempted can be done, and they act as
indictors of how to accomplish it. This is similar to the amplification and sense and response
approaches in MQI’s paper on Systems and Complexity Theory.
A larger event approach such as a town hall or knowledge fair provides the venue for event
intermediation (see Stakeholder Engagement). An event of this nature requires wide
participation of stakeholders as both presenters and participants, and coordinated, high-level
planning for what must be thought of as self-organized local events. For example, in a
knowledge fair this might take the form of booths where dozens of participants plan and share
their stories. Simultaneously, there might be more formal presentations balanced against
demonstrations on the hour. In a town hall format, this might mean simultaneous events such
as an expert panel with an audience and live video-feed, a telethon, and a question and answer
session being web-cast, with participants moving from one form of media to the next. Other
formats might be stand-downs or road shows. Stand-down is a term used in military
organizations to refer to a period of time where everyone in the organization ―stands-down‖ from
their day-to-day job/requirements to focus on a significant need, event or aspect of the
organization.
The event selected could then be followed by development of a toolkit which would include
video interviews capturing the words of experts and high-level policy-makers; presentations,
stories and video clips representing each booth with points of contact; the latest research
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