I am in a train to Helsinki. Again. But let’s start with what I wrote a week ago:

I am in a train to Helsinki heading for a what seems to be a very interesting two weekend workshop organized by Pixelache, it’s about Open P2P Design. I met Massimo shortly at the OKCon in Berlin this past June/July and he told me about this workshop. Many times when I travel abroad I hear about Pixelache, Alt Party or Assembly, but this is the first time I participate in meetings organized by the Helsinki visual school. Well, besides Open Data stuff in fact.

I don’t know much what to expect, I know very little about Open P2P Design. But I like it all, open is cool, P2P is the future, and Design is beautiful. So expectations are high. I am not aware that any of my friends would be joining the sessions, so it’s also exciting to meet new people.

After doing a little a research, I come across following questions in Massimo’s presentation about Open P2P Design:

How can we design projects for a locality and its community?
How can we enable the participation of a community in the design process?

I find these questions very triggering. Because I think what we really need is more collaboration locally. And that is the hardest part. It’s easy to go and travel and meet cool people, but when it’s time to make a difference at your home it can be very hard. The most local is the most systemic says Peter Senge. Local is the only thing we have. Local is our playground. How can we bring people together and make things happen?

I am going to participate in these workshops with Mental Models Game in my mind. The idea is to build it with Open Source / free software philosophy. I am not sure though what it means in practice. But just recently I can say that we’ve got the open hardware side on it, too. In practice, our friends Theresia and Florian have found carpenters in Germany to build a game for them. Let’s see when we get instructables online either from our prototype made by Janne, or the ones made in Germany.

So, now it’s time for the second weekend of the course. It’s been fun, I have learnt in theory and practice (a little) how the open source projects are being managed. How to work with revision control systems and software. I think all this will be useful for the future where I see us collaborating more and more globally. Working on a same project but based in different locations.

What went well?

In my master’s program all individuals of our #minnteam had a challenge to pitch a project. I picked Mental Model Game since we had just recently been talking about it with Tekes and found out that there might be potential to invest on this idea and the development of it. So the pitching chance came with a perfect timing!

Mental Model Game game board & spin wheel originals.

Thanks to deciding the topic well in advance I was able to develop my pitch by talking it thru for many people before the actual show. Hugo & Ville Monkeys, Aleksi Hasu and #minnteam mates helped by giving a lot of open critics & additions beforehand. (Thanks guys!) Just before the show I also established a relationship with the investors by chatting a bit with them before going to the stage. It helped to relax and enjoy the moment, and finally the presentation went better than any of the test pitches. It was a good experience and for sure I felt that I want to do it again and again and again!

What went poorly?

The presentation was quite well handled but in the questions and answers part I was not sharp anymore – it was the selling point and I went on talking not focused. First question was: What kind of customers buy this game now and have you asked them woud they like to pay for an online game or mobile app? That was easy to

answer: individuals & consultancies have already showed interest for buying a training for facilitating the game, and also for buying the web / mobile version of the game. The next question I received was harder: Why companies buy exactly this product? I answered that it’s bought for the team-up-day purposes or for eg. the sales teams motivational purposes. But that’s not really a good answer. Mental Model Game is not just any dynamic for the team-up-day. Instead, it’s a deep and simple tool for improving the team dynamics and performance inside a company, and you don’t need to wait for a development day to play the game. It can be used for thinking challenges in real time, even urgetly. For the next pitch I will go deeper in thinking about the real value of the Mental Model Game with the Monkeys team and with the academics who have launched the theory originally.

What did I learn?

Mental Model Game session in Helsinki, Finland - March 2011.What did I learn?

I learned that it’s important to mention numbers, and for example answer to the question “How much are you investing on it yourself?” and of course I forgot to tell that. We have been investing on the brochyre texts about the game, on the rights for the name and websites, and on the Mental Model Game tour. Our total investment is about 2000 € + 2000 working hours up to date as a team. We are now facing a bigger investment need for getting the online game development going on and the board game design done.

I also learned that: “Investors never invest on a service company, but if you had a developer in your team who owns this project it would be an attractive project to invest in.” Second positive comment from StepOne José was: “I want to see you making it happen, it’s a good idea and you’ve got the basis ready – it will be a good learning experience for Monkey Business to check how far you can go with the Mental Model Game - make it happen!”

What will I do differently next time / take to practice?

I would practice still more before presenting. Maybe 30 times is minimum for practice, now I had 10. Goal would be to get to give 300 pitches at least! And that’s why we are launching a “Pitching Evening” concept to Jyväskylä region, for getting a stage to learn this lovely skill, and for waking up the start-up culture in our city. Would yu be up to participate? Is there someone wrking on it in Jyväskylä already? Who should we team up with?

We will keep on developing the game with our new designer Janne, and keep on talking with Tekes about the possibilities for idea development funding.

Summa summarum: I used to be critical towards pitching because my mental model of a pitch was that it’s boring to have one head talking for a crowd as fast as possible to get the idea sold. Now, after experinecing the role of the presenter, I can just say that this was the most learningful experience I’ve recently had. Being seriously vulnerable and honest with the project in front of 30 or more people makes you feel, think, act and love it!

Today our USA Learning Journey continues in Boston with Liher Monkey. We’re visiting MIT Lab, Babson College with Endeavor course running there, and also Harward & some local enterprises. Do you have more ideas for what might we do here? We’re around until Friday 22nd of April.

With Yellow regards,

Henna Monkey

One crucial tool we used was Monkey Business’ the Mental Model Game. It supports the process of recognizing one’s own and other people’s ways of seeing the world, and helps appreciate the different viewpoints.

Really interesting to see how the form of a game impacts people’s conversations. Maybe Marc Prensky provides some good thoughts on this phenomenon in “why games engage us”:

Now what happened during the Mental Model Game? Put simply, the participants shared their views about open inquiries, so questions like “what’s the difference between craziness and genius?” or “are we alone in the universe?” They talked in various constellations, for example large groups, smaller groups or individually, and they captured key insights. Initially, questions were given by the hosts, later the participants generated their own. Here are some juicy bits that people in Hamburg reflected:

Everything can be questioned what I had thought I knew
Don´t think just with your own head
Think crazy
Everything is changeable
Ideas are formed in the “connecting room” – don´t create any borders for yourself
Perspectives, perspectives, perspectives
People see things even more differently than I thought
It is important to have fun in life!
Again I learned quite a bit about myself
There is no limit for human creativity

The dialogue in the group reached a good level, and when one of the participants brought up the question: “What is the core of a human being”, it arose so much interest that it became the basis for the birthgiving phase of the workshop (conversion). This was guided by the question „if the inner core of the human being is so important, how will I incorporate it into my business?“

Participants’ creativity did not even stop at biblical quotations when Jesus, surrounded by his apostles, did a headstand, and remained in that position for the rest of the Last Supper. A really good way of shaking one’s mental models, isn’t it?

Thank you Monkey Business for playing the Mental Model Game with us in Germany, let’s continue this good cooperation in the future.

Writer is a friend of Monkey Business and enthusiastic of Team Academy

Theresia Warwitz

Cornerstones of Arranging a LearningFULL Event

1.) GOAL What’s the goal of the event? What are the different points of view that the participants have related to the goal? What gathers people together in the event and inspires them to co-create? We need to work on defining the goal as long as we agree on the important thing to achieve with the event. Fun supports learning, so goal needs to be inspiring!

2.) PROCESS How do we reach the goal? Less is more! Process serves the goal, gives space for the participants and leads doing. There are many ways to reach to the goal. Monkeys always offer a variety of proposals for guiding the process, and choosing the ones to use happens in co-creation with the customer.

3.) LEADERSHIP Systems intelligence? What kind of interaction environment is created? Who “owns” the process? There must be a leader, even though people are facilitated to self-organize, and actively co-create & take ownership in the situation. Leader can be one of the Monkey facilitators, or an event organizer.

4.) START How soon the participants are activated to co-create? What kind of interactin environment is created? How do we orientate the participants? How to get people hooked and inspired already before the event – marketing?

5.) TIME Less is more. Master picks one theme and goes deep in it from different points of view. Time serves the process. Long breaks are needed for informal, meaningful conversations. Ending can happen even before the agreed time frame. What’s your mental model of efficiency?

6.) PROFESSIONALISM Team is always smarter than any individual. How can one give up the power and empower others to act? How does the facilitation support that?

7.) LEARNING What learning methods are used? How is the wrap-up of the event done? How is the knowledge crystallized? How do we take into account different learners?

8.) TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT If something special is needed, it has to be organized beforehand, and, if needed, by technical professionals.

9.) MARKETING Even if the event was just a normal development day, it has to be marketed. We must create an inspiring vision about the future that follows after the event day! The meaning of contributing has to be clear.

10.) PLACE What kind of place we have in use? Environment supports learning, and the most important thing in it is that people feel comfortable being in the place.

Plenty of questions in this list! That does not mean that these all should be literally answered before doing anything. Anyway it’s good to check this and take into account all the parallel processes related to the event. This is one way for organizing success!

With Yellow regards,

Henna Monkey

P.S. Are there things that belong to the list but were forgotten to mention until now?

Above is a slideshow with images I draw last Thursday in graphic facilitation training by Nanna Frank. It was good fun to participate in training with Team Academy’s Creativite Intelligence and Flexibility Program, LÄN, which I did maybe 5 years ago myself. Key learnings for me where that a single word can be expressed in many images. Thus images are not far from telling more than thousand words. Also, an interesting idea was that in science where we seek the truth images are hardly used in the scientific articles I have read. Images leave room for creativity. They ask us to participate in creating the meaning.

Lately I have been excited to know more about Design Thinking. That was one of the motivators for me to join the training. One of the cornerstones of Design is to see the big picture, to have the holistic view. For that it is good to draw a big paper, kind of poster, with key concepts about the case. We did such posters or templates as the final task of the training. I did mine about the Yellow Office 1st Anniversary that will be on the 25th. It helped me to see it from a new light, and for sure will help me to explain the idea to others. Thanks a lot Nanna for the training!

Since 2007 Spring when we came here first time with Tatu the Monkey and Sari Veripaa we gave the following notebook to Javier Ruiz. He has a key role in the birth of Monkey Business, because he trusted the young and enthusiastic guys as well as he asked the question:

“If you were an animal, what animal were you?” -Javier Ruiz

I have come back to Basque Country twice a year, every Spring and Autumn. I am happy and grateful having had the opportunity to get to know this special culture and plenty of very nice and interesting people from here.

This time again it was Javier Ruiz who contacted us through Facebook on Friday night telling us to come over in November. We had couple of Skype calls, Mimmu from Partus joined the process and here we are. As a part of the workshop organized by Team Academy of Teknalia I gave a 15 minute presentation about the history of Monkey Business. I am right now uploading the 400mb video into MonkeyTV about the presentation, but meanwhile please have a look at the slides.

The presentation went well, I think. I got some good feedback (combining stories into theory and inquiry, also one message on Twitter Thanks a lot Juhis for the illustrations, and Jaakko for the background, fellow Monkeys Tatu, Janne, Henna, Johanna, Liher and Iiro for the story and the questions.

Ps. When I travel, I like to think that if I get even one idea to put into practice I consider the journey to be a succesful. This journey has brough me many! For example an idea about the 1st anniversary of Yellow Office in February or March. It would be a one day seminar and a party. Limited participation of 30-50 people, and surprise key note speakers with TED style presentations as well as open space for anybody to host a session.

In the workshops one theme was rising up as essential part of TA, and here I want to reflect on it. There had been a thought of implementing TA in Surrey as short courses / summer programs with an intention of piloting it so. Before we even got into deeper discussion about the benefits and downsides of the short courses, Petrus got a system intelligent insight of showing this Team Evolution modelling made by a Monkey fellow Ville Hast.

We described this figure by sharing a fact that on the first year teams are less productive than members of the team as indivuals could be, but investing time for working as a team makes us exponentially productive by the 4th year. Then Arie de Geus took this figure in deeper analysis by sharing us a story and example of the power of dialogue from the Roayl Dutch Shell, where the management teams aimed to spend hours and hours dialoguing. Why so? Because due to the shared knowledege and understanding they gained by dialoguing their desicion making process improved remarkably making them fast at implementing desicions and committing people to work on changes. Dialogue simply brought competence for the company.

It was clear then, that short courses of TA are useful as pilots, but for making it really a successful learning program in the Uni no less than 3 years is the recommended lenght of a program, because team learning and dialogue need time. In Team Academy Finland team companies the first two years go for learning the dialogue with 8 hours / week basis and investing for learning, and the 3rd and 4th year as a team bring exponential growt in quality of the ideas and action of the team members and thus the revenues also grow. In adult learning programs 1 year time frame works well, because adult learners come with more experience and capabilities to think together than the BBA learners aged 18-30.

Summasummarum: dialogue is power and it’s wise to make effort for allowing time for it in any learning program and company. At this UK journey I started valuing our Mondays Are For Monkeys dialogue sessions especially! …we’ve got a chance to improve so much when we invest on dialogue.

With yellow Easter regards,
Henna Monkey

Between,
Those heartfelt laughter,
Breath-giving winds and chirping birds,
Moist soil and tamarind seeds,

Between,
The rocks that spoke,
The wells that nurtured,
The depths that connected,
The pyramids that centered,
The communities that flourished…

In midst of,
This rich flow of life,
Streams of timeless energy,
And our inspiring stories…

I am falling in love…
With a new possibility,
A new community
A new depth,
A new horizon…

Oh here I am,
A moment when it all becomes one,
The living and the emerging,
Across our hearts, lives and work…
The new is emerging…

I am so full of life… full of hope!

And here are many pictures by Sue Sweitzer from the Sustainable Food Lab.

1.5 years ago we did a brave experiment with our friends Ralf, Charles, David and Marie. It was called a Penquin Expedition (a pdf) and it included a special thing called Solo Experience. Solo may be familiar to you for example through books like Syncronicity and Presence. Our experience was very good, we have a special place by the lake Saimaa where we can work and the summer in Finland is spectacular.

This coming year we are planning to open solos. The first one is in the first week of June and the second one will be together with a Penquin Expedition and during the last week of August. Here are some slides about the first one!

Loads of yellow! Ville

This kind of coincidences happen more and more in this small earth! And I think it’s an uplifting issue because “intelligently accidental” human meetings bring extra joy in life. It just happened to me when I googled Survival Academy, an event I decided to participate to because the topic calls me to go, even though I don’t know the organization. However, by discovering better this http://survivalacademy.ning.com/ I got to know that +15 of my friends are connected in that event and we’ll potentially meet up in there. Today the same phenomenon came when I met a friend called Oliver Saarinen with whom we participated http://www.tulenkantajat.com/, and while visiting his school http://www.hse.fi/en/mikkeli I randomly met there a friend called Joonas Kallankari who was my team mate at http://www.emaxnordic.com/ in 2007. Long time, no see, but it’s definetely good to follow the curious path and choose to go in places where these good old friends can be found.

Try it today: google an event you are interested in, for example this: http://survivalacademy.ning.com/events?page=4 and see who you know out of the participants even though you might not know the organizers. Or make a date with a person you know for some cool reason but haven’t seen for a while, and see how many common friends / actions you have now. You will be surprised!