From Physical Place to Virtual Space
Gwen Stirling-Wilkie
About From Physical Place to Virtual Space
From Physical Place to Virtual Space describes the insights and conclusions of a highly experienced Dialogic Organization Development practitioner bringing her skills to a new client, all online. From initial contact, designing and sequencing the interventions, to a series of online events for a large multi-divisional corporation, Gwen Stirling-Wilkie takes you through the differences that make a difference in doing Dialogic OD in virtual spaces. She introduces her ‘Transformative Spaces Online’ Framework to help adjust the foundation stones of your practice.
The book is in two parts.
Part 1: Preparing The Virtual Space
The first part of the book has new models, tools, and insights for using virtual platforms like Zoom - useful for anyone, from beginners to seasoned experts. Gwen guides in how to design differently for virtual space.
Part 2: Mastering Virtual Consulting
The second part of the book goes into detail on virtual consulting; effective group work, working with group energy online, Use of Self, and how to adapt dialogic OD methods online.
A virtual consulting case study:
The book concludes with a full description of a case of virtual consulting with a new client at the start of the pandemic, one that was not familiar with working through virtual platforms. The client wanted to embark on a cultural change process and create greater integration between five distinct businesses within the company, and decided they could not wait for the pandemic to be over.
We watch the emergence of new and novel groupings to explore a shared topic in ways they hadn’t before. New narratives travelled through the formal and informal networks within and between businesses. These included stories of people being invited to take part whose voices were not normally heard, opening up to the possibility of a different way of leading. The entire process generated new ways of working, new relationships, and new possibilities for future collaboration across the company, as well as a new image of leadership that was attractive and stimulated new actions. A collective experience of previously unimagined ways of thinking, creating, and acting together stimulated an explosion of innovation.
Praise for ‘From Physical Place to Virtual Space’
“If you are curious as to how to continue to do effective group work, how to design transformative events, how to host an online event with ‘presence' and most important of all, how to keep participation a core element of any online intervention, then this is a crucial developmental book for you. This book is a timely and significant contribution to the field.”
Dr Mee-Yan Cheung Judge, founder of Quality & Equality. HR Magazine in UK top influential thinker list in 2018, 2019.