NEW MANAGEMENT TOPIC Turning the Tables: Unusual Seating for Creative Problem Solving

How do you usually sit at work meetings? Is one person in charge, sitting at the front, and everyone else lined up according to status? At recurring meetings, does everyone always sit in the same place, maybe next to those they know best? Do these meetings take place at a rectangular table so that people can hardly see the others to their sides? Ask yourselves: Is this the best way to foster open discussion?

This CoachingOurselves topic, written by Jonathan Gosling and Henry Mintzberg, considers a variety of novel seating arrangements that contribute to a spirit of openness and stimulate learning for both small and large groups alike. You will have opportunities within the session to put these into action and discover firsthand how they enrich the group dynamic.

In "Turning the Tables: Unusual Seating for Creative Problem Solving" you will discover six ways you can sit in groups for creative learning and consider how you can use each of these in your own everyday work.
 
 
Jonathan Gosling is Professor and Director of the Centre for Leadership Studies and Head of Executive Education in the School of Business and Economics at the University of Exeter in the U.K. Jonathan's research focuses on leadership and ethics in current strategic changes and on comtemporary innovation in leadership development.
 
Henry Mintzberg is Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Canada. He has been described by Tom Peters as "perhaps the world's premier management thinker". Henry has published over 150 articles and fifteen books, including Managers Not MBAs, from which CoachingOurselves has sprung. Visit www.mintzberg.org to learn more.