PLAY
David Foggin
Front cover
PLAY
David Foggin
We do our best work when we can
play to our preferences.
Page 1
PLAY
David Foggin
Twelve beliefs about people and work
Page 2
PLAY / PEOPLE AND WORK
Before the first note.
Page 3
SARIIO / INTRODUCTION
Hello, I’m David.
One of the things I love about live music is watching people listen. A breath, a
glance, a phrase offered and taken up. The audience is part of that exchange too.
Something happens between people that none of them could make alone.
I have spent much of my working life exploring a similar question: what helps people do
their best work together?
I founded Disruption, a culture and change consultancy, in 1991. It was later acquired by
TBWA/Omnicom. My work has included Nestlé UK, Mars Confectionery, the Deutsche
Bank and Bankers Trust integration, and the executive team at LV=. Each setting
brought me closer to the way culture is experienced in ordinary working days.
At Harvard Business School, I studied organisational leadership with John Kotter as
tutor and mentor. That experience sharpened my interest in how an ambition for
change becomes something people can understand, contribute to and carry through in
their work.
I built the first version of the Saviio work-preference instrument in 2007. The question
behind it still interests me: what becomes possible when people have language for how
they prefer to work, and become curious about the people alongside them?
This book brings those interests together. Twelve beliefs, seen through four levels of
organisational life: Self, Interpersonal, Team and Organisation. Music gives us another
way to notice listening, preparation, contribution and the space people make for each
other.
The scenes are invitations to reflect, rather than accounts of named client
engagements. Keep your own work in mind as you read. What do you recognise? What
might you want to understand or try?
We do our best work when we can play to our preferences.
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PLAY / PEOPLE AND WORK
The audience is part of it too.
Page 5
SARIIO / PEOPLE AND WORK
Why this matters at work
In Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2026 report, based on data
collected during 2025, 20% of employees worldwide were classified as
engaged, 64% as not engaged and 16% as actively disengaged. These
are Gallup's survey categories, not judgements about the worth or
effort of the people within them.
A global figure gives us a reason to pay attention. It cannot tell us what is
happening in a particular meeting, relationship or organisation. To
understand that, we have to get closer to the work.
Someone may care deeply about customers and still find their working
arrangements exhausting. A team may have capable people and unclear
responsibilities. A manager may want to support colleagues while carrying
a workload that leaves little room to do so. Pay, security, resources,
opportunity and the design of the work belong in that picture.
Understanding preferences gives us another source of information. It can
help someone explain what supports their contribution and what takes
more effort. It can help colleagues discuss an adjustment instead of
guessing what the other person needs. Its usefulness depends on what
people do with that understanding, alongside the other realities of their
work.
The beliefs that follow invite that kind of attention.
Gallup, 2026. State of the Global Workplace.
05
Page 6
PART 01 / FOUR LEVELS
Self
Page 7
PART 01 / FOUR LEVELS
Self
A clarinettist sits beside a music stand. We are close
enough to see the manuscript, the hands, the breath
before an entry. The whole performance is outside
the frame, but the person is already in relationship
with it.
At this level we begin with our own experience. How do I
prefer to approach the work? What have I come to
believe about myself? What does understanding make
available to me?
Self is a starting point for ownership and choice. It is also
where we return after something happens, carrying
information we did not have before.
07
Page 8
BELIEF 01 / SELF
We do our best work when we can play to our
preferences
Page 9
BELIEF 01 / TWELVE BELIEFS
01
We do our best work when we can play
to our preferences
Think of a piece of work that absorbed you. What helped you become involved?
You may have had a clear destination and room to find the route. You may have
worked through the detail with somebody you trusted. Perhaps you had time alone
before bringing an idea into the room.
Preferences give us language for those inclinations. Some of us discover what we think
by talking. Others would like to think before the conversation begins. We can be drawn
towards possibilities, reassured by detail, energised by a new beginning or deeply
satisfied by bringing something to completion.
The phrase “our best” matters. It refers to what becomes possible for each of us, in the
work we are doing. It does not establish a competition with the person sitting beside us.
Playing to a preference can involve asking for an arrangement that helps us contribute.
A colleague might receive the question ahead of a meeting, or have a short
conversation before beginning a complex task. These are practical choices that people
can discuss and review.
There will also be occasions when we choose to work against a preference. We may
value harmony and initiate a difficult conversation because the relationship matters.
We may want certainty and make a decision while information is incomplete.
Understanding the preference helps us recognise what we are choosing and what
support might be useful.
The work still has requirements. Customers need a response, decisions have
consequences and other people need room to contribute. Knowing ourselves gives us
more information for meeting those demands.
A useful place to begin is with something recent. What helped you do the work? What
required more effort than others may have realised? What would you like them to
understand?
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BELIEF 02 / SELF
A description of us does not define who we are
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BELIEF 02 / TWELVE BELIEFS
02
A description of us does not define
who we are
There can be a small sense of relief when a description fits. Something familiar
has acquired words. We can point to it and say, yes, I recognise that.
It is worth leaving a little space around that recognition. A description can be
useful without having the final word. We have histories, responsibilities,
relationships and capacities that no short account can hold completely.
Suppose a map suggests that you prefer independence. You may recognise the
pleasure of finding your own way through a problem. You may also enjoy belonging
to a close team, seek advice at an important moment and depend on colleagues
whose work makes yours possible. These experiences can sit together.
The difficulty comes when the description begins to close a door. “I prefer to
prepare” can help explain an approach. “I cannot contribute without preparation”
may become a restriction that the person has never actually examined.
Sometimes preparation is essential. Sometimes a small amount is enough.
Sometimes we discover we can respond well in the moment.
We can keep asking what is true here, with these people, doing this work. We can
notice exceptions. We can listen when somebody offers an observation we had
not considered. A preference map becomes more useful when the person is
involved in interpreting it.
This matters in leadership too. Once a manager has a label for someone, it can
begin to organise everything that follows. An employee deserves opportunities
that take account of their experience and demonstrated capability, together with
a conversation about how they prefer to work.
Look at a description you use about yourself. Where does it help? Where might
you have allowed it to decide something you could still explore?
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BELIEF 03 / SELF
Our preferences do not determine our worth or
ability
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BELIEF 03 / TWELVE BELIEFS
03
Our preferences do not determine our
worth or ability
Enjoying a particular way of working and being good at a task are different kinds
of information.
A person may prefer careful preparation and be an excellent improviser. Another may
enjoy public speaking while still learning how to do it well. We can become highly
skilled at work that takes considerable energy, and feel drawn towards activities in
which we are beginners.
That distinction protects the usefulness of a preference conversation. If a salesperson
says they like time to prepare, we can discuss how preparation serves customer
conversations. To understand their capability, we also need to look at the
conversations, their knowledge, their judgement and the outcomes of their work.
The same care applies to opportunities. A preference for detail does not establish
that someone should remain in a support role. A preference for independence does
not establish that they cannot lead. Role requirements and relevant evidence matter,
and people need room to express their aspirations.
It also matters when work feels difficult. Discomfort can have several explanations:
unfamiliarity, conditions, an unreasonable demand, a missing skill, or an approach that
asks us to operate outside a preference. We learn more by exploring the situation
than by treating a map as the answer.
Our worth as people sits beyond these comparisons. We do not become more
valuable because our inclinations match a particular role or resemble those of a
successful colleague. Respect is the basis of the conversation.
In practice, keep two questions available. How does this person prefer to approach
the work? What evidence do we have of what they can do, and what they are
learning? Giving each question proper attention helps us support development
without confusing preference with a limit.
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PLAY / PEOPLE AND WORK
Six ideas to return to.
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PLAY / PEOPLE AND WORK
What does SARIIO mean?
The name SARIIO holds six ideas that run through this
book: Self, Awareness, Rapport, Influence, Intent and
Outcomes. They continually affect one another. You
can enter the enquiry wherever the work makes it
useful.
Self. Awareness. Rapport. Influence. Intent. Outcomes.
The six ideas connect across all four levels. They offer
questions to return to, rather than a sequence to
complete.
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SARIIO / SELF
What is mine to own, and what helps me
contribute?
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SARIIO / SIX CONNECTED IDEAS
S
Self
Self includes understanding our preferences and owning our
part in what happens. We act, our actions have
consequences, and we can learn from them. Ownership
does not make us responsible for everything around us. It
asks us to recognise the part that is ours.
What is mine to own, and what helps me
contribute?
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SARIIO / AWARENESS
What might I not yet have noticed about this
person or situation?
Page 19
SARIIO / SIX CONNECTED IDEAS
A
Awareness
Awareness widens the view. Someone else may be
responding to information, circumstances or needs that we
have not noticed. We can take their experience seriously
while retaining our own judgement. Sometimes greater
awareness makes a disagreement clearer rather than
making it disappear.
What might I not yet have noticed about
this person or situation?
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SARIIO / RAPPORT
What are we doing that builds trust and
understanding?
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SARIIO / SIX CONNECTED IDEAS
R
Rapport
Rapport concerns the quality of the relationship in which we
work. Trust, respect and credibility give people more room
to speak and listen. We learn something about that
relationship through how commitments are kept, how
attention is offered and what happens when a person says
something unexpected.
What are we doing that builds trust and
understanding?
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SARIIO / INFLUENCE
What effect is my contribution having, and what
am I learning in return?
Page 23
SARIIO / SIX CONNECTED IDEAS
I
Influence
Influence recognises that we affect one another. A question,
an explanation, a decision or a silence can alter what
someone understands and does. There is room for the
exchange to change us too. Another person's contribution
may contain something our original position needed.
What effect is my contribution having,
and what am I learning in return?
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SARIIO / INTENT
What are we trying to create, and whose
interests need attention?
Page 25
SARIIO / SIX CONNECTED IDEAS
I
Intent
Intent asks what we are trying to create through that
influence. In a working relationship, can what matters to
both people remain visible? When a decision has to favour a
particular course, can we explain it honestly and attend to
its consequences? Intent becomes meaningful through the
choices we make.
What are we trying to create, and whose
interests need attention?
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SARIIO / OUTCOMES
What happened, who experienced it, and what
should we learn?
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SARIIO / SIX CONNECTED IDEAS
O
Outcomes
Outcomes bring the work into view. We serve customers, deliver projects,
support colleagues, make decisions and create value. An outcome gives us
information to take back into our understanding of ourselves and the people
around us. What happened? Who experienced it? What part did we play? What
do we want to do next?
What happened, who experienced it, and what
should we learn?
In music, a player hears the effect of a contribution and responds to what
follows. In work, the feedback may take longer and be harder to notice. A
customer has to tell us, a colleague has to show us or a team has to make time
to review. Creating those opportunities is part of the work.
You do not need to turn SARIIO into a checklist for every conversation. You may
simply notice that one idea is missing from an enquiry. Perhaps we have
discussed our intentions at length and have not asked about the outcome.
Perhaps we understand ourselves and have not yet listened closely to the other
person. The ideas give us somewhere useful to look.
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PART 02 / FOUR LEVELS
Interpersonal
Page 29
PART 02 / FOUR LEVELS
Interpersonal
The view widens to two people rehearsing. A pianist
listens as a singer shapes a phrase. There is music on
the stand, but much of the work is happening in the
exchange: a pause, a suggestion, a second attempt.
Interpersonal means what happens between us. Each
person brings an approach, a history and something
they want from the work. We encounter the other
person's experience through conversation and
observation. Our first explanation may leave something
important out.
Here we explore curiosity, making room and the
possibility of changing through experience.
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BELIEF 04 / INTERPERSONAL
Curiosity helps us understand each other
Page 31
BELIEF 04 / TWELVE BELIEFS
04
Curiosity helps us understand each
other
A colleague asks for another detail. You thought the decision was ready. They think
there is something important still to establish.
It is easy to explain the difference through a judgement about the person. We may
decide that they are holding things up. They may decide that we are overlooking the
consequences. Once those explanations settle, the next exchange can feel like further
evidence.
Curiosity gives us a chance to learn what the other person is trying to do. What would
the additional information help them decide? Which uncertainty concerns them? What
do they understand about the situation that we have not yet heard?
Our own position belongs in the conversation too. Perhaps a customer is waiting, an
opportunity is time-sensitive or another team needs the decision before it can
proceed. We can explain those circumstances without requiring the colleague to share
our preferred pace.
Understanding makes the disagreement more precise. We may discover a small piece
of information that is easy to obtain. We may agree that a decision must be made with
uncertainty still present. We may find that the concern points to a risk worth
investigating.
Curiosity also asks something of the person being questioned. If someone has formed a
strong explanation of us, we can help by describing what we are responding to. A map
may provide language, but the person still needs an opportunity to say what fits.
We will not always agree. We may still need to make a difficult decision or address
behaviour that has consequences. The additional understanding helps us respond to
what is happening, with less reliance on a story we have supplied ourselves.
Consider a working relationship in which you have become very sure of your
explanation. What question could reveal something you do not yet know?
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BELIEF 05 / INTERPERSONAL
Working together requires us to make room for
each other
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BELIEF 05 / TWELVE BELIEFS
05
Working together requires us to make
room for each other
Our opening belief creates a useful question. If I do my best work when I play
to my preferences, and you do your best work when you play to yours, what
happens when our approaches differ?
Suppose I want to explore an idea immediately and you would like time to consider
it. We could keep returning to the same argument about when a conversation
should happen. We could also examine what each of us needs from it.
I may want to capture the possibility before it disappears. You may want enough
preparation to contribute thoughtfully. We might record the idea briefly, share the
question and arrange a discussion later. Another task may require us to talk
immediately. What we agree can reflect the work as well as our preferences.
Making room is something we do across a relationship. It need not mean splitting
every difference evenly. One person may adapt more on a particular occasion
because the issue matters more to the other, or because the situation demands it.
Both people should remain visible in the arrangement.
That includes noticing who carries the effort. If the same colleague always works
around everyone else, their generosity can become an expectation nobody
remembers agreeing. A conversation about preferences should make that effort
easier to discuss.
In a duet, one player can provide space while the other develops a phrase. The
supporting part still requires attention, judgement and contribution. There is a
similar dignity in helping another person do their work well.
Choose a recurring exchange: a briefing, decision, handover or feedback
conversation. What helps each of you contribute? What adjustment could you
agree, and how will you know whether it serves both people and the task?
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BELIEF 06 / INTERPERSONAL
Our preferences can change through experience
Page 35
BELIEF 06 / TWELVE BELIEFS
06
Our preferences can change through
experience
Someone says, “You used to prefer doing that on your own.” They may remember
you accurately. You may also have changed.
Experience alters what feels familiar. A relationship can make a previously
uncomfortable conversation easier. A role can bring a different balance of responsibility
and freedom. Repeated practice can change how we experience a task. There may also
be preferences that remain recognisable across many years.
We can allow for both continuity and movement. An earlier account does not have to be
wrong because a later one is different. It may tell us something about the
circumstances in which each was expressed.
In working relationships, keeping an old picture can become a quiet restriction. A
manager remembers that a colleague disliked presenting several years ago and stops
offering the opportunity. The colleague has since gained experience and would
welcome another conversation. Neither may realise the picture has become out of date.
The opposite assumption needs care too. Increased confidence does not automatically
mean that preparation has become less important to someone. A person can develop
skill while retaining a preference. We learn what has changed by asking and listening to
their examples.
A map offers a view that can be revisited. When the person notices a difference, we can
explore where it appears, what has happened and what it might mean for the current
work. We do not need to demand change or celebrate movement for its own sake.
Relationships can support that enquiry. Someone who knows us well may notice
something we have missed, provided there is room for us to interpret our own
experience.
What assumption about a colleague might deserve a fresh conversation? And what
would you like someone to ask you again, rather than rely on what they remember?
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PART 03 / FOUR LEVELS
Team
Page 37
PART 03 / FOUR LEVELS
Team
A rehearsal room comes into view. Some people are
together; others join through video. There are scores,
screens, practical constraints and several different
ways of approaching the same passage.
The group has work to do that no single member can
complete alone. Its arrangements affect whose
contribution becomes available. Who receives the
material? Who can hear? How are decisions made?
What happens after somebody suggests a change?
At team level, we explore the circumstances around the
work, the choices people can make together and the
resources they may have overlooked.
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BELIEF 07 / TEAM
Our circumstances influence how we work
Page 39
BELIEF 07 / TWELVE BELIEFS
07
Our circumstances influence how we
work
The same person may contribute freely in one setting and say little in another.
Something about the person may matter. Something about the setting may matter
too.
A team meeting can make this visible. The topic arrives without warning, the discussion
moves quickly and a decision is taken before a remote colleague has found an opening.
Afterwards, that person sends a thoughtful note. It would be easy to describe them as
someone who contributes after the event. It may be more useful to examine how the
event was arranged.
Preferences are one part of this enquiry. So are access to information, clarity of purpose,
the equipment, the time available and the consequences of speaking. A team can discuss
these conditions without assuming that every difference has a single cause.
Hybrid working makes some of the practical details especially apparent. Can remote
participants hear the side conversation? Can they see what is being considered? Is there
a way to offer a view before a decision closes? Being connected to a screen does not
settle those questions.
The same attention belongs in a room where everyone is physically present. Familiar
colleagues may understand an unspoken convention that a newcomer has never
encountered. One person may feel comfortable questioning an assumption while another
is still learning what happens when someone does.
We retain ownership of our behaviour within these circumstances. We can also recognise
that the arrangement around the behaviour is available for examination.
Take a recent moment when a contribution arrived too late or went unheard. Before
explaining it entirely through the person, reconstruct the situation. What information and
opportunity were available? What small change would make the next occasion more
useful?
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BELIEF 08 / TEAM
Understanding our preferences gives us choices
about how we work and what we change
Page 41
BELIEF 08 / TWELVE BELIEFS
08
Understanding our preferences gives us
choices about how we work and what we
change
A team learns that several members prefer material in advance. That observation
becomes useful when the group considers what to do with it.
They might circulate a short decision paper before a meeting. They might distinguish
questions that need preparation from updates that do not. They might decide which
discussions benefit from live exploration and which need an opportunity to respond
afterwards. Different tasks can call for different arrangements.
The choices should remain workable. Producing a long paper for every exchange could
create more work than it serves. A short outline may provide what people need. The
team can agree an experiment, use it for a real piece of work and ask what happened.
Understanding also makes deliberate adaptation possible. A colleague may prefer a
clear route and choose to join an uncertain project because its purpose matters to
them. The discussion can include what they want to learn, what support is available and
which decisions need a review point.
Agency lives within the realities of work. Budgets, customer commitments, deadlines
and other people's responsibilities all have a place. There may be choices about how to
meet a requirement even when the requirement itself is fixed. Being clear about that
boundary helps people participate honestly.
A leader can support the process by making the available discretion visible. Which
decisions belong to the group? Which constraints are open to discussion? What is
already committed? People can work more usefully with an accurate account than an
invitation that promises freedom nobody can provide.
Choose one insight your team has discussed. What practical decision could it inform?
Agree what to try, who will take it forward and when you will review the experience.
Understanding earns its place through the choices it makes possible.
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BELIEF 09 / TEAM
Understanding our preferences can reveal
hidden resources
Page 43
BELIEF 09 / TWELVE BELIEFS
09
Understanding our preferences can
reveal hidden resources
A useful contribution can be present before anyone has found a way to hear it.
A colleague who rarely speaks during an open discussion may have worked through
the problem in considerable detail. Someone who enjoys exploring possibilities may
see an option the team has ruled out too quickly. Another person may notice what
would be required to turn that option into delivery. The value is in finding out what
each can contribute to this work.
We should resist assigning permanent parts. The quiet colleague does not
automatically become the researcher, or the energetic colleague the source of ideas.
A preference can prompt a question. The answer needs examples and the person's
own interpretation.
Sometimes the resource is a different way of working. Giving someone the question
beforehand can make a contribution available. A short conversation across two
functions can reveal information already held nearby. A review can show that people
are solving the same problem separately and could share what they have learned.
These possibilities are worth exploring alongside the resources that are plainly
required. Awareness cannot replace adequate staffing, time, tools or relevant
expertise. If the work needs more capacity, the team needs a route for saying so. A
preference conversation should help the reality become clearer.
It can also help us notice the effort of supporting others. The person who makes a
handover understandable, checks who has been left out or explains a decision may be
contributing something the group relies on without naming it. That work deserves
consideration when responsibilities are shared.
Ask what the team already knows or can do that is not reaching the work. Whose
perspective have you not heard? Which connection would make it easier to find?
There may be something useful available before you look further afield.
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PLAY / PEOPLE AND WORK
A starting point for a conversation.
Page 45
SARIIO / PEOPLE AND WORK
Bringing preferences into view
A music stand holds information that helps a player take part. The
player brings experience, attention and interpretation to it. Our maps
have a different purpose, but that image can help us keep them in
proportion.
myMAP offers information for a person to reflect on how they prefer to
work. It can support a conversation about preparation, relationships,
decisions and contribution. The person can say what they recognise, where
context matters and what they would like to explore.
Comparisons and CircleMAPS can support discussion between people who
choose to share and consider their perspectives. A map can make a
similarity or difference easier to discuss. It does not tell us what the other
person meant in a particular exchange; we still need to ask.
At team level, maps can help a group consider the approaches present
among its participants. What seems familiar? Which questions deserve
attention? How might the group arrange the work and review what
happens?
cultureMAP can help explore patterns across participating groups
alongside the practices and experiences that shape organisational life. A
roleMAP can support discussion about work preferences relevant to
responsibilities, considered with the skills, experience and evidence the
role requires.
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PLAY / PEOPLE AND WORK
The person interprets. The work gives context.
Page 47
SARIIO / PEOPLE AND WORK
People bring the map to life.
The musical image has a boundary. myMAP is not a score that
prescribes what a person must play. It does not assign someone an
instrument, establish their ability or determine their place in a group.
People interpret the information, make choices and respond to the
work.
For the same reason, the four levels in this book do not divide people or
preferences into separate compartments. Each person brings a whole set
of preferences into relationships, groups and organisations. Each belief can
be useful at more than one level. We have changed the lens to see more of
the working world.
The artwork follows that enquiry. We sometimes look across a room and
sometimes close in on a manuscript, a hand or a face. Monochrome lets us
attend to contrast and detail. Colour draws attention to something
becoming visible. Neither is a judgement about the person. A preference
can be present before anyone has found language for it.
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PART 04 / FOUR LEVELS
Organisation
Page 49
PART 04 / FOUR LEVELS
Organisation
We look over the musicians' heads towards the
conductor. The sections are distinct, and their work
connects. Around them are people who make the
occasion possible: those organising, supporting and
listening.
An organisation contains many relationships and groups.
Its culture is experienced through what happens across
them, including how people respond to customers and
how commitments travel from one part of the business
to another.
At this level we consider the patterns that become
normal, the present from which change begins and the
value of the days in which the work is happening.
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BELIEF 10 / ORGANISATION
Our language and behaviour shape our culture
Page 51
BELIEF 10 / TWELVE BELIEFS
10
Our language and behaviour shape our
culture
An organisation can describe its values clearly and still need to understand how
people experience them. The description is one source of information. What
happens in everyday work is another.
Consider an organisation that values collaboration. What happens when a customer
needs help from two departments? Who can make a decision? How does information
move? What is recognised when the work succeeds? The answers give collaboration a
practical meaning.
Language helps establish expectations. When somebody asks a question, the response
can encourage further enquiry or make them cautious about asking again. When a
manager explains a decision, people learn what was considered and whose contribution
mattered. Repeated exchanges become part of what colleagues expect.
No single conversation represents the whole culture. Patterns develop across time,
groups and circumstances. A newcomer may notice something long-standing colleagues
have stopped seeing. A customer may experience a consequence that remains out of
view inside the organisation.
Culture mapping can contribute to this enquiry by making patterns in participating
groups' work preferences available for discussion. Those patterns need to be considered
alongside practices, incentives, systems and lived experience. A map does not explain
everything that keeps happening.
The enquiry can include what already serves the organisation well. How do people help
one another meet a difficult commitment? Where does useful information travel freely?
What enables a customer to receive a thoughtful response? These practices may be
worth preserving as the business develops.
Choose a value your organisation names. Where could someone see it in ordinary work?
What might colleagues and customers describe differently? Bring those observations into
conversation before deciding what the value needs next.
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BELIEF 11 / ORGANISATION
Understanding what is here helps us shape what
comes next
Page 53
BELIEF 11 / TWELVE BELIEFS
11
Understanding what is here helps us
shape what comes next
A proposed change invites us to imagine a different future. We may want a closer
relationship with customers, more effective hybrid working or a clearer way to make
decisions across the business.
That future will meet an organisation already doing things in particular ways. People have
developed knowledge, loyalties, habits and arrangements that help them manage the
work. Some will support the change. Others may need to be reconsidered. We need
enough understanding to tell the difference.
Suppose a business wants teams to make decisions nearer the customer. Managers may
welcome the intention while remaining uncertain about which decisions they can make.
Employees may still be rewarded for following an approval route. Another function may
depend on information that the new arrangement no longer provides. These are matters
to work through with the people involved.
Understanding the present gives a change more places to begin. We can ask what already
works, which commitments must be protected, where the new approach has been tried
and what people have learned. We can examine the demands it places on different roles.
Preferences can inform part of that discussion. Some people may want to explore
possibilities early; others may need a clearer account of the implications before
contributing. A change process can provide more than one way to participate without
promising that every preference will determine the decision.
A useful experiment has a purpose, a scope and a review. Who needs to be involved?
What will happen differently? What will you observe, including the effects on those
receiving the work? The experience can then inform the next choice.
Before asking people to leave the present behind, become interested in what it contains.
There may be knowledge the future will need, as well as practices you choose to change.
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BELIEF 12 / ORGANISATION
These are the good days
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BELIEF 12 / TWELVE BELIEFS
12
These are the good days
It is easy for work to acquire a permanent future tense. When the project
finishes. When the team is complete. When the new system arrives. When
there is time.
There are good reasons to care about those things. We can also notice that our
lives are taking place while we work towards them. The days spent preparing,
discussing, supporting and trying again are part of the life we will eventually look
back on.
“These are the good days” leaves room for difficulty. A person experiencing poor
conditions needs those conditions addressed. Someone carrying grief, illness or
uncertainty does not owe the room a positive interpretation. We can acknowledge
what is hard and recognise what we value without asking either to cancel the
other.
Sometimes what matters is quite ordinary. A colleague understood the question
we were trying to ask. Someone made room for a contribution. A customer
received the help they needed. We finished something with care and knew our
effort had been useful.
Understanding preferences can help us recognise some of those experiences. We
may begin to see which parts of the working day give us energy, where we feel
able to contribute and which relationships support the work. That information can
shape what we appreciate now and what we choose to make room for next.
In an organisation, it can also inform what we preserve. A change can carry forward
a practice people value. A leader can notice the quality of an everyday exchange.
A team can recognise work that usually disappears into the background.
Think of something in your working life you would be pleased to find still present a
year from now. What makes it valuable? Who helps it happen? Is there something
you could acknowledge or protect today?
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PLAY / PEOPLE AND WORK
Something to carry into the next conversation.
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SARIIO / PEOPLE AND WORK
Something to carry into the next
conversation
You may have recognised a situation in these pages. Perhaps you
thought of a colleague, a customer, a group you lead or a part of your
own working day.
Start there. Ask about a recent piece of work. Listen for what helped, what
took effort and what the people involved would like to understand. Keep
the practical circumstances in view. Agree something small enough to try
and worthwhile enough to review.
I work personally with leaders and teams on leadership development,
teamwork, hybrid working, culture change and sales enablement. An
engagement begins with your situation and what you would like to achieve.
Maps, coaching and facilitated conversations can support the work where
useful.
If you would like to explore a question in your organisation, you can find me
at sariio.com or email david@sariio.com.
For now, there may be something worth noticing in the work already
around you. Someone contributing. Someone listening. Something you
would like to make room for.
These are the good days.
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These are the good days.
Back cover
SARIIO / DAVID FOGGIN / SARIIO.COM
These are the good days.