New Work Station

You won't believe it took me many, many hours to create these groups or circles for the New York-based program I'm involved in - the final positioning of the post-its with my excel computer open at the same time, taking place on the doors of our wardrobes!

It looks simple but a huge amount of time and thought goes into it - seeking a balance among the ten criteria including the express wishes of the pax (participants). The time zone is also tricky and not helped by the facilitators all being based in NYC or Toronto - especially the stretch to Hong Kong.

The criteria in full, in no particular order, are:

Personality (green strong, orange medium and pink quiet . . . very rough and ready!)
Subject matters (still some not clear)
Age
Gender
Country of origin
Country of Residence
Urgency
Time Zone
Function
Sector

And . . . declared preferences for circle mates and preferences for people they don’t want to be with. There were over forty such requests which makes things even more complicated. Everyone ended up with at least person they wanted, some got two...and all the no-gos were fully respected, of course!

It's always a trade off and, from experience, I also need to let the proposal mature - even today - the third day of consideration - I made a few more changes.

Great calls, both combining work and pleasure with friends Thomas in Norway and Roberto in Panama, where he is presently stranded!