Hack the MIX Hackathon

Hi Chris, great to know about the plan for MIX Academy. As mentioned in the idea that I shared, Working Conferences are the mechanism to provide experiential learning to participants. I recently had the opportunity to attend a working conference conducted by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad titled: Authority, Organisation, Strategies and Politics of Relatedness. I have shared below some extracts from the working conference brochure for your reference.

Working conferences provide an opportunity for accelerated learning to harvest insights and develop skills that cannot be taught through lectures, case-studies or simulations. Group Relations Conferences (also known as working conferences) were started by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, London in 1957 based on the work of Wilfred Bion, born in India. The design and structure of working conferences have undergone many changes since then the world over.The processes in this temporary institution designed for learning and co-created with participating members are similar to those we are familiar within our own and other organisations. What makes the conference experience different and valuable is that experiences become available for exploration, reflection and action in real time by mobilising authority from personal and organisational roles for experiencing and studying transformations. The lived experience of a working conference is vividly different from simulations or management games because there is no contrivance or manipulation towards possibilities pre-conceived by the staff. The diversity and talents of members and staff are expected to contribute to the scope and richness of the conference experience. Experiences which are personal, and takeaway learning that is private, may differ from one participant to another. In this sense, participants have responsibility for their own learning.