ILO team for Eastern Europe and Central Asia: foreseeing trends for the next biennium
23-24 November 2023, TASHKENT – The ILO staff gathered here to take part in an innovative Foresight exercise facilitated by ITC ILO. The exercise served to foster team spirit, reflect on working modalities internally and externally - with the constituents and partners, and deliver on ILO mandate - decent work and social justice.
24 November 2023
The retreat was also attended by a representative delegation from the ILO Headquarters led by the newly appointed Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Beate Andrees.
In her address to the team, Beate Andrees said: “I'm very grateful to the International Training Centre in Turin that has facilitated our Foresight workshop here in Tashkent. I myself encountered Foresight for the first time many years ago, and at the time, it was hard to believe that the identified trends could really become true, like a global pandemic, like a major economic crisis, rising inequalities, lack of trust, undermining of institutions. But we see many of these trends now happening in our region. And it is very important for the ILO to respond to those trends and see the opportunities and not just the challenges.”
Mikhail Pouchkin, Officer-in-Charge of the ILO Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia noted: “This exercise really attempts to see beyond the horizon, to see what is there in the future. It is important to see what and how we can improve and work with coordination of a joint effort as a team, between the different staff cohorts. What can we do to avoid this silo approach, to build more bridges between those cohorts, to improve coordination and communication.”
“I really would like each and every one of you to be heard. Speak up! This will improve our work and strengthen team spirit,” he added.
“This exercise is three steps. Step one is ‘storming’, where we are brainstorming about all kinds of scenarios of the future that could hold for the Decent Work Support Team. The second step is ‘forming’, where you align these different scenarios and you agree on one scenario that is agreed by the whole team. And then the third step is ‘norming’, where we are fleshing out the framework for this scenario in order to implement it step by step in the future,” explained Andreas Klemmer, Director of Training, ITCILO.
During the first day the team members shared their vision of the future with each other using creative ways to present ideas. The topic of artificial intelligence and its effect on employment in the foreseeable future have evoked a lively discussion.
By the end of the training the team has come up with the following priorities to apply in their work:
In her address to the team, Beate Andrees said: “I'm very grateful to the International Training Centre in Turin that has facilitated our Foresight workshop here in Tashkent. I myself encountered Foresight for the first time many years ago, and at the time, it was hard to believe that the identified trends could really become true, like a global pandemic, like a major economic crisis, rising inequalities, lack of trust, undermining of institutions. But we see many of these trends now happening in our region. And it is very important for the ILO to respond to those trends and see the opportunities and not just the challenges.”
Mikhail Pouchkin, Officer-in-Charge of the ILO Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia noted: “This exercise really attempts to see beyond the horizon, to see what is there in the future. It is important to see what and how we can improve and work with coordination of a joint effort as a team, between the different staff cohorts. What can we do to avoid this silo approach, to build more bridges between those cohorts, to improve coordination and communication.”
“I really would like each and every one of you to be heard. Speak up! This will improve our work and strengthen team spirit,” he added.
“This exercise is three steps. Step one is ‘storming’, where we are brainstorming about all kinds of scenarios of the future that could hold for the Decent Work Support Team. The second step is ‘forming’, where you align these different scenarios and you agree on one scenario that is agreed by the whole team. And then the third step is ‘norming’, where we are fleshing out the framework for this scenario in order to implement it step by step in the future,” explained Andreas Klemmer, Director of Training, ITCILO.
During the first day the team members shared their vision of the future with each other using creative ways to present ideas. The topic of artificial intelligence and its effect on employment in the foreseeable future have evoked a lively discussion.
By the end of the training the team has come up with the following priorities to apply in their work:
- having constant dialogue inside the main team and within smaller teams;
- always seek for training and innovation opportunities and for effective partnerships;
- enhance communications; and incorporate business review attitudes in their work.