FW: Executive coaching prior to OS session

[Christopher J. Carter]

Kay,

I agree with Larry. It is perhaps the most important work that we do as 
Open
Spacers. I see it as the *consulting* side, rather than the *facilitation*
side, of our work. In some ways, the facilitation of an OS event is easy, 
at
least when it is compared to the work of getting the right people to come
and educating/coaching key people on OS etiquette, like active listening.

In 1996, I ran a series of open spaces under the sponsorship of the CEO --
all employees were invited so those who chose to come were interested in
answering the central question *How can we provide superior customer 
service
and quality products?*  I spent alot of time with the CEO coaching him on
what he thought effective leadership nehaviuors would be during the events.
The bottom line, so to speak, was that he realized that he wanted to learn
and that reqired listening, which meant he (and his exec team) needed to
shut up. He was a little anxious about the topics which would emerge but
after the first OS of six, he really understood what was going on and how
he, as the leader, could affect the outcome, both positively and 
negatively.
It got to the point where, for the first OS, he had a 15 minute
presentation, by the last one, he ripped through his intro in about five
minutes, because he wanted to hear what te employees had to say!

Good question! Thanks for asking it.

Chris

Christopher J. Carter, OpenMind Consulting Services
1805 Whyte Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1B1 Canada
Phone:604-737-0999 Fax:737-0988
Email:ccarter at cyberstore.ca
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