Some Initial Response to Birgitt

Larry Peterson lpasoc at inforamp.net
Thu Sep 11 08:46:24 PDT 1997


Birgitt: I've read the material again. This is great stuff and the more I
read it the clearer I get. I need to test the clarity because that changes
the story:

--If you are being brought in by the consultant then who "owns" the use of
Open Space and the possible shift to an Open Space organization--the
consultant or the CEO? Is the CEO capable of leading on Open Space
organization of this size? Does he/she have the spiritual depth or can they
develop it?

--Who are the internal transformational leaders? If they have blocked all
the other change efforts to this point, why do you assume they will go for
this? How set is the dominant coalition against change? You may need to look
at this on a department by department basis. At the Bank of Montreal, after
the Learning Institue staff picked it up, the divisional leadership was the
next to seriously try open space. It has taken two years to get all the
divisional leaders to try Open Space at their major meetings. It began with
one champion and a success. It would not have happened if it were imposed!
One part of the organization has still not chosen to have an Open Space
event. I led a one day event with Operations leadership, two levels down. It
was a good event, but the senior people were not willing to champion the
approach. We coached them for three meetings, they still did not
understand--"it was mainly for their people". The mid-management folks
strategized to get the managment on board. I don't know if it has happend
yet. If you want the change in 6 months, you have to be able/willing to fire
key leaders who will oppose operating in open space. You do have the
pressure of do or die!

--Transforming the work processes into open space processes will be the
task. In the higly unionized environment, there are a lot more givens based
in the union contract. The nature of that contract and the union leadership
as part of a dominant operational coalition will be critcal to effectiveness
in implementation. If you are really moving to an Open Space organization,
then job classification and pay scales will be challenged and need to be
re-aligned somewhere down the road.

--How does Open Space fit with the exisiting re-engineering effort? Is it
seen as a way to enable the new work processes design or as a move to an
Open Space organization. What stake does the current consultant have in the
outcomes of this?

--In house leadership training would take on more of the character of the
AIM project we did this summer. It would work best focused on particular
changes or business issues confronting the whole or parts of the
organization---as will the Open Spaces. How much of a critical mass of
leadership will require such training?  How many do you assume can be done a
month? Are we talking about between now and the middle of next year---with
the January change over in the middle. It take a week for each leadership
event of the AIM type, with a maximum of 25-30 folks at each.  It can't all
happen before the Open Space events--but some critical mass or key points in
the organization.

--Even in that 4 day piece, we do not cover much about behaviour re ongoing
sustaing of spirit and focusing story. The coaching process of key
leadership so that new behaviour  is exibited (and thus believed by others)
will require substantial time from multiple consultants.

--Have you (or the previous consultants) surfaced the old story of the
organization--That kind of interviewing would help but would take
conversations with enough people to surface the data and build trust in the
"new" consultants down the line.

--Is there a clear new vision and strategic directions based on strategic
assumptions, even at the senior level? It took 4 months to develop this at
the senior and next level down at the Royal Bank. (In my meeting, they said
that the stuff that resulted from my work has become the benchmark for the
rest of the organization--nice eh).

--What kind of technology do they now have? Many gov. agencies are behind.
Do they have an intra-net?? If they do not, then setting one up could be
difficult, depending on the nature of their current LAN. I know some folks
who develop those things who are interested in Open Space. They have workded
with a number of large government and health organizations on information
flow. They are also extremely busy and expensive.

---If the CEO wants to be leading an Open Space organization, to whom does
he account? Does he/she account to Metro Council now? Will he/she account to
the new Toronto Council? That Committee, eventually, has to be willing to
permit an Open Space organization and then to support it. One political
mistake and the CEO and the Open Space organization are gone. The Union
knows this well. They also know how to get rid of the current leadership if
necessary. This is part of their lack of willingness to actively participate
in change. This is also true of Management in gov't organizations. Is
everyone clear that it is do or die, or can they dismiss it as this CEO's
fantasy?

--Developing the inital momentum will require a critical mass event that
impacts the whole. That was certainly the case at the Bank of Montreal. With
the CEO clearly and intentionally opening the space around a real business
issue more is possible. That did not happed at B of M. It did at Regionional
Health Department on one issue---violence and health. That one issues has
been a lever for substantial changes externally to the organization and
internally. Violence is now the region's #1 health issue, partly becasue of
the outcomes of the critical mass open space. A song sung at the closing of
Open Space was so powerful that it was developed as a presentation piece.
The author, the Medical Officer of Health and his wife performed it at
Regional Council and the Violence as #1 Health Issue passed. There are 7-8
internal Open Space groups still going on, doing great stuff across silos.
Some managers are seeing some limits--one person hogging one of the
groups--and trying to use that to discredit Open Space. However the CEO is
committed to moving toward a more open management process and said (we shall
see) that he will send 3-4 managers to our workshop in November. That and
some additional open space events inside will build the momentum.

The critical mass event has to be communicated througout the system so that
people believe & trust the outcomes. They have to hear it from a friend that
it was good. This communication takes some time. To do the regional or
department events will require that the leadership there be willing to Open
the Space. The next level down of leadership  may require one day
events--like I did with Alberta Division B of M--or our training to prepare
them. That led to one staff to take the training from Alberta. However, no
one came to our last training from B of M???



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