Ideas for 4 hour exec coaching session prior to OS

Esther Ewing eewing at inforamp.net
Fri Feb 13 10:07:35 PST 1998


Kay:

I have been really clear with senior people that it's important to
understand that they are opening up to a lot of possibilities. That they
are staying open to outcome and putting a question "out to the universe" if
you like. The responsibility that comes with getting access to those
exciting possibilities is that they must not close down and view it
narrowly or try to organize it ahead of time. A concentration on particular
outcomes will preclude them being open or accessible to the wealth of
outcomes possible.

That's ahead of time. I also tell them that during open space, they are
free to participate but only that. That is, that they shouldn't intervene
with the process and they should try as much as possible from saying
anything that even sounds like "you can't do that".  As well, if there are
non-negotiables as in "you can do anything that you can already find money
for in your budget" or "you can do anything if it doesn't cost more than
$xxx.xx" then the non-negotiables need to be outlined in the "opening the
space" section so that it is clear to everyone.

Also, you need to be really clear about what will happen with the results
and share that upfront with the participants as well. Will those announcing
their topic get a chance to work on it afterwards? Will people announcing
topics, be held to following through? Will the recommendations for action
be taken away and "approved by an executive group"? Basically what will
happen after open space in terms of follow-up on the results of the open
space.

Also, I have said to executives, don't invite that which you are not
prepared to follow through on. That is, if you say that people can make
decisions in open space, don't take away their decision making ability
afterwards. You will lose trust in spades. Nothing could be better
calculated to lower the trust levels.

So, those are my thoughts, for what it's worth.

Esther Ewing




More information about the OSList mailing list