A case for training.Revised

[Michelle Cooper]

I am not sure what happened to first version that I sent.  When I received it there were significant pieces missing.  I have rechecked (and also did a little more editing, of course).  Please just hit delete on the first if you have not read it.  Let's see how this one fares in cyberspace.
Michelle

Hello OS colleagues:

I want to share a story of my recent participation in a meeting that was billed as open space, but was DEFINITELY a model case of not being open space.  It is an example of a person who participated in an open space event, thought it was good, so picked and chose a couple of elements to use in a meeting and called it open space.

I think that both Birgitt and I have related stories of how hard it has been in this region to get people to use or consider open space for an event.  The few that have been tried have been disasters (with the exception of those conducted by Birgitt) , because the facilitators did not know how to hold space.  Unfortunately, these unsuccessful "UN-Open Space events" have been attended by influential people in the community, which damaged the reputation of open space.  Therefore, when I received an  invitation to attend a half-day planning meeting for the organization that I am associated with, I was delighted to see that it was to be held on open space.  I had some concerns arise with the invitation.  The theme was not clear and it was not like open space invitations I have seen.  I called the organization and asked who was facilitating.  When I heard who it was, I knew that she had not attended any training.  However, she is a bright individual and thought that maybe she had read the books.  I chalked up the uninspiring invitation to a rookie attempt.  I e-mailed her and congratulated her for taking a risk with using open space and informed her that I was a trained facilitator.

My concerns cranked up a few notches when I received the "Mandatory Pre-reading Package" and an agenda that looked very structured.  My heart began to sink, but I knew that I must attend now and see what exactly was about to transpire.  I am an eternal optimist and thought that perhaps, as is common in open space, things would take care of themselves.

Well, what can I say.  Any optimism that I had was dashed the moment that I walked into the room.  I opened the door to see......lots of little tables set up around the room. Not a circle in sight. GULP!! The facilitator walked up to greet me and I was panicked.  She said..."You can see that we have modified open space a bit to fit this culture."  Now the said culture is one where the randomized controlled trial is supreme and bureaucracy rules.  I said nothing at that moment because I thought...maybe after the break something wonderful would happen.

People were first invited to sit anywhere they wished.  Then they were told to sit at different tables to suit what the facilitator wanted when the meeting was about to begin.   There were two sheets of flip chart paper tacked to each table.  The facilitator  stood at the front of the room and called everyone to order..."Could I have your attention".  We started by having the big boss welcome us... not a bad thing.  All of the other department bosses were around the room.  I was coping until the facilitator started to talk from her place at the front of the room, about how she likes to run meetings differently since she was introduced to open space.  She talked about how it was adapted from native traditions and then talked about the principles and law.  My insides started to churn as she called what we were doing open space.  She told everyone that we were to brainstorm and then write our issues on the flip chart paper and them post them on the "market place".  (There were only two sheets of paper for 6 people at the table).  There was dead silence.  Somebody finally called out an issue, but then there was discussion on the topic facilitated by the leader.  The topic was written down and posted.  Everybody was meant to stop and listen.  Small groups started to engage in lively discussion, since we were set up that way at tables, and then the discussion was quelled. "Please be courteous and listen to what others have to say".  About a 1/2 dozen topics got up (from 30+ people) and then there was a lunch break at which time we were to sign up for a topic that we wanted.  There were no times or locations posted.  As we were supposed to be gathering for discussion, someone suggested that maybe we could break the 2 hours into 2 one hour sessions so that there was opportunity to get to more groups.  The Facilitator talked about the law of two feet but that did not seem to make much sense to anyone.  Anyway people sat at tables wondering how to proceed and then little tent cards were put at the tables to indicate where the topics were to be discussed.  Many people who had posted topics had to leave before the discussions got started.

Anyway discussion happened but waned before the actual time was "up" .Many people left once their issue was discussed. There was little passion in the room.   We had less than 1/3 of the people at the close, which happened 1/2 hour before the schedule (when it is over, it is over, at least one concession).

Well now, what did I do through all of this.  Although my insides were screaming, the space was not open nor was it safe to stand up and say "this is not open space", and at the time felt inappropriate.  I felt that what I would accomplish was to totally embarrass and diminish the facilitator  in front of her bosses (whom she was definitely trying to impress).  I was so distracted about how I might handle this, I could not engage in process.  The best I could do at the early moment in my small group was to say that I was a trained facilitator and that this was not open space as I knew it.  I said that I was struggling to adapt my expectations to the new as I had expected something different....all in as diplomatic a way as possible.  I excused myself to the washroom when the marketplace was opened to regroup and consider my next steps.  I decided that  I should not approach the facilitator or anyone else at that time and that I should stay for the entire session.  When I re-entered the room, the facilitator came up to me and said I had looked like I was in deep thought throughout the beginnings.  I took a deep breath and said....Well, to be honest, I was having some difficulty adjusting my expectations.  I acknowledged that she was using elements of open space but was having difficulty with calling what we were doing open space.  I told her that I desperately  missed the circle in the proceedings and found that we had to interrupt good discussion at our tables to achieve the marketplace.  I talked to her of the debate happening world wide about what is open space and what is not open space.  She replied that she had been trained by the Purists.  Oh, I said, You have done the training....Well no, she said, I have not completed it. She said that she had tried using pure open space at the University of Washington and they could not "cope" with it, whatever that means.  I said "How interesting,  I had used it with homeless and a national women's group and many others with good success".   I said to her that I had decided that my learning would not only be what we were there for, but to learn about how the elements of open space used in this context work.

When we reconvened to go to our groups, to her credit the facilitator announced that a colleague had pointed out to her that what we were doing was not pure open space.  But her finish was "given that I have said that, I can do anything I want with it" or something to that effect.  So, at least it was out there publicly that this was not open space, but I am not sure what the impact was.  People stayed at their tables and did not feel free to go around.  When discussion ceased at one table I was at, I explained the principle "when it is over, it is over" and the law of two feet "if you feel that you are not learning or contributing, use the law of two feet and move to another table or leave" ...."and you mean I don't have to explain it to anyone", No said I.  They got up and left en masse. That was the point that the facilitator decided that perhaps it was time to close.

When the few people left were present in a small circle (around the table albeit) the dead moose came out.  A good conversation happened at that point but was not recorded.  I said, oh good, the dead moose is on the table. Nobody knew what I was talking about of course. 

Some good discussion happened despite not having a theme, no open space, etc. Could there have been many more topics if the space had been really opened and safe? Definitely.  Would conversations have been richer.  Definitely.  Was this open space.  Not at all.  My key concern  is that those present and the bosses think that what happened that day was some form of open space.  The event was controlled beginning to end and every time spirit began to emerge, it was crushed.

The secretary who was at the meeting is someone that I know.  She called me as I was writing this and we had a long discussion.  She told me that they got the information about open space off of the web (not web sites that I recognized). The facilitator's training was attendance at one open space event. The secretary and administrative coordinator designed the invitation with no help from the facilitator, having read the information from the net.  When they were setting up the room, the secretary started to put the chairs in a circle according to what she read, but the other person said, "Oh no, X  won't like that".   Her observations as an uninformed observer that things did not go like she thought they would from her readings.  She thought that the facilitator controlled process, especially moving them around to where she wanted them (she said that without any prompt from me).

So hopefully, if the participants read their mandatory readings (stories about open space) they will see the dissonance between what was planned and what actually happened.  In this case the facilitator did not have a grasp of  the structure or essence of open space nor did she have any idea how to hold space.  She thought that by picking out some facilitation tricks , e.g. marketplace, she was doing open space.  Did this damage the reputation of Open Space further in our community?  Probably.  Several people, including bosses did not attend (I heard from the secretary) because of how the invitation framed the event.  For me, it is a case for promoting training.

Kind regards to all.
Michelle

Michelle Cooper
The Cooper Group Consultants
200 Crestview  Avenue
Ancaster, Ontario
Canada L9G1E2  
Telephone -     (905) 648- 4633
Fax -           (905) 648-1763
E-mail          coopgrp at interlynx.net

 
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