An inquiry

[Susan Lilley]

Hello all of you,

I am reading every message posted to this list and learning so much from all of
you. What a great resource for ongoing learning!

One question from Birgitt to Chris recently caught my attention and an ah-hah!:

> In the situation you describe, is there any open space that the sponsor has
> opened in the organization for Open Space Technology to be used in?

I understand Birgitt to be saying that an OS *event* needs to reflect an opening
of decision-making space *within an organization*.

In my practice, what is more likely to happen is that I am asked to facilitate
an OS to bring people together from *different organizations* so that they can
begin to work together (partnerships -  intersectoral collaboration and all
that). In this case, there is no one board or CEO to open up decision-making -
there is no hierarchy there at all. Am I right to think that in this case the
decision-making space is already open and just needs to be acted on? Wouldn't
there need to be space opened up  for collaboration in every one of the
participating organizations? Does this need to be clear in a letter of
invitation?

Should I be thinking about these multi-organizational open space events as
different in any way from those within one organization? What are the "givens"
they must consider in action planning - no structure, no money, no support,
you're on your own???

I'm not sure I'm very coherent here but my sense is there is a difference. I
hope those of you who have opened space in both types of situations will be able
to shed some light on this.

As a follow-up to my last posting - my first open space facilitation is now
officially set for mid-May, with another tentatively scheduled for early fall.
Both are multi-organizational.

Thanks all for taking the time for sharing your experience and learning on the
list.
----
Susan Lilley
Dartmouth NS B2Y 4J5