Seeking counsel on presenting OS to a group

[Donald Horrigan]

I have been reading the OSLIST for about two months and have really enjoyed
it. Thanks to your all.
I wanted to respond to Peg's request with an "in progress" tail of my OS
work in two middle schools. I am an assistant principal at a 750 student/50+
faculty public middle school in Prince George's County, MD just outside of
Washington DC. Compressed time is a constant reality in school settings. I
have been using OS to run what we are calling our School Environment
Committee meetings. The meetings take place for an hour to an hour and 15
minutes every two weeks. I am trying to conduct the meetings as a continuous
OS meeting. At each meeting we have "breaking news" in the form of reports
from interest groups that were posted at the previous meetings (first 30
minutes). Then we invite attendees to post new items. We spend the remainder
of the time -- usually about 30 minutes of the meeting in discussion of one
or more of the new posts. I then post all breaking news, new posts, etc on
our school email to all community members. We have had 4 meetings over two
months. I believe the structure is "opening space" and seems to be answering
the need for which the School Environment Committee was created. In December
I facilitated a one time 4 hour OS event for the faculty on our declining
state test scores. 35 members of the faculty came on their own time for a
very lively interaction. Simply put, I think we are making genuine progress
with this community using OS in less than ideal time segments.

My other "tail" is about my work with my wife's private pre-k -- 8 school.
Just after Thanksgiving I facilitated a 4 hour OS evening for the 60 members
of their faculty. In four hours they got well into developing 12 topics.
Since then the group conveners have developed their discussions and
distributed them by school email. January 26 we are convening again with
those reports as "breaking news". Our plan is to meet for 2 hours to
prioritize the topics and then develop project statements for the top
priority issues. Will see how it turns out.

Don Horrigan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Peg
> Holman
> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2000 6:02 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Fw: Seeking counsel on presenting OS to a group
>
>
> I got this request from a colleague  - Susan Partnow and suspect
> that there
> are some people who have dealt with the sort of situation she is facing.
> Any advice would be appreciated!
>
> Peg Holman
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Susan4Ps at aol.com>
> To: <pholman at msn.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2000 4:12 PM
> Subject: Seeking counsel on presenting OS to a group
>
>
> > I have an opportunity to introduce a group of HR Executives to
> Open Space.
> > This is a group of about 15 individuals from the private sector who meet
> at a
> > bi monthly roundtable. Typically they share stories of their own
> experience
> > or initiatives for discussion; often an outsider is brought in
> to present
> a
> > particular topic, as would be the case with my presentation.
> >
> > The dilemma I face is a very limited time frame of 1 hour 15 minutes --
> plus
> > a requested topic.  My original proposal was that we use a longer time
> frame
> > and have the participants participate in an open space --
> focussing on the
> > opportunities of their roundtable association as the topic.
> However, the
> > coordinator is now requesting this shorter time frame with the following
> as
> > the focus question:  "How must we change our compensation systems,
> benefits
> > programs and employee practices in light of the aging workforce, longer
> > lifespans, and expanding definition of family."  Does this seem like
> 'mission
> > impossible' -- or have you ever managed to do a mini mini as a source of
> > exposure to the concept?  What do you think of this focus question?
> >
> > Perhaps 25 minute intro/opening; 2 x 15 minute break-outs; 20
> > debrief/brainstorm ways to use-direct to resources to learn more.  My
> > goal/objective for the group is to get excited about the potential OS
> > presents as a tool for their organization.  Surely some sort of DOING it
> is
> > vital:  what in your experience is the bare minimum time for sampling?
> Would
> > one longer break-out be better than two quickies?  which might give a
> better
> > feel for the process?
> >
> > Thanks for any feedback.  We can discuss at more length when we meet for
> > lunch, but I was looking for your initial reaction as I will be
> talking to
> > the coordinator early this week.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Susan
> >
> > ****************
> > Susan Partnow
> > 4425 Baker NW
> > Seattle, WA 98107
> > voice 206-789-8697
> > fax    206-782-7786
> > Susan4ps at aol.com
> >
> > ******************
> >
>