Fw: Seeking counsel on presenting OS to a group

[Birgitt Bolton]

Dear Susan,
Your dilemma is one that I come up with frequently. Harrison's suggestion of
the need of more time ie: a day so that they can get right into it is good.
I would add to this.  In my experience, when I have a chance to have people
experience an Open Space, I make sure that there is time given at the end
for collective voting and convergence so that participants can see how
things can get moved into action. I  find that when people are not exposed
to collective voting and convergence, that they go forward and believe that
Open Space doesn't really take things to action, or great detail, and of
course if all the steps are included, it does. My reasoning for being so
insistent on an experience of collective voting is as follows: if we are
looking for passion/responsibility and the data of knowing what is really
important to a collective of people, without the collective voting, we are
missing critical data. From posting topics, we get a sense of  the
passion/responsibility of an individual; from who attends a group, we get a
sense of the passion/responsibility of smaller groups; from polling the
collective at the end, we get a sense of what the group really thinks is
important NOW for action/resourcing. When I actually facilitate Open Space
events, I am often surprised that in the voting at the end, a topic becomes
a top vote getter that no one actually attended the session for. And if we
hadn't had the vote, we would never have had the more complete picture of
what is going on. So....this step in my experience, is one that I add
whenever I have the chance to do a one day open space so that I give a
chance to the group to examine  more of the possibilities of what can be
achieved with Open Space.

When a group stays with a short time frame, I usually do a half hour
introduction to why Open Space works, looking at the cycle of
transformational change and why we need open space for wonder, creativity
and imagination to be expressed. I also speak of Change Management being an
oxymoron. And that we need to build our capacity to navigate change, as
individuals and as organizations. Open Space is a vehicle that assists
organizations in navigating change and in building capacity to navigate
change, the more often it is used. And then I go through the opening of
space, the building of an agenda and so on which takes about 30 minutes. The
agenda is up, passion has been fuelled in people, they are amazed by what
they have put up and they are very very very desirous of having those
discussions.  We don't have them. People see what is possible, talk about
it, and ask questions. The hard thing is to get them to stop at the end of
your time period.

Good luck with your group!
Birgitt


Birgitt Bolton
www.openspacetechnology.com
Striving for Success?
Make Genuine Contact!


-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Harrison
Owen
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2000 4:50 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Fw: Seeking counsel on presenting OS to a group


At 12:02 PM 1/24/00 -0800, you wrote:
>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' --
*******************
Short answer YES!


If they are interested in experiencing Open Space take the time (I would say
at least a day) to do it -- and also get something useful done. If what they
want to do is hear about it -- show the (USWEST) video with a brief
introduction, and take any questions. There will be a bunch. And they will
actually get something out of the experience. The approach suggested by the
"coordinator" is (in my judgement) a one way ticket to frustration at best,
and maybe disaster. Don't do it.


Harrison



Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
phone 301-469-9269
fax 301-983-9314
website
www.mindspring.com/~owenhh
Open Space Institute websites
www.openspaceworld.org

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