I need advice . . .

[Michael Herman]

hello laurel,
father brian bainbridge, who may pop in here to straighten
me out on this (or may not) once told a story of a group of
teachers doing curriculum design in something like three
2-hour session held on consecutive wednesday mornings or so.
 not sure that i want debate the complexity of curriculum
vs. cardiology, but perhaps these folks would be able to
make this two-hour commitment several times over the course
of a month or months.

as i recall, brian opened the space on the first day and did
one session.  then the second session, they put all topics
back up, took the next round and adjourned.  some things
were completed between sessions and all their work was
settled by end of session three.  pretty tough to be
spacious in one 0645 session, but perhaps you can achieve a
sense of space by creating a weekly or monthly practice on
this question of getting home on time?

hope this helps, and that i haven't corrupted brian's story
too much.

michael

"Doersam, Laurel" wrote:
>
> I've been asked to facilitate a group in the cardiac surgery section of the
> Operating Room in a large urban hospital.  The issue to be explored is:
> "Given our current caseload, how can we increase efficiency so we all get
> home on time?"  (Generally everyone involved is late getting off).  This may
> seem straight forward, but it's a very complex problem involving everyone
> from cleaning staff to nursing staff to cardiac surgeons to
> anaesthesiologists to equipment attendants.  Add to the stew the traditional
> hierarchy within health care (and the attendant prima-dona-ism), half a
> dozen hidden agendas (or not-so-hidden), and the involvement of several
> layers of self-employed professionals as well as employees from five
> different unions.  It's a mess.
>
> Here's the crunch . . . they only have two hours to devote to addressing
> this problem.  They are able to push their OR time back by an hour, and come
> in an hour early (Yikes! 0645!!), but must be ready to operate by 0900.
> It's a very tight timeline for an Open Space, however the question is very
> specific and action-oriented.  Dare I try to use OST?  I guess the real
> attraction for me in this case is the community-building component inherent
> in opening space - each person's job (not to mention the patient's life) is
> totally dependant on everyone else on the team performing to capacity.  So
> it sure would be a good thing for them to understand each others'
> challenges.  However, once the can of worms is opened, how do I pull it
> together in such a short space of time?
>
> What do you much more seasoned experts think?  I'd sure appreciate some
> advice.
>
> Laurel.

--

Michael Herman
...inviting results in evolving organizations

Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610
312-280-7838 voice/fax
mailto:mherman at globalchicago.net

The Global Chicago Network
http://www.globalchicago.net

Michael Herman Associates
http://www.globalchicago.net/mha