RE: Program för developing leadership

[Doersam, Laurel]

Thomas Hermann wrote:
I'm working on an idea to use OST in a program for developing leadership. In
short it´s about starting from the white wall, letting the participants
create their own program in Open Space. A colleague of mine will support the
projectgroups in their work. More OS-gatherings will happen on the way
thorugh the program, which might never end...? Any suggerstions and/or
experiences appreciatied. I´ve read and appreciated much of the info
concearning OS and Education.



Hi Thomas,

I've done a program evaluation in Open Space with MA students in Leadership
and Training at Royal Roads University in Victoria.  It was an amazing
experience, and the students took to the process like ducks to water.  In
fact, I've been chatting with several who intend to use OST as a
data-collection vehicle for their research projects.  I've directed them to
this listserve, so hopefully one of them will jump in to this discussion. .
. (Caroline, are you lurking???).  Having recently graduated from the MA
(Leadership and Training) program at Royal Roads myself, it seemed like such
a natural fit that I contacted the university as soon as I got home from the
facilitators' training last spring.  I believe that the iterative process
you describe would be ideally suited to adult leadership students in
creating their learning community.  In Open Space the community would grow
organically and NOT require any of the manipulative fertilizer that the
instruction team seemed to feel was necessary to encourage the growth of our
learning community.

Having said all that, I have another story to relate that ties in with
Birgitt's concerns.  One of the faculty decided that since Open Space was
making an appearance at the university, she ought to learn the process.  She
found a description of the process on the 'net and set about to do an "Open
Space" prior to the evaluation that I facilitated.  I don't know the details
of what transpired, except that I was warned when I came to do the
evaluation that one of the classes had had a "bad experience" with a
"disastrous Open Space".  (Something was muttered about one of the first
nations students in the class being deeply offended by the explanation of
the process and all hell broke loose - but I wasn't able to glean all the
details of what offended the student or why or what "disasterous" meant.)
Basically, I surmised that the facilitator had a very rudimentary
understanding of the Open Space process . . . my assumption is that the
facilitation was very heavy-handed with lots of intervention.

I entered a milieu where people felt very guarded about the process itself -
so cautious, in fact, that the assistant director of the leadership program
insisted that I cancel the Open Space for the class in question and use an
different facilitation method.  However, I did do an Open Space event (using
the theme "How could the MA (Leadership and Training) program be an even
richer learning experience?") with the other class (one which had never
experienced anything called "Open Space Technology").  The assistant
director attended the event and was astonished with the quantity and quality
of evaluation data collected, by the excitement of the participants, by the
energy and synergy in the room - and as puzzled as I was about what on earth
could have happened with the other class.  So, I've already experienced
Birgitt's scenario of having the OST process defamed by faulty facilitation
and/or a poor understanding of the process.

I agree with Birgitt that it would be nice for clients to have some way to
check on the credibility of their facilitator - but sometimes the
facilitator is a (trusted) internal dilettante (or, to use Birgitt's
analogy, a chef who improvises a recipe using whatever ingredients are
cheap, readily available or come to mind, but calls it "Lindy's cheesecake"
and sets up an expectation of a rich, creamy, delectable, cherry-topped
delight).  However, once the damage is done and the credibility of the OST
process is undermined, it is very difficult to undo.  I'm certain that if
the arrangements had not already been made (and announced) that I would be
leading the evaluation process in an OST format, BOTH OST sessions would
have been cancelled.  As it was,  the credibility of the process was
restored (I hope!!) by "Opening good Space" with the second class.

I think that Peggy's comment about mentorship and lineage might be something
to explore more deeply.  (Even in the cooking world, don't master chefs
often cite their professional lineage?  Trained at such-and-such an amazing
restaurant, under the tutelage of so-and-so, a famous chef?)  Certification,
with all the attendant difficulties and bureaucracy, certainly seems
dissonant with the spirit of Open Space.  However, even if a certification
program WERE to exist, someone hiring a facilitator ought to do their due
diligence anyway by contacting professional references.

I agree that this listserve is a phenomenal learning instrument!!

Laurel.

Laurel Doersam
Human Resource Consultant (Employee Wellness)
Capital Health Region
Victoria  BC

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