Paralel Open Spaces

[Gerard Muller]

Hello all,

When I read the title “Concurrent Open Spaces” on a recent mail I
thought of an experience I had which I did not share yet.

A University wanted to have their yearly strategy meeting as an Open
Space.
The issue was the strategy for the coming five years, and there was a
clear and pressing need to come up with good thoughts. Participants were
the Supervisory Board, the Rector and the key professors and Institute
Directors, some sixty in all.

First contacts were through E-mails and a collegue of mine. I asked
whether this group would actually have most of the relevant knowledge
about what trends there are in the environment in which the university
operates. The answer was, no, the next level down in the hieracrhy would
actually know more about that. Maybe I could do two Open Spaces, one for
the “lower” level, one for the
top level ? Unfortunately (I thought at that time) there was no space in
my agenda.

Considering that hierarchical as the organisation is, suggesting to
simply have everybody in one session would be rejected, I suggested the
following:

- to have two paralel Open Spaces,
- in one building,
- with an adjoining coffee/tea/lunch area, where I would also place the
two newsbroards,
- starting and ending the one for the “lower” group 1-2 hours before the
other group.

My reasoning was, that:
- in that way the input from the one group would go into the other,
- the joint area would create a good interface between the two groups,
- most likely some participants from both groups would be curious enough
to walk into
  the other room, look at the agenda; ........ join some discussions
maybe !!

Of course you wouldn’t get the same sense of community/wholeness this
way.
I still feel that this was a nice solution for the situation - except I
was wrong about one thing:
after they looked at my proposal, they decided to have one Open Space,
and to invite everybody.

Be prepared to be surprised ...........




Gerard Muller
Open Space Institute Denmark

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