Question - more than one theme?

Chris Corrigan chris at chriscorrigan.com
Mon Apr 21 10:19:08 PDT 2003


I prefer the blank wall too, but I have also done this:

In a recent Open Space on strategic planning with 18 people, coming into
the event there was a consensus from the whole group that one of the
givens of the event was that there were four main areas of work that
needed to be addressed.  The News wall had four headings on it and the
invitation to the group was as follows: "anything goes in terms of
discussion groups, however we have agreed that the plan will address
four major areas.  So if you can find a way to slot your discussion
group reports under one of these four headings, the management will
support dealing with it in action planning on day two."

As we proceeded, conveners decided which of the four headings their
conversation addressed and they kind of "pre-converged" the topics under
one of the four.  In fact two of the headings got merged together, so on
day two we had only three headings.  There was one issue that fell
outside the four headings, but the group found a way to merge it with
one of the other headings at the end of day one.  Including that issue
in one of the pre-existing categories changed the category a little, and
for the better.

On day two, there were three flipcharts in three corners of the room,
the proceedings had the reports already grouped together and the group
went to work on action planning what they wanted to do.  The action
planning conveners and participants were self-selected and the groups
worked for an hour to do their thing, after which we came back and they
reported out in the closing circle.

I have since used this approach in a situation where the action planning
groups were selected only by the Executive Director of the agency, and
it turned out he had it all wrong.  The postings on day one were clearly
not at all related to what he thought they should talk about and so his
whole agenda was shot.  Luckily, he was totally fine with this.

So the lesson is that this might be useful, but only if in the pre-work
you have consensus from everyone who will be there that this is what is
going to happen.  If you don't then you are talking a big risk at
opening what is a forcefully closed space.  In my second story it made
sense from a experimental point of view and the ED was flexible enough
to know that he had to let go.  He knew that coming in, and the space
truly opened as a result.  But an ED that is married to these as
outcomes will be setting you up for a violation of the Open Space prime
directive: do not pre-determine outcomes.

In the case of large groups where there has not been consultation with
all the participants before hand, this amounts to herding them into
places they may or may not want to go, and it doesn't feel right.  But
in the context of the first story, I have to report that we did it
right, and the event felt very much like every other Open Space I had
ever done, without the hassle of having to do convergence on day two.
We did it on day one instead.

However you do it, if you are married to these categories and there is
inflexibility in the room around them, then it isn't going to work.  You
cannot say "only raise topics related to these five areas."  You have to
invite folks to talk about what is important to them related to the
theme of the event, and if there are conversations that fit within the
pre-existing categories, the management is committed to moving them
forward."

Chris


---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

(604) 947-9236






-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Ulrika
Eklund
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 3:29 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Question - more than one theme?

Dear all,
a new question

Is it possible to have an common OS-meeting with one overall theme and
then
five subtopics within the theme? I am thinking of presenting the big
theme
and then have five agenda walls with the five subtopics. Have any one
tried
this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks
Ulrika
Sweden

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