Inviting the Competition ?

Birgitt Williams birgitt at mindspring.com
Tue Mar 11 17:41:25 PST 2003


Thank you for the story Gerard.

One of my favorite examples of the "competitors" getting together (about 150
of them) to work together around the big issues they had in common that they
needed to take a stand on. They also had to band together to get a bigger
share in the global market. They are the Canadian Farm Business Managers.
These are big big businesses so don't think of the small farms. Some of the
issues facing them were maintaining and growing strong businesses within the
North America Free Trade Act that threatens to bankrupt them unless they
work together AND topics such as genetic altering of food making it more
economical to grow.

As well as having incredible conversations with many action force teams
developing, the closing circle was one in which they were proud of
themselves. The day before Stephen Covey had been there leading them through
a session on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Farm Business Managers. Then
we did the OST event. And their pride was that throughout the OST meeting
they had proved to themselves that they already had all the behaviors that
Stephen Covey had said they ought to have.

Also, within the social service and health sectors, I know there are
hundreds of stories about the competitors coming together to achieve
something even greater.

Blessings,
Birgitt

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Gerard
Muller
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 5:49 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Inviting the Competition ?


Dear All,

I had an interesting Open Space last week that I would like to share
with you.
It really started almost a year ago, when an association of small
companies (a cooperative) asked me to facilitate a seminar to discuss
their strategy for the next five years.

They made the previous one three years ago, and were ready implementing
it ahead of time.
Participants would be all Board members and all employees, some 20 in
all.

I discussed their situation and wishes with the director, and he agreed
to an OS.
So I had a preparation meeting with him and 4 Board members to prepare.
Good people, and a very constructive team

After having made a draft of the invitation, I asked them who else would
have important knowledge relevant to their meeting. And we made an
analysis of the network around the central theme.

They agreed to invite all the key persons - except of course the
competition: two main competitors in Denmark, and one in Sweden. But
somehow I felt it would be more beneficial than dangerous, and we ended
with a model where all “guests” were invited during the day, and the
original 20 would continue.
That way - was the reasoning - they would get the input but limit the
:risk”.

All three competitors sent their directors as well as the chairman of
their Boards.

During the Open Space it was not visible to me these people were
competitors.
And one of the main conclusions of the first day was something like “The
main issue is not how to grow a little in Denmark, but how to enter the
German market with our superior product - none of us alone would have
the resources to go in succesfully, but together we could”.

The Open Space last week was for one of the competitors. And they
invited their competitors - who all came.

Any other stories about inviting the competition (or working for the
competition) ?

Greetings from




Gerard
Open Space Institute Denmark

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
---
Incoming mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html



More information about the OSList mailing list