Unbearable lightness of open management

[Michael Herman]

hi chris m,

i find that there is ALWAYS something in the culture/story of any
organization that is totally consistent with how open space works.  at
one export trade council, it was the tradeshow and marketplace.  at one
church, it was the buzz that happened on the church steps after mass,
and the ritual of practice.  with software developers, it was wiki
website that they used to manage projects, or their
3x5-cards-on-the-table method of organizing modules being written.  in
very competitive analytical places it's the voting with the feet, the
speed of documentation, and numbers of issues and people able to be
processed and involved quickly.  one latino group recently got excited
about proceedings posted in gallery form and understood it immediately
as mural.  the story and link/bridge seems always there.  i try to
listen to the story, find the link, make it bridge, and then bring as
many pieces of ost across the bridge as i can.  what i can't get across,
i sometimes point to in the distance. any selling that might occur is
more of a noticing of the benefits of adding each piece of ost ritual to
what's already in place on their side of the bridge.

m



Birgitt Williams wrote:

> Chris,
> Many of us have had great success by providing the prospective client
> with a list of large group methodologies. An excellent resource in a
> nice table is on Martin Leith's site www.martinleith.com
> <http://www.martinleith.com> . I use one of his handouts, I quote from
> The Change Handbook by Peggy Holman and Tom Devane (Berrett-Koehler,
> 1999) and I refer them to Large Group Interventions by Billie Alban
> and Barbara Bunker (Jossey Bass, 1997). It all makes a great business
> case. And then I let them know that my favorite method is OST because
> my clients have had the greatest benefit from the most open of the
> methods.
>
> I also believe in "selling" benefits rather than methods.
>
>
> Blessings to you and to all with whom you make Genuine Contact,
>
> Birgitt
>
> Birgitt Williams of Dalar International Consultancy
> www.dalarinternational.com <http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
>
> We provide inspirational and practical “how to” guidance for leaders
> who want to achieve healthy and balanced organizations to produce
> exciting, tangible results for the organization and for its people.
>
> View the calendar for upcoming training in the Organizational Health
> and Balance series of workshops featuring the Genuine ContactÔ program
> at http://www.openspacetechnology.com/training.html
>
> We invite you to join the Genuine Contact list serve at
> http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/genuinecontact
>
> Contact information for Dalar International Consultancy: Po Box 19373,
> Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27619 Raleigh, North Carolina USA
>             Phone: 919-522-7750     Fax: 919-870-6599
>
> Founders of the Wellness Revolution for Organizations
>
> Founders of the International Alliance for Mentoring
>
> Creators of the Organizational Health and Balance series of workshops
> featuring the Genuine ContactÔ program
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of
>     chris macrae
>     Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 2:40 PM
>     To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>     Subject: Unbearable lightness of open management
>
>     My research of human resource and OD types interaction with OS
>     (primarily in UK) has begun and initial patterns suggest these 3
>     blocks:
>
>     1.Corporations- haven’t heard of OS
>
>
>
>     2.Consultants - Aware but (block loop 1) wouldn’t know how to sell
>      lack of structure, NB opposite to what clients expect in 2 senses
>     : a) what they do with their people normally, b) what they pay
>     facilitators to actively facilitate
>
>
>
>     3. Aware but (block loop 2) wouldn’t know how to market as a core
>     method of my career as a facilitator – take so much time to
>     propose with so little days work back etc
>
>
>
>     I guess this isn’t big news to many alumni here, but has there
>     been a recent debate on whether there are any newly emerging ways
>     to bust these blocks?
>
>
>
>     A very small idea might be if we could come up with 9 other open
>     methods as a top of 10 of open. Perhaps if everyone in
>     corporations could recognise that innovation and self-organising
>     depends on at least one open method they already know, one could
>     cross-fertilise the whole family. Do you have any open methods to
>     add to this top 10 shopping list (if indeed you agree that items
>     appearing are all open)
>
>
>
>
>
>     “Unbearable lightness of open management”- 10 most open methods of
>     innovating
>
>     1 open space
>
>     2 email (fully developed use of virtual teams, practice
>     communities, personal networks)
>
>     3 grounded theory (being an iterative opinion research method
>     which starts with a blank canvass rather than conventional wisdom
>     on issue of inquiry)
>
>     4 storytelling as iterative process in systemising communal
>     energy, emotional participation
>
>     -survey what’s our greatest story
>
>     -see if people really participate in it
>
>     -see what change it systemically connects with
>
>
>
>     sincerely
>
>     Chris Macrae, wcbn007 at easynet.co.uk
>     <mailto:wcbn007 at easynet.co.uk>, www.valuetrue.com
>     <http://www.valuetrue.com/> 2004 Year of Transparency
>
>
>
>     Although nobody has filled it in yet, there is also an open format
>     of the mini-survey I have been carrying out at
>
>     http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?forum=1&topic=66&comment=2097
>     <http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?forum=1&topic=66&comment=2097>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>     * * ==========================================================
>     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 * *
>     ==========================================================
>     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 * *
>     ==========================================================
>     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
>
> * * ==========================================================
> 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
>

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
(312) 280-7838

http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space

...inviting organization into movement





*
*
==========================================================
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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20040115/c9402a79/attachment-0016.htm>