mini Open Space

[Beck György]

Dear All,

Let me let you know :-) about a super mini OS in a little bit hassled
environment.
It was a corporate training on selling and team building. They love to
combine different directions and also the learning and socializing. The
opportunity has come on  the third 3-day meeting.
Some group members were trying to influence others to finish the program on
the evening of the second day and go home on saturday morning. The client
ordered three days and also we had our plans for the time frame.
So we suggested a compromise: we extend the day two and leave only 2 hour
for the morning of the third one, so that they could go home in time.
Because of the very sales training those not concerned in the sales came in
the afternoon of the second day.
Another important preliminary was that they had discussions earlier about
the 2005-2010 strategy, but the sales reps were not involved.

We finished the sales program at 5:30 p.m. and after a short break I opened
the space for the full group. The theme was set after consulting the client
boss but phrased by myself. I had no chance to make it more sophisticated.
Any way it worked:
2005 - 2010 Procrastination is the thief...

There were 24 members who haven't heard about OS earlier. We started at 5:45

After the short introduction they collected 11 issues for two time "slices"
of 25 minutes each quite quickly.

On the market place there were a 15-20 minutes hesitation about self
organization. Finally they joined to two groups that were really important
for them and used the full time until 6:25.
In the closing cycle they reported about constructive discussions and they
wish to go ahead.

Here I closed the space and agreed to meet in the morning to make some
action plan for the two issues.  Then came the evening program with bowling
and drinking. Several of the got to bed in the morning 4-5...

Everybody was there at 9 a.m., but those who wanted/needed to go home early.

The planned discussion was 1 hour and then the closing circle because we
promised to finish by 11. and let them go.

The discussion was so involved and constructive, not missing some deep
emotional feed backs, that the worked up till 12.
In the final feed-back circle they evaluated very useful this OS event and
decided to go ahead with the "open and honest discussions" that is needed to
work together.

I finished the program with a favourite metaphore. Let me finish with this.

"Possibly you know about the Szarvas arboretum /it is a little village in
the country in Hungary and every Hungarian know of/. This is a place where
unique and rare plants, trees and bushes grow. If you would replant any of
them out of the arboretum to the surrounding /relatively dry plain in
Hungary/ even 1 kilometer far, they would die. They make a microclimate for
each other where all of them can live and it has been going on for around
150 years. This arboretum is my gift to you."

Hugs, Gyuri

P.s.: Let me announce with pleasure, that the Hungarian version of the most
of  stories from Tales from the Open Space has been put on my web page with
the permission of Harrison. Thank you and all those who contributed to this
book.
http://www.beckground.hu/050206/htm/mesek.htm

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