Moving to action
Harrison Owen
hhowen at verizon.net
Tue Dec 12 04:28:04 PST 2006
Diana -- I presumed that you meant to send your response to OSLIST, but it
came just to me -- so I took the liberty of forwarding it.
And it may well be that my presumptions also got the better of me in my
response. Your description of your actions made me think of TOP -- The
Technology of Participation which ICA created perhaps 40 years ago. It was a
wonderful thing in its day, but boy, did that facilitator work hard fielding
ideas and arranging affinity groups. My problem with that approach was
always that the facilitator seemed to be working much too hard, and at a
practical level, he or she often essentially defined the affinity groups. If
there had been no other way to go, I guess it is OK -- but my experience
said that the group could do all of this by itself.
Voting, whether by computers or sticky dots, is pretty low visibility stuff,
at least as far as the facilitator is concerned. But it does require a full
listing of the issues discussed. This is typically available in the
proceedings which had been printed up over night or simply on the wall where
the issues are posted. But as I said, I personally prefer opening the space
again for action. This allows the group to rework the shape of the issues,
either by combining issues, or by identifying some subset. Of course they
can also identify some totally new area for action. And in any case the
"rules" are the usual and the presence of the facilitator can be minimal to
non-existent. By that time in a gathering the group can usually facilitate
itself.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland 20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: Diana Larsen [mailto:dlarsen at futureworksconsulting.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 12:36 AM
To: hhowen at verizon.net
Subject: Re: Moving to action
I think I may have overimplied my involvement in the process in my
first posting. The group created the mindmap on their own over lunch
without any intervention from me. When I say I "solicited
suggestions" for grouping, I didn't actually hold the marker. A group
member stood by the mind map and did the circling as people in the
group called out their preferences. Then I invited them to another
open space sessions where this time people stepped forward to host
the "really hot issue" circles and others joined them. There were
still some butterflies and some bumblebees in the crowd.
I don't get priority voting as a more invisible tool than the
mindmap. Maybe I'm missing something?
This group entered their session notes into a wiki. There weren't a
lot of flip chart pages with recommendations posted around the room.
If they had priority voted, they would have had to go through some
process of creating a visible list of items one way or another.
Someone (the facilitator?) would show up with the dots and mention
the voting scheme. Help me understand how that is different/more
invisible than them creating the mindmap and choosing areas where
they had energy to work?
It's certainly possible I could have been more invisible. I'm
continually looking for ways to take myself out of the room, while
staying totally present.
-Diana
On Dec 11, 2006, at 5:42 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
> Diana -- any move to action has got to be a good thing which most
> groups
> appreciate. And it is obvious that you did something very useful.
> But I do
> have to ask -- would it have been possible to accomplish the same
> objectives
> with yourself remaining "totally present and absolutely invisible?"
> This is
> not a matter of "doctrinal purity" (the "right OS approach") but
> more about
> group empowerment. I have found that any time we take the lead and do
> something that the group might do for itself -- to that extent we
> dis-empower that group. This is not about being mean, nasty,
> egotistical --
> it is rather a fact of life.
>
> In similar situations I have found that the group can be enabled to
> focus on
> needed actions through some very simple stratagems. The simplest,
> and also
> the most "clunky," is priority voting -- done with sticky-dots or
> (in larger
> groups) with some weighted voting software. Net result is that
> areas of high
> interest are quickly identified, and from there it is quite easy to
> generate
> useful action plans. Another approach, which Chris Corrigan and
> others have
> originated involves re-opening the space in the final time periods
> -- but
> this time for really hot issues the group would like to act upon.
> Having
> done this several times myself, I find that it is most effective,
> and has
> the added benefits of carrying on the spirit and form of Open Space
> and also
> keeping me out of the limelight.
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> ho
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland 20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
> archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Diana
> Larsen
> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 3:39 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Moving to action
>
> Recently I opened space for a group of about 100 people that is used
> to Open Space sessions concurrent with conferences, but this time
> wanted to move into action. After a day and a half of sessions, just
> before the lunch break, I posted a bunch of flip chart pages on the
> wall (because I didn't have any butcher paper rolls) to make a big
> blank area. I put the OS theme in the middle of the paper. I asked
> who in the group was familiar with creating mind maps and many people
> raised their hands. I asked them to explain the process to anyone
> around them for whom mind mapping was new. Then I invited the group
> to create a mind map of what they had discussed over their time
> together.
>
> When we got back together in circle after lunch, I reviewed what was
> on the mind map (for those who couldn't see it across the room) and
> asked for any additions. A few things were added. I solicited
> suggestions of how to group the items on the mind map, and circled
> the affinity areas the group identified. Then I wanted to find who
> had energy to take on some section of the mind map to plan for future
> action. I asked for a host for each section, then who would join that
> person to work on the area. We allowed 90-120 minutes for the groups
> to work, then they reported their progress and intentions to the
> whole group before our closing circle.
>
> Afterwards everyone said it was the best OS they had ever had. I
> think it was because they finally walked away with something more
> than unresolved discussions. ;-) It was one of those ideas that came
> to me unbidden as I sat holding the space and wondering what would
> work best. (I had another plan but it didn't feel like a good fit.)
>
> I'll try the mind map again.
>
> Diana
>
> Diana Larsen
> 503-288-3550 www.futureworksconsulting.com
> co-author, "Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great!"
> Amazon Best Books of 2006
> Top Ten Editors' Picks: computer & internet
> http://tinyurl.com/ynacvb
>
> Attend "Agile Open Northwest 2007: Agile for Real" January 30-31
> 2007, Portland OR
> http://www.agileopennorthwest.org
>
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