A success story

Frank Deitle commoikos at gmail.com
Tue Jan 29 15:24:53 PST 2008


Dear friends,

What follows is a success story about the use of Open Space in the context
of a board retreat:

I am the Executive Co-Director of a 30 year-old nonprofit in New England.
Due to a myriad of complex circumstances and lack of funding, my co-director
and I have been preparing to lay ourselves off at the end of the month...
making the very fate of the organization uncertain, to say the least. In
preparing for our winter board retreat, I conceded that there was no agenda
I could prepare that could adequately address the complex issues at hand,
and that indeed, a single conversation could dramatically change the
trajectory of our course on more than one occasion. In the face of this, I
proposed Open Space as format for our two-day retreat--and offering that if
anyone *could* create an agenda that could adequately address our situation,
I was open to it. No one did.

We convened in Open Space with complex issues, a diversity of stakeholders
(everyone had their own opinions of the best way to proceed... or not!), and
nobody knew the answer. I had convened Open Space on many different
occasions, but never when the stakes were this high--never with the
conditions where Open Space is supposed to work best. And there were only 10
people present (would that be enough diversity?)... and I was a stakeholder
who would also be facilitating (would that be a conflict of interest or an
imbalance of power?). I always tell people that it always works, but this
was really the test (I took up smoking for the occasion). On top of that,
many were skeptical of the process, including my co-director (who is also my
fiancee).

To say that it was an intense, dynamic weekend would be an understatement.
It was like a detective story to find out what the mind of the group most
wanted to express. Sunday morning was especially tense. For a moment I
thought everything could fall apart. But by the time we said we were going
to end (2pm), the board of directors came forward with 4 proposals, and all
six board members (including the founder) unanimously consensed on all four
decisions. We had one clear direction and focus for the organization that
everyone agreed upon and everyone was galvanized in a very palpable feeling
of unity around this one focus--to raise the money to purchase and secure
the land we have been operating on and put it in trust for generations to
come.

The whole thing was an astonishing experience of Open Space in action... an
experience of the real potential for the synergistic power of groups
thinking and acting harmoniously together in spite of a diversity of strong
opinions and complex circumstances. I would not recommend facilitating an
Open Space and simultaneously participating in it. I think that it worked in
this instance only because a) I was not personally invested in a specific
agenda or outcome and b) many of the people in our group had had previous
experience with open space.

So with that, I encourage you all to continue opening space whenever and
wherever you can. The world needs it!

Peace,
Frank Deitle

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