Urgent

Tue Jun 10 13:39:28 PDT 2008

Dear neighbour country friends Reinhard and Marianne 

It is for most people really a strange thing; Open Space especially for people who think they are responsible for nearly everything. 

We had last week an Open Space with an regional governmental organization (where interest of the stakeholders seemed to be very different). We had a lof of discussion about what we were going to do. And the communication manager and HRM manager came up with something you mentioned, which is so understandable from where they stand. I asked for half an hour with the highest man in rank (a politician and the big boss). We were give 30 minutes, the politican did not show up. The big boss, the highest person in rank, gave me a firm glance and asekd me to explain this thing (Open Space) in five minutes. I told him what we were going to do and said that this was the only thing I think was going to work, and I am sorry I have not a plan B. And he liked the idea, and said to me that the problem (sustainability for the next 40 years...) was very ambitious and needed and ambitious intervention. And we had a great Open Space with 80 stakeholders from different organizations (commercial, local government, university etc). In het closing circles the politicians who showed up, where all writing down what was being said about next steps. 

So, perhaps help you can help your HR.manager and see if you can talk (the both of you) with the one who is responsible. In my experience, the highes people in rank are really longing for more collaboration with the people involved. 

If I can be of any assistance ( Ich spreche auch Deutsch) it would be a pleasure
Schöne Grüße aus Holland und viel Erfolg 

Met vriendelijke groet,

drs. C.J.P. (Carla) Vliex 

__________________________________

senior Adviseur

Twynstra Gudde Adviseurs en Managers

Stationsplein 1, 3818 LE Amersfoort

Postbus 907, 3800 AX Amersfoort

Telefoon 033 4677376

Mobiel 06 53 927407

E-mail cvl at tg.nl <mailto:cvl at tg.nl> 

Internet www.twynstragudde.nl <http://www.twynstragudde.nl/> 

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From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
Sent: dinsdag 10 juni 2008 13:05
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Urgent

Dear friends in open space,

I ask for your help in a difficult situation, and need it within 30 hours from now. So if somebody has an open ear and some time to answer, we would be very grateful.

The situation: since 10 years i have been accompanying open space sessions as a visual recorder. Now i have for the first time the chance to use open space in a project on my own. It is in the frame of a bigger project in a company of 6000, which deals with values, more customer orientation, more emotions within the company, as the board declared.  We proposed an open space session of one day with some 80 representatives of the coworkers, because we want to make their situation and priorities visible, to bring the outcomes together afterwards with the aims of the board, to define the frame, the aims and rules and conditions of a project of about 2 years. We talked the method over with the representative of the client, a young, friendly hr-manager. He is curious, but a bit anxious, and under somer pression from the different board members. 

Now after some afterthoughts he declared, that he does not want an open space session in pure form, because he thinks the people are not ready for it. He is eager to end with some results he can control. 

His proposal for the workshop: at the beginning a board member and he will talk about the bigger project for half an hour, and show a little movie, in order then to ask the people for ideas and proposals for the definition of the longer project. He wants to avoid discussions about the mistakes and problems within the company (which he says he knows already), but to be more positive. He does not want to call the workshop open space, but "offener raum", does not want to use the 4 principles (although some of their contents), but wants to use the law of two feet. When people are asked to bring their themes to the wall, he wants to moderate that himself, ask additional questions about why and how. Then he wants to walk through the groups and offer some moderation there as well. And in the end he wants to interview the people offering their outcomes to the plenum again.

We are near the point to step out of the whole project. 

On one hand i remember discussions here in the open space network about moderations of the os - method, for which we are open, and can also follow some of the hr-managers ideas and doubts. But it has to stay a trustworthy method. For that i would like to hear what you can recommend us.

We asked for a meeting with the hr-manager to get clear with his and our feelings, in order not to mix them with the methods and procedures of the project, and will have this meeting this week.

The project came to the actual  situation, as i see it, because at the beginning the hr-manager was very fond of us, proud to present us to the board, and start the project with us. Then we had two workshops, which ended with results, which did not fully fulfill his expectations, and he somehow withdrew his trust. We don't want to be victims of an infringement (i hope that is the right expression), of an unclear mixture  of roles and responsibilities. We want to stay responsible for the methods we use. 

The results of the project so far in our view gave a realistic image of the situation within the company, which is not very open, but has a good chance to profit from the project. But it is important not to confuse the starting phase with the project, and not to expect final results bevor it even starts. Seen with "open space - eyes" the outcome was the only one that could have happened.

Now we want to clear our relations with the hr-manager on Thursday and Friday, and - if we succeed - develop the agenda for the coworkers workshop. For this second task we hope to get some help from you, as what to propose to him.

Thank you for every response in advance

reinhard

Reinhard Kuchenmüller
Marianne Stifel

VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE®
Kuchenmüller&Stifel

tel +39-0566-88 929
www.visuelle-protokolle.de

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