Creating Space in Construction - sequel (longish)

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear Brendan,
I got more and more engaged and interested as I read through your 
account of the debriefing and read it again. This seems a good start for 
more debriefing stories...I think they are fairly rare, at least in my 
practice where people dash off after the event...and can, as appears in 
your case, be a great starting point for more open space around more 
issues that the sponsor is urgently concerned about.
The stories around calling in external consultants reminded me of Marvin 
Weisbords "Learning Curve": we are at the transition in some places from 
"experts improving systems" to "everybody improving systems" (or, as ho 
puts it, from "the man leading" to "everybody leading")...but then, its 
more than just a transition it is a paradigm shift that is hard to 
"develop" into, there has to be a radical destruction of the old 
paradigm to really work in open space all the time. Your client seems to 
already well understand that everytime they call in consultants 
(probably at a much higher fee than most of us os facilitators are 
accustomed to)they reinforce the old paradigm that they so urgently 
would like to leave behind.
I intrigued myself with the "Book of Proceedings" part (here in Germany 
I call it "Die Dokumentation"). For some time now, I have been inviting 
participants after "Reading the Book of Proceedings" to place the book 
under their chair, saying something like "Event though it contains all 
the stuff you cared to record during the divergent phase you went 
through it now is already a thing of the past. It informs in some way 
what you now embark on...looking ahead and thinking of what you actually 
will plan and do is the focus now" In that sense, it is really congruent 
to have it "finished" and not "open".
Keep telling the story!
Greetings from Berlin
mmp



Brendan McKeague wrote:
> Last week I reported about an Open Space with Construction 
> Engineers/Designers....my thanks to those who replied and provoked some 
> further thinking...
> I thought it would be interesting to continue the story as it unfolds...
> 
> During the week, I participated in a debrief with the Sponsors (Sp) - 
> including the Project Director (PD) - and the Org Psych (OP) consultant.
> The conversation began with a general affirmation of the successful 
> achievements of the event ...noticings that people were engaged, got a 
> lot of work done, achieved some outcomes/action plans and all three 
> sponsors pleased - the OS process had achieved the purpose for which we 
> used it - there was consensus that 'it does what it says it will'.
> 
> Here are some snippets (paraphrased) of what I recall beyond the initial 
> summaries....
> 
> PD: I was pleased with how it went - I'm still left with a feeling of 
> wondering if we would have acheived the same result using other models - 
> e.g. the more conventional facililitated meeting...
> OP:  how would you ever know?  I could have provided that type of 
> facilitated meeting but really thought that 'more of the same' was not 
> what you needed to break the pattern - although I accept that it may 
> have been what you wanted or expected.
> PD: My dissatisfaciton perhaps also stems from a sense of messiness of 
> not knowing everything that happened - all the movement, some people 
> never sure when one session finished and new one started - a bit of 
> frustration about new people coming into a session and having to explain 
> stuff again...one guy told me he found that difficult.
> Sp: The same thing happened to me and I saw it differently. With a group 
> I convened, there were a few comings and goings - I was able to recap, 
> summarise, get clarification from those present and then found we moved 
> on to even deeper issues...helped by the new guys coming in.
> PD: Could you put less emphasis on the 'doing what you feel like' bit - 
> I know why you said it - but maybe tone it down to say that if you 
> really need to move you can..?
> BMK: There is a reason for giving people these public permissions at the 
> start...which bits do you think need changing?
> PD: well we're a pretty disciplined bunch and need to have some 
> restrictions and boundaries so that we all know what's going on...too 
> much freedom can be difficult to handle...
> BMK: I'm happy to adjust the way I say certain things and we can 
> certainly discuss this for future events - the OS process is pretty 
> robust as you saw last week - I would add that if the question you ask 
> is the right one, then folks who come will be eager to participate and 
> likely not to want to miss anything - those who do 'vote with their 
> feet' will either not come at all or leave when the topics don't 
> interest or concern them....
> PD: I can see that, but sometimes some people are needed so that we can 
> get issues resolved...
> BMK: In my experience, they are usually there and if not, then they'll 
> be around the room somewhere and can be invited in....
> Sp: In this case, some of the key construction supervisors didn't come 
> to the meeting at all...they didn't like the last one and I don't think 
> they were game to come to this one..
> BMK: sounds like that would be a good question to ask them to address....
> OP: Do you think you might use this process again - say with other 
> superivisors/construction workers to help iron out some of the issues 
> that are appearing at the different sites?
> Sp: It certainly could be useful if we want to get folks together as the 
> work escalates towards completion.
> PD: And another question that I've been thinking about, can I ask why 
> you call the report a Book of Proceedings - seems a bit contradictory to 
> me - a closed account of such an open process...
> BMk: that's an interesting interpretation - I've never heard it put like 
> that before....as you noticed last week, OS is a highly structured 
> process even though it's a different type of structure...boundaries are 
> provided, just like the front and back cover of a book, to create a 
> container in which the space is open, full of blank pages, which will 
> then be filled with  a true account of the conversations and the 
> recording of personal and collective accountability through Action Plans...
> PD: Mmmm, I see what you mean...it is one of my biggest frustrations 
> with this project (getting more animated) - I wish that people would 
> take responsibility and be accountable for what they say they'll do - 
> keep their promises and do the right thing...I had this argument with 
> our client last week about this very subject - way back when we were 
> contracting this Alliance, they said they would do everything they could 
> to make sure this project was one of the best ever...now they're 
> stalling and actually are responsibile for holding us up on some key 
> parts of the construction.....they are not being supportive at all - 
> exactly the opposite in fact. When this has happened before, we've 
> brought in so-and-so (consultant from the big HR firm) who tells them 
> straight out that they're wrong and need to get their act together, they 
> take notice and pay attention. That's what I want more of....
> BMK: So you want your client to keep responding to an external consultant?
> PD: It seems to be the only thing that works for them
> BMk: So every time the external consultant is not around, they go back 
> to doing what they've been doing and dragging their feet?
> PD: That's right - its so frustrating (words to that effect!)
> BMK: What you'd like to see is that all members of this Alliance take 
> responsibility for acting on what they really want to achieve...?
> PD: Yes - I wish I knew how we could achieve that...I've been hoping 
> that this Alliance would be just that - a truly collaborative alliance
> Sp: otherwise it might as well be just another 'joint venture' project
> PD: and we didn't sign up for that - this is an Alliance - suposed to be 
> totally different - where we trust each other to act accountably and to 
> take initiatives, when appropriate, without waiting for permission from 
> higher up the line...
> BMK: Mmmm - what did you notice happening in the Open Space around 
> taking personal responsibility for one's own actions?
> PD: I saw some of that happening, I just don't feel completely satisfied 
> that it was the best way to go about it - as I said, I keep wondering if 
> another process would have yielded the same or even better results...
> BMK: So, it seems to me that there is a bit of a contradiction here - 
> you wish to see people taking initiatives and being responsible for the 
> overall success of the project - yet you admire the way the external 
> consultant gets immediate results by coming in and telling people what 
> to do - and they then seem to slack off when he's not around....
> Is there a tension within you about whether the old way of bringing in 
> the controller who directs and adjudicates the proceedings would work 
> better or this new Open Space might provide the opportunity for people 
> to take more personal and collective responsibility?
> PD: Yes - you're right - I see what you're saying - and I think this 
> what I now need to consider carefully....let me think about that....in 
> fact, I'm wondering if the Alliance Board, and our clients would respond 
> to this type of meeting...to get to the deeper issues around the whole 
> Alliance pulling together for our remaining time together...
> BMk: could be a great theme for an OS meeting....?
> PD: I think I'd use it again for sure......if you can just tone down 
> that 'do what you feel like' bit...(grinning!)
> 
> And so the story continues....it was such a great meeting - really 
> engaging and reflective...and also unusual as many of my clients tend to 
> leave this bit out and don't allocate time for a debrief....maybe I need 
> to be more encouraging and assertively invitational to others!
> 
> Cheers
> Brendan
> ps  on the way there, the Org Psych reminded me that if we get 30mins of 
> these guys' time, we'll be lucky....we were there for almost 90 mins 
> with never a dull moment!
> 
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