Bad OS experiences

Larry Peterson larry at spiritedorg.com
Wed Apr 8 08:22:26 PDT 2009


Bui:

In Toronto, I've also experienced some people who were not happy with their
experience of open space. 

Some people prefer the sense that somebody is in control of a meeting
(particularly in Canada). Others, particularly in healthcare, who are used
to dominating get upset when they are not able to do that. 

To me a critical component is the preparation of the sponsor by the
facilitator. This is especially important in smaller groups from my
experience. How they frame the space that is opened before the facilitator
asks the question has a big impact on the sense of freedom that participants
have or do not have. It is also important to have enough time in open space
to get beyond the usual suspects shaping the discussion particularly when
the culture of the group has not encouraged participation in the past.

Certainly the setup of the room and the breakout spaces particularly in
smaller group have a real impact. A clear articulation of be done with the
results is also critical.

I have led many open space events of 15 or fewer people that were lively,
new ideas emerging, new leadership surfacing, over six hours to two days.
Some individuals, however, are not quite ready to be full participants in
riding waves. They only find this out in the experience of open space.

Larry


Larry Peterson & Associates in Transformation
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
larry at spiritedorg.com   416.653.4829 http://www.spiritedorg.com




-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Bui
Petersen
Sent: April-08-09 10:11 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: [OSLIST] Bad OS experiences

Hi everyone,

Having almost settled in living in St. John's, Newfoundland, I am 
looking for opportunities to open space. It is a slow process to 
introduce something that people are not familiar with, especially as I 
am new in a town where everyone seems to know each other.

My question is, what do you do in cases where you meet people who HAVE 
been exposed to OST but did not have a good experience. My wife for one 
participated in one OS forum, and she is not at all convinced. Her 
experience was that the usual suspects did all the talking and those 
that usually are quiet, stayed that way. I wasn't there myself, but from 
what I gather there may have been some factors that contributed to this 
such as, the size of the group (only 15), the breakout spaces had tables 
and a couple of other factors. Nevertheless, my wife is not convinced it 
could have been much different.

What do you more experienced think is a play? My own experience is 
limited so I'm not sure what to say about this. Is it the case that some 
OS events just don't have the right energy and don't work out that well? 
If so, what can you do to make people consider doing it again? The best 
I have come up with is that even if OST may not be perfect, it is better 
than most other things I have tried.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Bui Petersen

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