Volunteers and conscripts

Thu May 28 02:23:52 PDT 2009

Harrison, thank you for the clarification ... and the birthday date.

I propose that we declare 4 July 2010 (July 4 2020 if you do it that way
round where you live) World Open Space Day, and mark the occasion in some
suitable way. Does anyone have some ideas about how we might do this?

I'll make a post to Osuki - let's see what emerges!

Regarding the 60 minute Open Space that someone mentioned, I'll describe the
way I did it on this list if anyone's interested. The event was the MIT
Entrepreneurship Center (http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu) conference
that took place in Madrid in May 2008.

Jack

Jack Martin Leith
Innovation Next : An emerging hub for innovation next practice
Bristol, United Kingdom
Mobile: 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541)
Skype: jackmartinleith
email: jack at innovationnext.org
www.innovationnext.org | www.jackmartinleith.com

Follow me on Twitter for innovation news: http://twitter.com/jackmartinleith
Join the management renegades at http://moon-shots.ning.com

2009/5/27 Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>

>  Jack I never said that OS would not work with “conscripts.” I did say
> that the result would be less than optimal – and that if one wanted the very
> best, voluntary self-selection was essential. At least that has been my
> experience so far. In fact Open Space works very effectively in prisons –
> where voluntary self-selection is not an ordinary practice. But I cannot
> believe that prison life could be confused with optimal human conditions,
> although I grant that a number of places of business have much in common
> with many prisons. There may be a lack of concertina wire and guard towers,
> but I found the atmosphere very much the same. In such places Open Space
> works as well, if only because even such miserable excuses for work
> environments are also part of this self organizing world. But I think it
> safe to say that high levels of performance, creativity, innovation, and the
> like are not commonly found.  As for the birth date of Open Space Technology
> – that would be July the 4th weekend in Monterey California. Didn’t think
> of it at the time, but in retrospect I find that date marvelously
> appropriate. Something about -- Revolution and Freedom (from the Crown). You
> might say Voluntary Self-Selection!
>
>
>
> 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
>
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
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>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Jack
> Martin Leith
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 27, 2009 12:59 PM
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Subject:* Volunteers and conscripts
>
>
>
> I've turned Bhav's question and Harrison's response into a blog post on the
> Osuki website, and added a comment of my own.
>
>
>
> Here's the link: www.osuki.net/?p=913
>
>
>
> If you don't want to click on the link you can see my comment below.
>
>
>
> Harrison and Bhav, I hope it's OK with you that I've posted this article. I
> haven't named Bhav. I'll delete the post if either of you asks me to.
>
>
>
> Warm wishes from Bristol, UK.
>
>
> Jack
>
>
>
> P.S. Harrison, can you please remind us of the exact date of the 25th
> birthday of Open Space?
>
> Jack Martin Leith
> Innovation Next : An emerging hub for innovation next practice
> Bristol, United Kingdom
> Mobile: 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541)
> Skype: jackmartinleith
> email: jack at innovationnext.org
> www.innovationnext.org | www.jackmartinleith.com
>
> Follow me on Twitter for innovation news:
> http://twitter.com/jackmartinleith
> Join the management renegades at http://moon-shots.ning.com
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
>
>
> http://www.osuki.net/?p=913#comments
>
> While I agree with pretty much everything Harrison says here, in the 20
> years that I’ve been working professionally with Open Space Technology, I
> can’t think of a single client that was seeking to create a self-organising
> system. They simply wanted to get a job done, and OST was the chosen tool.
>
> Many of the Open Space events I’ve co-designed and facilitated were not
> organised on a voluntary participation basis, yet the respective clients
> were happy with the results. Would voluntary participation have bettered
> these results? Maybe … maybe not. We’ll never know.
>
> What’s beyond doubt is that OST is a very robust process that can be
> effective even when prevailing thinking suggests it’s doomed to failure.
>
> In the early 1990s I co-facilitated, with Mo Cohen
> <http://www.osuki.net/?page_id=530>of this parish, a two-day Open Space
> event for the change management practice of a large management consulting
> firm.
>
> The client had a hidden agenda that was shockingly revealed at the end of
> the first day of a two-day Open Space event. The secret plan was a radical
> reorganisation of the change management practice that would have a big
> impact on everyone in the room.
>
> At the start of the second day the participants, conscripts one and all,
> binned their agenda and created a new one focused on the implications of the
> reorganisation.
>
> My friend and collaborator Jean-Marc Le Tissier<http://www.osuki.net/?page_id=126>(also of this parish) was an employee of the consulting firm and a
> participant in the event. Whenever we recollect those two days we agree that
> Open Space was the right tool for the job. It shouldn’t have worked – but it
> did.
>
> *That’s all very well in practice – but will it work in theory?**
> **Unknown*
>
> Open Space is an extremely resilient 24 year old. Let’s start planning the
> 25th birthday celebrations (early July 2010) now!
>
> ---------------------------------
>
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