On "Failure" / Coaching

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Sat Jun 5 07:31:47 PDT 2010


Annemarie – I guess I have to take some issue with you. There WAS a closing
circle, you just didn’t happen to be a part of it. And for sure the personal
touch is important – which is why I always invite a group of co-conveners to
join me in any Open Space I do. The responsibilities of a co-convener are
two: 1) To come. 2) Bring their friends. These two “responsibilities” ensure
that the space will in fact have some people, and everybody will know at
least somebody upon arrival. Of course they will meet many more folks, but a
familiar face is likely to show up early on.

 

Harrison

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

Phone 301-365-2093

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
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 <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
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From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Annamarie
Pluhar
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 9:54 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: On "Failure" / Coaching

 

I have been reading this thread with great interest - having had an
experience that might be called a failure - that frankly put me off pursuing
facilitating OS for a very long time. Other work engaged me. Short version:
small company, good theme. Great energy for one set of sessions. In fact the
owner was amazed by who went to what sessions. Then he decided he wanted
everyone to participate in a conversation with him and basically took
everyone on a hike to a place where they could talk. I stayed behind
"holding space" - knowing that there were a few who hadn't heard the
command/invite.  I'm told they had a great conversation.  But there was no
closing circle. 

 

I'm actually writing now to comment on "invitations."  Many years ago, when
I was in seminary, I decided to give myself a birthday party.  It was during
the Christmas vacation, I commandeered the ping pong  room in the dorm and
put up posters around campus.  It was a good party. During the party when I
looked around at who was there, I realized that the folks who had come were
those whom I had personally asked.  It's a permanent lesson, people respond
to the personal touch. 

 

Peace, 

 

Annamarie Pluhar

 

Pluhar Consulting

Results through effective group process

http://www.pluharconsulting.com

802.451.1941

802.579.5975 (cell)

 

 

 

 





 

On Jun 4, 2010, at 6:47 PM, Michael Herman wrote:





there is the writing and emailing of the invitation.  and this is another
moment where we or a client/sponsor might lapse.  it's easy to think that
the invite goes out and magically people appear.  that pretty much how it is
for the facilitator, anyway.  but the sponsor is seeing and talking with
some of the invitees everyday, maybe.  some of them are still trying to
decide if they should come or not.  some of them might be asking questions,
like "what's the agenda?"  or "what's going to happen?" or "why should i
come?"  maybe even "is so-and-so coming?"  followed by "good, then i'm in,"
or "well, then i'm out."  point is, there's a lot of what i usually call
"supporting the invitation."  i think chris' language is leaning more in the
direction of "living the invitation."  which is to say, "being inviting,"
not just "doing" an invitation.  

so there is the writing stage, the supporting stage, the
hosting/facilitating stage (during), and the after, recognizing and
translating back into everyday practices and structures.  the latter hasn't
gotten much play here, but i think the crux of the challenge in after-care
is mostly about helping sponsors/groups understand how the tools they
usually have on their desktops, the structures -- calendars, meeting rooms,
virtual tools, phones, emails, networks, whatever -- can be used in a way
more or mostly or totally compatible with the spirit that shows up so often
in open space meetings.  lots of workplace tools seem to assume hierarchy
and control, like this new maestro system that lets one meeting chair move
people around between breakout groups, but i rather enjoy finding ways to
tip those systems on their ends, in support of self-organization.  like when
chris and judi and i started tipping tables and leaning them up on their
ends, to expand the wall space our group had for posting news.

i think, in some cases, it can feel like a failure when groups can't find a
way to bring the energy of a good, 2.5-day coffee break back to their
desktops.  this sense of failure might be heightened if the facilitator or
sponsor talks a lot about results or changes or movement before the meeting
but there isn't any investment made in supporting the conversations needed
to achieve those things after the meeting.

m



--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com <http://www.michaelherman.com/> 
http://www.ronanparktrail.com <http://www.ronanparktrail.com/> 
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
<http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org/> 
http://www.openspaceworld.org <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> 

312-280-7838 (mobile)



On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 4:40 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:

Chris – I am not quite sure what you meant by, “often work closely with
people not only to write an invite but practice it as well,” but what I
heard (or maybe wanted to hear??) that you were talking about was what I
guess could be called “coaching.” Doing an Open space is one thing, but
building upon that experience in an ongoing way to the profit and betterment
of the organization/group is the next level up, as far as I am concerned. I
am not talking about, “becoming an Open Space organization” if only because
I sincerely believe that all organizations are already there. They may just
not realize the fact, or are doing it badly (less than optimally). Strange I
suppose, but it all comes from the notion that we live in a self organizing
(Open Space) world, not as a matter of choice – but rather a simple fact of
our existence. Right up there with The Pull of Gravity. Comes with the
territory. But we can all live our lives elegantly and well or just bumble
through. This has nothing to do with resources or the lack of same. It is
all about personal and organizational style – although resources (education,
money, etc) certainly can help. But an abundance of resource is not
sufficient, and in fact may be a detriment. Fastest way to kill a good idea
is to throw money at it, I think. The key is  fully utilizing All our
resources – the full power of the community. And here’s where coaching (can)
come in. Helping people to understand and practice the thought the full
power of the community manifests when, and only when, it is REALLY invited.
You can’t command it, you can’t control it, you can’t force it –  you MUST
invite it. Of course that invitation can be refused, but that is the nature
of a real invitation. Helping people to get to that point would be a major
opportunity, I think. So – Chris, even if I have totally misunderstood
(represented) you, thanks for the opportunity.

 

ho 

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

Phone 301-365-2093

www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> 

www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/>  (Personal Website)

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

 

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 12:22 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: On "Failure" / Invitations

 

Echoing Michael's approach here. I learned this from him many years ago, to
pay attention to the clarity of the first five minutes. 

 

Where it gets sticky is in the gut check conversation and that can take time
too. But I also want to put in a plug for skillful practice of invitation. I
often work closley with people not only to write an invite but practice it
as well. In other words beyond just hitting the send button I find that it
supports action better if people use their networks to invite more deeply.
When the meeting is over these networks often become the place where people
continue to connect to execute action. 

 

And as for my OS that failed I will say that the shape sometimes doesn't
matter. I always try to put people in a circle but on the odd occaision when
that hasn't been possible i have still managed to do fine. 

 

There is rather something in what I can only call the energetic architecture
of open space that needs paying attention to. Even under dire logistical
conditions getting that right seems to make all the difference. 

 

That architecture consists of things like the real business issue, the
invitation, the authentic desire to let go of control and outcome on both
the client and the facilitators part and something about the quality of the
space. Get those things right and you have the actual conditions for space
to open. Get them wrong and even the most orthodox execution of the process
will fall flat and seem like a failure. And people will see that as "open
space doesn't work."

 

Chris

-----

CHRIS CORRIGAN

http://www.chriscorrigan.com <http://www.chriscorrigan.com/> 

 

Sent from an iPod, typed with thumbs...

 


On 2010-06-04, at 7:03 AM, Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com> wrote:

yes.  this is exactly my experience, harrison, with some exceptions for
those cases where the sponsor was already so thought-into the scene that
they didn't tell a very clear story.  but for vast majority of cases, my
experiene goes like this...

phone rings.  caller introduces self and says some version of "calling about
open space."  then proceeds to tick off the following... organization name,
we've always been [whatever] sort of an organization, we've had this success
or that success, but now things are different.  (or now we want them to be
different.)  (or then must be different.)  we're up against this, that
and/or the other obstacles or deadlines or usual custom (we have this same
meeting every year)... and we want to do something different, so we thought
open space might do the trick"

then we talk about who's coming, or should be coming; wehre it might happen,
what's already in place, what sorts of documenting, how people already are
talking in org with current systems, and then it comes back to... now what?
and the only thing left is to pen the invite.  "invitation?" they ask,
"what's that?"  -- and i always point out that they already said it, they
just have to write it down and tidy it up a bit.

there is a bit of reality/gut checking.  there is a bit of fishing around on
my part to see if they just want to do a different dance or if they really
want it to rain this time.  do they want a different meeting or a different
organization, but mostly, it's those first five sentences they give me on
the phone.  

i always pay very close attention to those first five sentences.  not as
easy by email.  sometimes when it starts that way we're able to recreate it
quickly on the phone.  sometimes it takes a bit of swimming upstream.  

and maybe this is one of those lapses in attention... if i miss that moment
of first, true clarity, when that space first opens and somebody dares to
ask if things couldn't be different... you used to talk about that moment of
"wondering...", harrison, then it might well be that no amount of thinking
and such can replace it.  that's maybe the place where a lapse in the
quality of attention, in those first lines and first few conversations, when
client and i are still new to each other, where maybe things get more or
less lined up for success or failure.

m



--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com <http://www.michaelherman.com/> 
http://www.ronanparktrail.com <http://www.ronanparktrail.com/> 
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
<http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org/> 
http://www.openspaceworld.org <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> 

312-280-7838 (mobile)

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 8:38 AM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:

One of the themes that seems to be surfacing here is the whole subject of
Invitations. The Invitation (theme) is definitely important as it sets the
raison d’être and frame for the gathering. I know that some people spend
terrific amounts of time and effort crafting that invitation – but my
experience has taken me in a different direction. In fact I have found that
the effectiveness of the Invitation is (oddly) inversely proportional to
time/effort expended. The key, I think is the necessity for a “real business
issue” as a first condition for a functional Open Space. And a real business
issue (no matter how you define business) is something that hits you right
in the face. You don’t have to think about it very much, and in fact it is
pretty hard to think about anything else. It is also usually true that the
folks in the organization (those who might care) have already named it. That
name might be something less than elegant and seemingly lacking in precision
as an outsider might see it – but for those in the know, the people who care
(exactly the right people for the Open Space) – they will instantaneously
recognize “it.” Some years ago I received a call about doing an Open Space.
After some initial, rather generalized conversation, the person on the other
end of the line said in some deep pain, “Our system is broke in just about
every way a system can be broken and everybody knows it.” As it happened
that system (business) resided in the state of Arizona – and there was the
theme and invitation. “Fixing Arizona: Issues and Opportunities.” There was
no reason to give all the details, motivational encouragement, pleas for
attendance. Everybody who cared already knew. 

 

Actually when you think about it, it is probably true that if you have to
spend a lot of effort developing and clarifying the focal issue the chances
are you don’t have a “real business issue.” That being the case, doing an
Open Space may not be the appropriate way to go. Without the passion, focus,
and caring not too much is likely to happen. I guess that is not too
surprising as without passion, focus, and caring not too much happens in any
other part of life either.

 

Harrison

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

Phone 301-365-2093

www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> 

www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/>  (Personal Website)

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

 

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael
Herman
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 5:50 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: On "Failure"

 

there are some situations that come to mind, harrison, but is sort of
reminds me of that time when louise mitran brought all the drumming gear to
one our trainings at the carleton.  she took a group out in one session and
challenged them to play chaos.  they really had a heck of time doing it,
sustaining it.  for sure there were moments of discord and a lot of
messiness, but the driving force underneath it all was the inclination, some
sort collectively mutual invitation, to entrain with each other... and turn
it into music.  so i was thinking not so much about any 'grand failures' but
more those moments of confusion, facilitator choice points, apparent chaos,
but pretty much i they always seem to resolve again.  moral of the story
might be, when you find yourself under water, go with the flow, stay in
relationship, let the river take you where it's choosing, try not to get
stuck and hold your breath... you'll likely have another chance for opening
and fresh air, soon enough, even if not exactly soon as you want or expect.


that said, here are some of the situations that came to mind...

a buddy of mine called in sick the day before an event, so i walked in to
open space with no experience with the group.  the managers had written the
invitation, and invited 100 folks to come work on the issues that made their
stomachs churn, hands sweat, or kept them up at night worrying.  the were
working from a language they'd developed around "adaptive challenges" based
on a book they'd read together.  when the issues all went up, the managers,
who had their own list of issues, looked at the wall, they were astounded to
see that the group had covered all of the mgrs issues.  mission
accomplished, or so it would seem.  next day, however, morning news sort of
blew up because all the lower level folks were feeling a bit disheartened,
thought they'd failed miserably, because they hadn't found a single issue
that really scared them.  turns out what was freaking the mgrs out was just
the everyday challenge to folks down the hierarchy.  the disheartening got
turned more confusing when some of the younger managers, who were very hot
for this new language they'd come up with from this book, tried hard to
impose a "training" in the right way to talk about these things.  made for a
long morning news and then required the miracle of "the group catching up"
to the schedule... but none of that is particularly remarkable.  in the end,
all the issues that mattered got discussed, documented, and they made a good
run at tackling the various things that were identified for doing
post-meeting.  

so is this even a failure?  could it have been if i'd made some different
choicse along the way?  maybe, maybe not.  depends on the definitions, i
think.  certainly it was a deviation from the story told in the user's
guide.  but we recovered.  and i think that's what happens in every, or
almost every, case.  

some of the recoveries happen before the event.  the client dodges the real
issue and writes an invitation that says "come to an open space meeting."
well, that's not much of a theme, unless it's an osonos.  so we fix that, go
deeper, dare to invite the real thing and get on with it.

then they want to have three short keynoters to open.  well maybe we talk
them out of that, maybe we don't.  once we had two of three keynoters
cancel.  so one guy talked for 20 mins instead of his allotted 10.  circle
was 200, statewide group, very diverse, never worked together.  big issue.
but this guy was more readily associated and more active in one side of the
story.  it set up a sort of competition because some felt heard and
addressed in teh opening, but others thought they'd been put in second
place.  i motioned to the sponsor to pull the plug.  he went out and put an
arm around the guy, thanked him and said "let's get started".  i walked in,
past the podium he'd been standing at.  with one hand, i tipped it over,
laid it down.  by the time i got back around to that point of th circle,
interns had carried it off.  but the damage was done.  later that morning,
one of two key sponsors comes to me and says "fix it.  my people are
pissed."  she happens to be the one who's got to sign my check.  i tell her
honestly, "now can do.  it's in their hands now."  on the second day, it
started to be dealt iwth directly, our friend ted ernst raised an issue that
began to put the two 'sides' together.  we came up with tons of good stuff,
over 2.5 days, but i think it took another couple of annual repetitions of
this first event before everybody really felt like they were on the same
side.  didn't help, probably, that one sponsor was a foundation, funding
some and not others.  but that's the messiness we work in.  i'm not sure
that co-sponsor's view of the thing ever improved, though she did take a
lead role in convening after-event meetings.  a city-wide coalition came out
of those meetings and is now active and very successful 9 years later.

then there is the client who -- after sprinkling a day of open space
sessions into a week of meetings, 150 top people from around the world,
fortune 150 company, all the c-folks there -- came to me, as the proceedings
were just finished being printed, and said "the ceo says we can't distribute
these.  there's no time.  he hasn't read them. etc."  i pushed hard for a
conversation with the ceo and got a very few minutes, in which i was able to
convince notice that he was trying to stop them from giving out notes about
waht everyone in the room was already thinking and speaking about.  he
agreed that it was more dangerous to get in the way of it than to just let
it go.  but he scuttled the session, can't recall the exact form, of the
prioritizing or conversing or voting or something that was to be done with
the rpoceedings.  actually, i seem to remember people have to go through and
tear out the ballot pages from the books.  luckily spiral bound, so the page
was never missed.

and then there is the client that thinks that all they need to do is call
the meeting to order, the facilitator will take it from there, and they're
off the hook forever.  you think you've got them lined up, they get it,
they're on for it.. but deep down they want out.  this is the sponsor who
might let slip in the opening intro "well, glad you all could get here.  we
have no idea what's going to happen.  that's michael's problem now...".
oops.  checked out.  and when the notes were all assembled, the client i'm
thinking of mysteriously managed to avoid sending them out for several
weeks.  mostly the high-end consultants in this company, who'd travelled
from everywhere to london for this meeting think this meeting failed.  no
follow-through.  but... eventually one person, brand new in the office and
company, stepped up, got the notes from the leader, sorted things out and
sent them around to everyone.  the conversation never recovered, but four
years later, it seems that that moment of leadership on the part of the new
person set her up to take on a leadership role in rebuilding their entire
technology platform.  again, failure depends on definition and time frame.

but mostly i don't think of open spaces that failed, as much as some were
more fruitful than others, apparently, and moments when it was possible to
take the easy way out, letting that ceo do what he wanted without challenge,
instead of hanging in, and hanging with, no matter what, again, apparently,
happens to me personally.

m




--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com <http://www.michaelherman.com/> 
http://www.ronanparktrail.com <http://www.ronanparktrail.com/> 
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
<http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org/> 
http://www.openspaceworld.org <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> 

312-280-7838 (mobile)

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 3:23 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:

Michael – it would be really interesting to hear some actual situations
where what you are describing is true. I’ve never seen it, but I did hear of
one. It happened in South Africa where a local consultant took Open Space as
a license for absence. He literally left for most of the day. As it turned
out (as I heard from one of the participants) the group really didn’t miss
him, and was basically sorry to see him return. And that same participant
was sure that there had to be something more than he had seen. As a
consequence he came to a “training program” (back in the days when I used to
do something like that J) and subsequently opened space all over the place.
So I guess there was a happy ending after a rocky start. Or something. 

 

But you really put your finger on something – “active listening” – which is
not so much about doing anything but rather Being intensely.  Definitely
hard to describe but my best shot is the enigmatic phrase – Being totally
present and absolutely invisible. In my experience this is a matter of
intention and practice. And the best part is that it is all definitely
rewarding, not only in terms of facilitating Open Space, but equally in
terms of self understanding and personal presence. It feels good.

 

Harrison

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

Phone 301-365-2093

www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> 

www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/>  (Personal Website)

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

 

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael
Herman
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 2:41 PM


To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU

Subject: Re: On "Failure"

 

i have a teacher who likes to put little reminders on pencils and pass them
around.  one of my favorite pencils says:  "really easy is often quite
difficult."  

i think this is true of open space.  i've seen a number of situations where
the facilitator or the process itself was assumed to be a bit of magic, so
nobody needed to do much else to make it happen.  this makes all kinds of
large and small "failures" possible -- all owing to some lapses in the
quality of attention, awareness, relationship.

somebody once told me that carl rogers (some sort of psychologist, i think)
used to listen so intently that he would often break out in a sweat -- just
listening to someone.  sometimes i think open space takes this sort of
quality or intensity of attention... or maybe of awareness.  that the heart
is this active, even if the body is apparently doing nothing.  like when so
many muscles are engaged in walking a balance beam, or timing a jump.
actively pulsing, checking, on and off, holding and releasing, inviting and
reporting.  

i'd guess a fair number of "failures" have their roots in forgetting that os
is this sort of active practice, even if a lot of the action is not
outwardly visible or dramatic or difficult.  weirdenss seems to flow from
gaps in clarity, in attention, in awareness, in relationship.  not so much,
i think, from gaps in actual outer logistics.  

m





--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com <http://www.michaelherman.com/> 
http://www.ronanparktrail.com <http://www.ronanparktrail.com/> 
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
<http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org/> 
http://www.openspaceworld.org <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> 

312-280-7838 (mobile)

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 12:07 PM, VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
<mail at visuelle-protokolle.de> wrote:

Harrison and all,

Another example of an OS that went terribly wrong:

It was a factory producing printing machines, both in Eastern and western
Germany, and the participants were mixed from both areas. We had the o.k.
from the four directors, to whom we had illustrated what to expect, and a
final conference after the OS was already determined. One of the directors,
the one who seemed to be the most employee-oriented, was choosen to say some
words at the end of the OS. Our partner in the company was a young man from
HR, very active, with good contacts to the directors. So he insisted that he
should brief the director what to say at the end of OS.

Everything went fine. The groups worked with joy and enthusiasm. We
accompanied the whole OS with 3 people visualizing everything, and that was
a big success, because  everybody could see what had happened everywhere.
After we had shown the pictures in a final slideshow, the director stood up
and destroyed everything within 5 minutes. He said that he was disappointed,
had expected other outcomes, and that the managers wood have a hard time to
use some of the results.

That was the end of the project for us, but much worse all the participants
were angry and a big chance was lost for the company.

Of course the mistake was to let the young HR-man brief the director. 

Reinhard

Reinhard Kuchenmüller 
Dr. Marianne Stifel
VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
Kuchenmüller & Stifel

+39-0566-88 929
www.visuelle-protokolle.de <http://www.visuelle-protokolle.de/>  




Am 03/06/10 18:12 schrieb "Ralph Copleman" unter <rcopleman at comcast.net>:

Harrison and all,

I've had a few that sort of fell flat.

One involved a group concerned about availability of services for senior
citizens across an entire US state.  Two-thirds of the room consisted of
seniors themselves and, frankly, a lot of them ran out of energy about an
hour after lunch.  So they sat around, a number slumping in chairs with eyes
closed.

Another involved an exploration of customer service issues for an airline.
Lots of corporate leaders from the airline present, along with their booking
agents (this pre-dates internet booking sites), frequent flyer customers,
and corporate travel execs who make travel policy for their companies.  A
great mix, actually.  We were set to go from 8:00 a.m to 4:00.  About 2:00,
a group of participants more or less seized control of the meeting somehow
(I wasn't in the room when it occurred) and got everyone to agree to shorten
the meeting by a full hour.  When I returned at 3:00, someone simply
informed me, and asked that I begin the closing circle.  So that's what I
did.  I never found out what actually happened.

Not sure how to think about that last one, since I never found out how it
all developed, but the following one is more like a true failure.

I was asked to convene a two-day open space gathering for about 200 folks
from around the US.  It would be the annual meeting of an association of a
certain type of public health officer (cannot recall the details).  The
whole thing was pretty dead from the outset –– I mean 200 people posting a
total of only 15 sessions for two whole days!?  I found out the theme was
all wrong.  The planning committee chose an idea that turned out to have no
juice for the association's members.  I had spent hours in conference calls
with the leadership group and the planning committee, and they'd assured me
that the idea they chose was at the heart of the challenges facing them and
their organizations.  Turns out that was dead wrong.  Nobody else cared.  I
don't know how I might have seen through this situation ahead of time.

I essentially agree with you, H.  If the conditions are appropriate, it will
work.  But, if the three experiences above teach me anything, it's clear
that stuff can always happens.

Ralph Copleman

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