My First(ish) Open Space.

[Martin Grimshaw]

Dear Keith

Excellent news! That warmed my heart. Look forward to our next catch up.

Martin Grimshaw

On 26/11/10 22:45, Harrison Owen wrote:
>
> Keith -- Bloody Good Show! -- you might say. And when it comes to 
> agility, it seems like OS can help people move in useful ways. Perhaps 
> it is unique to the Pharma Folks (don't think so) but some years ago I 
> opened some space for Park-Davis (that dates it J) -- 500 researchers 
> on their Strategic Research Agenda. Everything was going well when 
> suddenly it was announced that P-D was being acquired (eaten?) by 
> Pfizer. Without missing a beat the agenda turned to focus on the new 
> reality. You are absolutely right -- with any other approach (to the 
> strategic planning effort) the whole thing would have closed down, or 
> at least dissolved into a miasma of useless effort. So here is your 
> next advert ... "When agility is the issue, OS is the way." Or something.
>
> ho
>
> Harrison Owen
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>
> Potomac, MD 20854
>
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>
> Phone 301-365-2093
>
> www.openspaceworld.com
>
> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
>
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> *From:* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] *On Behalf Of 
> *Blundell, Keith
> *Sent:* Friday, November 26, 2010 12:34 PM
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Subject:* My First(ish) Open Space.
>
> Dear All,
>
> Many months ago I asked for some help on running an OS session -- so 
> firstly I would like to thank those who responded and especially those 
> who gave up their time to speak and meet with me to answer all my 
> questions.
>
> Since then I have been suggesting that this may be a valuable way of 
> running meetings within my organisation.  A few weeks back I held my 
> "pilot" OS event --  (I say that purely from my perspective of having 
> never run one before!) with a small group of managers during an 
> afternoon.  Although the session went well and the group were engaged, 
> their subsequent feedback and my own learning of actually "doing it" 
> was valuable.  It had consolidated not only my reading but also the 
> insights from those mentioned above.
>
> Since then I experienced a Co-Learning Workshop on Open Space as well 
> as the WOSONOS 2012 meeting held a few weeks ago -- my first taste of 
> an OS event. Both were great experiences and consolidated my 
> understanding and learning.  (As an aside, I initially went to the 
> 2012 meeting to observe, but very quickly became engaged in the meeting!)
>
> This has all been preparation for (what I consider to be -- although I 
> can see others disagreeing) my first OS Meeting in the San Francisco 
> offices last week.  I was originally approached to debrief a project, 
> but learned that the team were about to work together on the next 
> phase of an upgrade and implementation.  After some discussion my 
> sponsors were taken by the idea of "trying something new" and using 
> Open Space.  Although debriefs were not new to Roche, Genentech had 
> not typically found them useful, and since we are a merged company 
> taking an approach not used before was also a consideration. Initially 
> there was much scepticism from some team leaders -- "how can we fly 
> people to SF when we don't have an agenda?" -- which we were able to 
> overcome.
>
> The theme of the meeting was "Building on what we have learned 
> together and preparing for the future".  Rather than just being an OS 
> event, we agreed that the scene would be set on the afternoon of Day 1 
> with an overview of what was required and expected of the next phase 
> of the project.  Day 2 was then given over to OS and some more formal 
> planning anticipated for day 3.  There was initially some scepticism 
> about OS when I very very briefly mentioned what it was about at the 
> end of day 1.  I encouraged the participants to be prepared to trust 
> the process and that the format would be more fully explained in the 
> morning.  It will be no surprise to you that I was more confident, 
> that the scepticism melted away and the meeting was a success.
>
> That's not the reason for me writing.  The reason is to share with you 
> something that I think was more profound.  Following the merger and 
> some internal and external pressures, Roche was looking at all levels 
> of the business for efficiencies and an announcement was due to be 
> made towards year end.  That announcement -- that there would be a 6% 
> reduction in numbers -- was made in Switzerland and was received early 
> morning (especially early for those of us still on European Time) 
> prior to the OS event .  We also found out that that there would be a 
> town hall meeting in the afternoon, so we now only had half a day 
> rather than a full one.  Despite this news there was still a desire to 
> continue with our meeting and the principles and law of OS allowed us 
> to manage this unexpected change.  Indeed,  a small group of 
> individuals received some additional info during the first morning, 
> and although the topic was never posted they were able to find a space 
> and discuss whatever they needed to before returning to participate in 
> the other sessions.  At the end of the morning there was overwhelming 
> support to continue with the format on day 3 with those posted items 
> outstanding.
>
> If we had had a formal agenda, then the meeting would have been thrown 
> into chaos -- indeed many meetings held on that day were cancelled. 
>  As noted above, the meeting was a success and all the expectations of 
> those present, including the sponsors, were met.  All the items that 
> individuals expected to be covered were covered, and the detailed 
> planning expected on day three fell out of all the discussions.
>
> A testament I think to OST -- I hope there will be an opportunity 
> within my organisation to continue with this approach.  And I am 
> looking forward to 2012!
>
> Best Wishes,
>
> Keith.
>
> *Dr K Blundell*
>
> * *
>
> Global Strategy Lead -- Innovation and Change
>
> Process & Training Excellence (PTE)
>
> Product Development Global Operations
>
> Roche Products Limited
>
> 6 Falcon Way
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> Welwyn Garden City
>
> Hertfordshire
>
> AL7 1TW
>
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