[OSList] Knowledge sharing open space?

Sun Apr 10 07:11:31 PDT 2011

Dicky wrote: "I wonder whether this outcome is another proof of the power of
self organisation. Or does it mean that people had just brought the things
they wanted to do anyway and it would have happened even without Open Space?
Or maybe it would have happened anyway but less quickly and less
efficient/effective."

How about all three? And I think there may be something else of note here.
It seems to be an article of faith that the way to insure that "things get
done" is to take detailed notes of the discussion and then use them (the
notes) as the insurance policy for future action. Following this line of
thought it is obvious that more and better notes will improve the situation.
I think this is a nice idea, but I don't see a great deal of evidence that
things work that way. For example, the US Congress (both Houses) is a
copious note taker - and the resulting Congressional Record is monstrous -
but the follow through may leave something to be desired. J I am being
facetious to a point, but I think the real issue is that we might view the
written record as somehow superior to the record imprinted in the hearts and
minds of the participants. This doesn't mean that the written record
(Proceedings) are unimportant, but I think the importance lies in their
function as "aide de memoire." These are not detailed manuals of procedure,
but rather reflections of where people were at the time. Given a different
time and circumstances all those "great ideas" will be viewed differently.
Some, indeed will pass from view - to the great relief of everybody.

Harrison  

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

Phone 301-365-2093

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Methorst, Dicky
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 7:20 AM
To: Suzanne Daigle; Nancy White; oslist at openspacetech.org
Subject: Re: [OSList] Knowledge sharing open space?

hi Suzanne and Nancy,

Thanks for your thoughts and contributions. I would like to share my
experience with follow up of an Open Space event within my organisation, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands. As I am within the
organisation I had a chance to follow through what happened after the Open
Space with all the harvest. After two months we decided to go through the
harvest again and ask the convenors of the sessions what had happened.
Curiously enough they had forgotten what was written in the reports. When
they reread the reports, however, they found that a lot of the suggestions
had found their way somehow into the organisation. They had become an
integral part of the work, had been executed or had been integrated into
policies. Some issues did not need explicit follow up: the participants had
enjoyed the discussions, had learned a lot or gotten other perspectives. On
other issues no follow up action had been taken: these appeared to be the
suggestions that on second thought were regarded as not feasible or not
important enough. So without any explicit and conscious follow up action or
controlmechanism by management.the things that needed to be handled got
adequate attention. There was one exception: suggestions given bij outsiders
(ie external experts/stakeholders) who wanted the Ministry to take certain
actions) had not been taken on board (yet). It is possible that this will
still be done, as the time between the Open Space and the questions asked
about follow up was too short. But these things were more likely to be
forgotten. By the way, the main purpose was not "knowledge sharing" but
finding opportunities to realize our ambitions for reaching the Millenium
Development Goals within a new challenging political policy environment.

I wonder whether this outcome is another proof of the power of
selforganisation. Or does it mean that people had just brought the things
they wanted to do anyway and it would have happened even without Open Space?
Or may be it would have happened anyway but less quickly and less
efficient/effective. 

Greetings from a sunny Netherlands!

Dicky

  _____  

From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetechorg] On Behalf Of Suzanne Daigle
Sent: zaterdag 9 april 2011 17:53
To: 'Nancy White'; oslist at openspacetech.org
Subject: Re: [OSList] Knowledge sharing open space?

Nancy, 

Makes a lot of sense to me!  Would love to know more about what you mean by
less "line of sight" and "more ongoing knowledge sharing behaviors and
practices over time."   

For first timers in Open Space especially and also for others who are more
familiar, I often feel that the conversations originating from topics that
people care deeply about, on which they convene others to join,  can be
exhilarating, exhausting and intense.  Capturing the true essence of those
conversations in the reports is almost impossible and while I trust that
each will have a cellular memory  of what they heard and spoke, I feel that
we all want more.  A "more" that is totally in the spirit of Open Space,
self-directed and self-organized, not facilitated, led or interpreted by
others.  

Often, it is so foreign for people to engage as they do in Open Space,
foreign to the typical ways that we know: meetings, workshops, conferences,
etc. etc. I feel that people leave with a memory of something that happened
that was so extraordinary and while the photos and documents do capture some
of what took place, the way of anchoring this initial experience and
building on it is not clear. Certainly, thinking and planning ahead as part
of the pre-work with an intent to open space in the future is one way.though
not always easy. As one Engineer PHD Scientist said once during morning
news:  "You can't know Open Space until you experience it".   The conundrum
then is that it's not easy to discuss and plan future open spaces with a
sponsoring host or team when you've never experienced Open Space in the
first place. Regardless, I keep trying to build "what happens next" as part
of the pre-work conversations, inspired much by Lisa Heft whose passion for
pre-work knows no bounds.

Cheers on a Sunny Saturday in Florida,

Suzanne

From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Nancy White
Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 11:09 AM
To: oslist at openspacetech.org
Subject: Re: [OSList] Knowledge sharing open space?

I have been trying some new things with knowledge sharing OS in terms of the
harvest. The traditional notes are great, but we started doing some visual
harvests (sometimes with post it notes, card sorting, sometimes with a
graphic recorder, etc.) to start "connecting" conversations across sessions.
This has proven useful because often the people coming together for the OS
have TONS of knowledge to share, but less "line of sight" to the importance
and value of the PRACTICES of knowledge sharing over time (and beyond the
session). So while tons of knowledge can be shared during the event, the
breakthrough possibility is shifting towards more ongoing knowledge sharing
behaviors and practices over time. Does that make any sense?

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 11:03 PM, Methorst, Dicky <dicky.methorst at minbuza.nl>
wrote:

Lisa, you mention a book about knowledge sharing Open Space or Open
Space in university settings. In what aspects is it different from any
other Open Space? I have been asked to facilitate a knowledge sharing
event on healthcare. I'm having a discussion with them on them next
Monday, so I am really interested to know from more experienced people
what I should take into account when doing the open space on knowledge
sharing.

Warm regards

Dicky Methorst

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