[OSList] Soliciting Open Space facilitation/organization "feedback"

[Michael Herman]

i have always advised against feedback and evaluation forms, harold, because
i can only imagine two main kinds of feedback:  the food was too cold/room
was too hot (which really doesn't matter) and there should have been a
session/design for this or for that (which really just pushes responsibility
for their experience back to the hosts).  the only kind of feedback or
evaluation that seems useful would be to help suggest that this was worth
doing, so as to support funding for more of the same, but anyone funding
more of them ought to be able to evaluate the proceedings themselves to
decide if the event worked.  when a form of some kind is an absolute
non-negotiable must do, i suggest three questions of this sort:  what did
you see happening during the event?  what got done because of the event?
and, given that, what are the issues or opportunities you would put on the
wall next time?  the answers to these more directly evaluate the work of the
group and feed directly into the writing of future invitation(s).  in this
way, there is no break in the action, ownership, responsibility, etc.
there's a bit more, and some different questions, posted here:
http://www.michaelherman.com/cgi/wiki.cgi?EvaluatingOpenSpace

m


--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)

http://MichaelHerman.com
http://ManorNeighbors.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org





On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 5:12 AM, Harold Shinsato <harold at shinsato.com>wrote:

>  What do Open Space facilitators think about soliciting "feedback" as part
> of an improvement process for a series of Open Space events?
>
> I was initially resistant to the idea because it is definitely "one more
> thing to do", but I do wonder if an appreciative inquiry style feedback
> solicitation could be powerful.
>
> I notice that the Journalism That Matters event in Detroit had a feedback
> form - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RYP6TPT. So clearly some Open Space
> facilitators think this is a good idea.
>
> Any experiences? Any thoughts?
>
> --
> Harold Shinsato
> harold at shinsato.com
> http://shinsato.com
> twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>
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