[OSList] Introducing Open Space (Long)

Wed Nov 30 08:03:06 PST 2011

Our recent conversation about telling stories to help a client make the BIG decision elicited the comment from Raffi to the effect that stories are nice, but rarely do the job. That is certainly my experience. But I have had some success in turning the whole process on its head – well sort of.

When possibility of doing an Open Space is first introduced to a client who has had no prior experience with the critter, it may well sound like some totally impossible, never to be done fantasy from a New Age Kook. Or something like that. The client can hardly be blamed for such a perception if only because much of his/her prior experience and training says that has to be the case. In the face of such a response, it is natural that we seek to buttress our case with strong arguments (never works) or “good stories” of what Open Space can do which don’t seem to have any more positive effect.  And in the event, and despite all the odds, that the client actually makes the decision to go ahead it sometimes seems that we should congratulate the client on his/her bold, courageous decision to enter a strange and dangerous land. I am sure you can see the hyperbole as it passes by, but perhaps some of it sounds familiar?

But what is the alternative? It begins with  a changed mindset. Instead of thinking of OS as an exotic new experience/method/tool, I find that OS is pretty much same old, same old – which is to say it is all Open Space, only sometimes it is more focused, intentional and powerful. Needless to say I don’t share these feelings with the client (at least not initially) or for sure they would be convinced that I was even crazier than the purported method or approach. But I do start slowly with the client’s own experience by asking a question,  “Can they remember a time when everything just flowed, nobody looked at a clock, when somehow all the regular rules seemed to be suspended – and amazing work got done?” It might just be a small moment, but even in the most hidebound organizations, something like that usually shows up somewhere. More often than not it is talked about as “one of those funny things that happened along the way.” Occasionally such moments assume a prominent place in the organization’s mythology as a sterling example of “how things can be.”  

The nature of these moments will vary from organization to organization. In Public Utilities (Power, phone, etc) the story is usually about a major storm and how service was restored. A Coast Guard Station on the Maine coast tells of a daring sea rescue. Even banks have their moments.

Dee Hock (writing in his book, “One From Many”) describes such a time in a bank, as they prepared to mail out the first credit cards -- 

“Something is sadly awry. The form-feeder cannot be synchronized with the printer. Both machines constantly jam. As mailers flow erratically from the printer, cutting and folding machinery slices some in half and crumples others. Technicians are bent over, heads and hands deep in the machinery. The supplier soon confesses. The whole setup is untested. They’ve never used it before, and it’s an abysmal failure.

                Bob and I walk away to a quiet corner near a supply closet to console one another. There is no possibility of another block of time on the computer. Without mailers by morning, the whole thing is off. How can we explain our failure to Maxwell Carlson, a hundred thousand customers waiting for their promised cards, and hundreds of merchants waiting for those customers? Our minds are racing in a hundred directions seeking a way out. Bob is leaning on the handle of a push broom.

                Inspiration is often the child of desperation. Could he be leaning on the answer? We quickly unscrew the handle, rush to the stack of mailers and shove it through a roll. With a heave we lift it—might even be able to hold it for half an hour at a stretch, maybe more—or prop it up on cabinets. The broom handle makes a decent axle. With a third person to guide forms into the computer and enough three-person crews, it might work. Other crews could wind mailers on broom handles as they came from the printer. With enough crews we might get mailers printed. We can worry about cutting and folding another day.

                We call everyone in the area together, printing company executives, bank officers, programmers, operators, janitors—everyone. There is no need for blame. Will they work the night—no bosses— no procedures—just grab a piece of the problem and get it done? Need help, ask—want to help, offer. Yes? Good! Two people lift a roll of mailers and the printer begins to chatter. Two others grab a second broom handle and begin to roll up mailers as they emerge. Ideas pour out from everyone and someone is instantly on the way to attend to each. “Search the building and steal broom handles, Get food and drinks sent in.” “We’ll need gloves.” “Round up relief crews.” “Rig a backup printer.” No one knows all that is happening and no one has time to care. We must trust. The last roll comes off the printer at six in the morning. An exhausted, happy band of brothers and sisters head home to catch a few hours of sleep before the next ordeal begins. As we labored through the night, someone had not only claimed ownership of every aspect of the night’s work, but future work separating and folding mailers to get the project back on track. Is that how the future happens? Ingenuity? Passion? Spontaneous order out of chaos? It seems so, as long as control is kept on a leash.”

Once the moment is found, invite the client to reflect on all that happened. What was new? What was different? What surprised? I have never had any difficulty in doing this. People love to tell their stories and once they get started, it is very hard to get them to stop. The enthusiasm, pride, and ownership is usually just plain palpable. And once the pot is really boiling – it is time to ask another question. “Who did all this?” 

A typical response is a quizzical look, followed by something like, “We did?” To which I respond, “You mean all the same people you have been telling me about who never talk to each other, can’t work together, and currently feel miserable?”

You have to be a little careful with this one, but with a little luck it is quite possible to ground the recognition that “even these people can perform at high levels.” With that thought in place, there is room for another question, “Would you like to do it again, not just as an exception, but as a regular and intentional part of your common life together?”

I suppose somebody could say NO! – but I have never had that happen. And the door is definitely open to introduce Open Space not as some strange, exotic, aberration – but now as a continuation of an already experienced reality. Same old, Same old – well not quiteJ

There is probably little need to explain to the client the thinking behind all this – unless of course, they ask, but it is really not all that difficult. You guessed it – It’s the 5th Principle at work! We live in a self organizing world, and we and our organizations are self organizing. When we get with the program and become fully ourselves, amazing things happen. When we make the mistake of attempting to organize a self organizing system, massive amounts of energy and time are wasted – but even then the power of self organization can break through in what we often consider strange, anomalous moments. “Wherever it happens is the right place” – and surely a good place to start when it comes to introducing people to Open Space Technology.

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 20854

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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