[OSList] two locations at once?

[Jen Mein]

Wow! What wonderful, rich insights and suggestions. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. I'm going to begin to weave some of this into the design and
planning. Specifically..

   - Adjusting the flow as Jeff suggested to accommodate such a large group
   - Creating a combined Book of Proceedings from both sites
   - Mirroring the design at both sites as much as possible
   - Establishing a link between the site at the beginning for a wave hello
   and a the ending for a collective cheer

Jeff, your thoughts about the theme and questions are very insightful. The
'we' is mainly breaking down the 'us/them' culture between the central IT
organization and the various IT organizations that exist in colleges,
administrative units, and other campuses. It is also about bringing all IT
professionals together because we are undergoing a huge amount of change.
Our new Vice President/CIO has been very skillful at inviting everyone in
IT (regardless of role) to engage in communities of practice around key IT
strategies to co-create their future. I was an Associate CIO in a college
and now I work with the VP exclusively to facilitate these communities to
ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate and be heard. The current
theme is directly tied to the VP and his leadership team's current #1 goal
which has been shared across the system. I really like the idea of
rephrasing it to evoke responses that result in building the 'we' culture.

The design so far was enough for the VP and his team to say, "Yes! Let's do
this." Now, I will be bringing in some of my OS-trained and experienced Art
of Hosting mates to refine the design and build teams for both locations.
I'm so inspired and grateful for your ideas!

Take care,
  Jen



On Sat, Dec 22, 2012 at 1:42 AM, Jeff Aitken <r.jeff.aitken at gmail.com>wrote:

> Jen, a question about theme and intention...
>
> does developing the "we" (rather than "us & them") mean deepening
> connections among IT staff in the different campus locations? i wonder
> if these events are the first in what might unfold into
> cross-pollinating OST events bringing people together from the
> different locations.
>
> for these first events, i have the image of a skype or other live link
> from one location to the other... so that the opening circles could
> see each other, and the closing circles see each other... not so much
> to share detailed information, but mostly to share energy - like a big
> wave hello at the start, and a collective cheer at the end... so
> people might feel like they are working together on the same task, in
> their different locations. And with the knowledge that the combined
> book of proceedings would be available to everyone.
>
> i'm also curious about the theme itself. would people be responding to
> a question like "what are the issues and opportunities for creating a
> 'we' culture in IT at the university?" or might there be another
> question, the responses to which could help foster a 'we' culture as
> an outcome... I imagine finding a bridging question that honors the
> burning issues facing IT folks, and in the conversations their shared
> values and concerns are surfaced and conversed about.
>
> just some thoughts.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 7:56 PM, Lisa Heft <lisaheft at openingspace.net>
> wrote:
> > I completely agree with Jeff.
> > I have done similar events and if it is useful to the group, you can put
> > both events' notes into a combined Book of Proceedings for distribution
> back
> > out to the participants post-event.
> > Maximize the time people can spend creating their agenda, in their
> sessions,
> > in their reflection...
> > Lisa
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Dec 21, 2012, at 6:33 PM, Jeff Aitken wrote:
> >
> > Hi Jen,
> >
> > Thanks for putting this out to the list. I'm sure you will get lots of
> > warm appreciations and suggestions.
> >
> > Let me dive right in, and I look forward to the ideas of others. I've
> > facilitated many short OST events of 2-4 hours, which are on the very
> > short end of the OST spectrum as you know.
> >
> > I am going to suggest that the connections between the events take
> > place after the event and not during. My reasoning is that the event
> > is fairly short in duration, and it will be most useful to support the
> > people in the room to connect with one another in person, rather than
> > try to also include others offsite.
> >
> > If I can offer ideas about the agenda design, it would be to use the
> > time available to maximize the open space opportunity, especially for
> > several hundred people.
> >
> > Get right to work, lengthen the session times, and have a more
> > leisurely closing. For example you might start with a short welcome
> > and agenda creation at 12:30, have a 60 minute session start at 1:15
> > and another 60 minute session at 2:15 pm. Then at 3:15 you would have
> > 45 minutes for closure. (Unless you are able to stretch the length of
> > the event even more...)
> >
> > This would allow a big group of people a bit more time to move from
> > session to session and to gather again for closing. Especially in open
> > space, inviting a lot of people to move from place to place requires
> > some time, and can't be very precise. The appetizers could be
> > available for noshing during the opening and the sessions, hopefully
> > in the central space.
> >
> > Another suggestion is to use the closing time for people to share
> > their experiences face to face, rather than reading session notes and
> > then having a short feedback period. Because you are inviting a "we"
> > culture into being, each opportunity for people to experience the "we"
> > that they are will help to plant and nurture that seed. The ideas that
> > are captured on flip charts can be transcribed and shared afterward
> > online among all participants, and you can design a way for
> > interaction and followup.
> >
> > The actual design of the closing I suggest would involve people in
> > shared reflection hearing one another's voices, tho I won't offer more
> > specific ideas right now.
> >
> > Thanks again for sharing and being on the list... looking forward to
> > the ongoing conversation about this work.
> >
> > Jeff
> > San Francisco
> >
> >
> >
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