[OSList] Any experience with short OST

[Blundell, Keith]

I am having some success in introducing OS as a meeting format.

Nearly all the meetings have been 3 to 4 hours with 8 to 30 participants.  Only one meeting has ended early, for all the others I have had to (sadly) call time.  Although there is some scepticism from both those running the meeting and attendees at first, the overwhelming response by the end has been positive.

Observing the behaviour of the groups can be interesting, having grown up with a formal, agenda driven diet.  With a group of managers, there were those who wish to take control of the Market Place and combine sessions - keeping their eye on the time available.  This was followed by the appetite to make sure that there is an assigned action list with dates created before the end.

But for me the real success of that particular meeting was echoed in what one manager said in the closing circle - "I was interested in listening to and understanding X's perspective.  I will need to go away and think about that some more and see if we can make y work better".  Now there was someone who left the room with more than what she came in with.

This sentiment has been expressed by others in the closing circle, but not in the way that this person engraved it on my memory.  To have the opportunity to discuss items of concern and change the way individuals interact and think has to be the greatest benefit for both them and the organisation - even if the meeting is "short"!

Looking forward to WOSONOS.

Best Wishes,

Keith.

Dr K Blundell

Change Advisor
Communication, Innovation and Change (CIC)
Product Development Global Operations
Roche Products Limited
6 Falcon Way
Welwyn Garden City
Hertfordshire
AL7 1TW

Office:   +44 (0) 1707 36 6618
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-----Original Message-----
From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Aitken
Sent: 11 June 2012 3:52 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Any experience with short OST

I was asked to introduce OST to the student leadership group of a local community college. I was given an hour at lunch!

At first I didn't want to offer any experience of the process in such a short time. But when the morning arrived I chose to go for it. The introduction that I typically use already includes a story about the development of the process (the coffee breaks story, not the martinis
story) and I simply extended the story a little bit as a way of making an introduction to what we would do.

It was easy to come up with a theme - issues and opportunities around student leadership at X college - and we held two 15 minute breakout sessions for the gathered group of about 15 people.

The closing circle went around once, and then was then extended for some reflections on the process and its implications as a laboratory for acts of leadership - a big topic for me these days - and the possibilities of a longer meeting should they choose to give it more time.

The sponsors made a nice DVD of it (not including the breakouts nor the participants' part of the closing circle) which I'm trying to figure out how to upload. Anybody have any ideas?

I'm continually appreciative of the flexibility of OST and found that this group had some interesting and productive conversations and insights even in this short time. Of course I don't recommend anything less than 2.5 or 3 hours for a meeting that gets some juices flowing.

warmly
Jeff
San Francisco


On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 5:44 AM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:
> Joaquim – Marvelous question: “Is it better to open a little space, or
> to open no space at all? :-)” And I think the answer is pretty obvious
> but for reasons having little to do with Open Space Technology as a
> process. Life (at least my life) requires the opening of time/space.
> When all of that closes, so does life. Some people feel that they are
> protecting life when they put it in a box. I find just the reverse.
> The greatest gift I have to offer is respectful time/space. Of course
> I don’t own it, so speaking of it as a “gift” to others is a stretch,
> but I think we all recognize the wonder and power of being the
> presence of one who is graciously spacious. You know the sort I am
> talking about – somehow they call forth the very best in us, but not
> in the manner of a prescription (we must, should, ought). We are
> invited to be everything we can be, and we find in the warm presence
> of that person the essential time/space for that “everything” to
> manifest. I suspect this may be the ultimate expression of Love: the challenge to reach our fullness, and the acceptance of whatever that form our fullness may take.
> Not just challenge, not just acceptance – but both together,
> simultaneously, paradoxically, dialectically. That creates radical
> space/time, I think – the essential conditions for life.
>
>
>
> We do this all the time. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. And some
> people seem to be able to do it more often and easily. A few manage to
> do it all the time. The clock doesn’t seem to have much to do with the
> situation, for Gracious Spaciousness apparently operates outside of
> time. It might even create human time/space?
>
>
>
> So opening space/time first last and always – whenever, however,
> wherever, with whomever…
>
>
>
> YES!
>
>
>
> And then we come to that curious thing we call Open Space Technology,
> which as far as I am concerned is nothing but a special application of
> “Gracious Spaciousness.” Over the years we seem to have developed a
> pretty clear sense about useful time periods. Nothing cast in
> concrete, but less than 4 hours feels pretty cramped and more than 2 ½
> days is too much of a good thing. But the Goldilocks (just right) time
> always depends… on the group, the issues, the environment, etc. And
> finding that Goldilocks moment is in part a function of our (as
> facilitators) Gracious Spaciousness, I think. We need to challenge the
> group to be everything they could be, which is almost inevitably
> several steps beyond their comfort zone. Sometimes we even have to ask
> some pointed questions such as – “Do they really have such a low
> opinion of themselves that the future of their organization (life and
> work) is only worth a few hours?” They alone can decide, and we of
> course, will have to accept their decision – even if we also have to say that given their decision, we really don’t think Open Space is the way to go.
>
>
>
> 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)
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> OSLIST Go
> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.or
> g
>
>
>
> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Joaquim
> Baptista
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 6:57 AM
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Cc: c.pfaehler at bluewin.ch
>
>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
>
>
>
> Greetings,
>
>
>
> All I've done were 5 short OST meetings plus a longer but biased OST
> track at a conference.
>
>
>
> I understand that these short meetings were not ideal, they did not
> lead to strong conclusions. On the other hand, it would have been
> impossible to ask parents that were strange to each other to commit more time to meet.
>
>
>
> These meetings lasted between 2h and 4h. They were still quite
> effective in opening space between people, having them find out that
> there are others like them, and identifying shared concerns that deserve further attention.
>
>
>
> While people usually complain that there was not enough time to talk,
> everyone loves it. And I strongly believe that, if I invited them to
> talk for 1.5 days, they would just refuse.
>
>
>
> When the meeting ends, its their responsibility to continue talking
> elsewhere, if they wish to do so. Sometimes, they do.
>
>
>
> Is it better to open a little space, or to open no space at all? :-)
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 6:42 AM, Koos de Heer <koos at auryn.nl> wrote:
>
> Hi Catherine,
>
> My experiences with really short OST meetings are mixed. My
> experiences with OST meetings for demonstration purposes are not so
> good. Only spectators, no play. So I only do an Open Space meeting if
> there is a real issue to be discussed by passionate people.
>
> A short Open Space meeting is at least 3 hours when I do it. I do not
> agree to anything shorter. My favorite is a day and a half. There
> seems to be a tendency that organizations do want the benefits of Open
> Space but have increasing trouble investing the time to make it
> possible. Sometimes I think that the biggest change we can offer is
> not the format of the Open Space meeting, but the idea to spend time
> on things, to stop measuring every minute against the KPIs of a balanced score card.
>
> Having said that, a three hour meeting is much better than nothing at all.
> Key is to manage the expectations of the client. The benefits of a
> three hour meeting are certainly worthwile, but not way as good as
> those of a day and a half. If they are happy with the three hours, you
> can tell them they have seen nothing yet and there is much more where this came from.
>
> Cheers
>
> Koos
>
>
>
>
> At 00:19 11-6-2012, donna.read at managing4wellness.org wrote:
>
> Hi, I did a 4-hour open space last year. It went really well.  People
> seemed to enjoy it and a lot came out of it but not as much as I would
> have liked.  But everyone went away happy to have had the experience.
> Best, Donna
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
>
> From: Graydancer <graydancer at gmail.com>
>
> Date: Sun, June 10, 2012 3:48 pm
>
> To: c.pfaehler at bluewin.ch, World wide Open Space Technology email list
>
> < oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>
> My Open Spaces are usually a day (though we have meet & greets &
> sunday brunches to provide some wiggle room). They seem to work well.
> I was recently asked to do a 6-hour open space for about 350 people in
> Chicago. It went well - very well - but we had a LOT of time
> beforehand to prep the people through online forums, etc, as well as a
> lot of participants who had been to other open spaces.
>
> That being said, with one or two exceptions, everyone there loved it.
> My only frustration was with people who said "No, I didn't go, it just
> sounded too disorganized." For some reason, the idea of something
> being self-organizing is just anathema.
>
> I think shorter OS's can work...but I would never want to do one
> shorter than the 6 hours. Even that felt way too short. Good, but like
> a book that you really wish didn't end...
>
> Gray
>
> On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 4:29 PM, Catherine Pfaehler
> <c.pfaehler at bluewin.ch>
> wrote:
>
> I can only add that the only time I did such a short OST in order to
> demonstrate the methode did NOT lead to a client relationship. I’ve
> come to notice that even a 5.5 hr OS-event is too short. We deprive
> people of the experience of what it is like to have ENOUGH time for
> their thoughts and ideas and actions and projects to actually emerge
> if we agree to such short periods of time.
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank you for asking, Catherine C., and thank you for your answer, Harrison!
>
>
>
> Love, Catherine P.
>
>
>
> Catherine Pfaehler
>
> Burckhardtstrasse 2
>
> CH - 3008 Bern
>
> +41-(0)31-536 05 31
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> Von: Catherine Corbaz [ mailto:cat.corbaz at gmail.com]
>
> Gesendet: Sonntag, 10. Juni 2012 19:20
>
> An: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>
> Betreff: Re: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
>
>
>
> Dear Harrison
>
> of course I'll trust you. You put the right words on my inner feelings
> and gave me strong arguments to tell the sponsor, if needed. Your
> point to do do it after and let emerge an opened discussion, is a perfect idea.
>
>
>
> Thanks a lot,
>
>
>
> Catherine
>
>
>
> Le 10 juin 12 à 18:07, Harrison Owen a écrit :
>
> Catherine – I know you have maade your plans. And Plans can change.
> Here are some thoughts that might move the changes along… First – The
> best Presentation on Open Sn Space is “Do it!†Nothing else comes even close.
> Second – Doing a Presentation about Open Space before an Open Space
> creates all sorts of difficulties, none of which you want. No matter
> what you say, no matter how good you are – whatever you say will
> just confuse people. If they have never experienced Open Space, they
> simply won’t believe you. And if they have had the experience, they
> don’t need the explanation. Even worse, a Presentation up front will
> inevitably put the people in a “head†mode, thinking about the
> process. They will be wondering about other processes, potential
> modifications, what “they†say in the literature. All good
> thoughts, but definitely not needed at the onset of an Open Space.
> Just get on with the business, do what comes naturally, and forget
> about the process. After all it works all by itself. No help needed.
> And don’t try doing “just a little bit of Open Space†It is
> always frustrating, because just about the time you get rolling, it is
> time to stop. If these people really want to Celebrate – Go for iit and make sure they have plenty of time/space for the occasion!
>
>
>
> And then if they really want a Presentation, do it at the end. I
> assume you will have a closing circle and after the people have shared
> their comments, ask them by way of summary “What did you notice
> particularly about our time together that was strange, new,
> surprising, different? I think you will find that the People as a
> whole will create a marvelous presentation, and of course you can comment if you care to.
>
>
>
> Trust me. You won’t be disappointed.
>
>
>
>
>
> 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)
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> OSLIST Go to:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>
>
>
> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [
> mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Catherine
> Corbaz
>
> Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2012 11:31 AM
>
> To: World email list wide Open Space Technology
>
> Subject: [OSList] Any experience with short OST
>
>
>
> Dear OS-friends,
>
> I’ve been invited to moderate an OST for the 10th birthday of a
> studying program of a high Engineering and business school. It is
> called Human System engineering.
>
> The purpose is to celebrate the anniversary and to make an OST in
> order to collect ideas, projects of the students to allow this program
> to live further. The purpose is also to present OST as a method to
> work with collective intelligence , etc. Inviter people will be
> students and old students, the professorship will also be invited.
>
>
>
> At the beginning we spoke of a one day OST. After a first meeting with
> the preparation group, they proposed me to do something shorter, with
> a presentation about OST. I agreed with their suggestion. But i'll
> make my presentation as short as possible, with the message: the best
> presentation is to experiment it.  So I might have 1/2 more, who knows?
>
>
>
> But i've never do such a short OST. So presently the agenda (in may
> head) look like:
>
>
>
> - a short introduction (sponsor + OST introduction : 15’),
>
> - Market place&agenda (15’).
>
> - Two break-out sessions of 35 min.
>
> - closing circle (20')
>
>
>
> We expect 30-50 people.
>
>
>
> Anyone with a similar experience. I remender reading something about a
> 1.5 hours OST?
>
> Any comment, remark, welcome.
>
>
>
> NB: this OST is a short of follow-up of the french publication of
> Christine Kohler.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> Catherine Corbaz
>
> Roseaux 20
>
> CH-2503 Bienne
>
> +41 32 323 38 43
>
> +41 79 794 38 55
>
> https://sites.google.com/site/catherinecorbaz/
>
>
>
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