[OSList] Conversation with Tricia

Fri Mar 29 13:18:38 PDT 2013

Tricia – I think your intentions are superb, but I wonder about the execution. My question comes from spending a lot of time watching a lot of groups seeking to engage their past, present and their future (NOW). My observations may not accord with everybody else’s, but I got what I got. 

The first thing I really “got” is that, even though we all like to think that we as individuals and as groups engage in discussion and exploration in a linear fashion (a first, second, third, etc) in fact we seem to go in circles, or maybe more exactly we do shifting circular search patterns which appear to be quite random. The effect is that it may appear that we do everything all at once, or perhaps you could say, we start anywhere, and go everywhere.

When I think of my own thinking process (as in writing a book) – it is true that there is a page 1 and proceeding. But the thought process is anything but linear sequential. Something initially grabs my attention but where that “thing” actually ends up in the book is anybody’s guess. I suppose that is why some people find mind mapping useful – Personally I don’t if only because my mind seems to outstrip my graphic capabilities, or more probably I am such a dilettante with a very finite attention span that I just keep flitting about. And then there is the fact that some of my best thinking takes place when it doesn’t seem that I am thinking at all. Naps are so rich! And then there is the shower…

All that may be my personal pathology, but I think I see the same thing in all the groups I am witness to. Folks go in circles, and circles in circles, around circles, etc. When things really get rich, it is massively messy – but fun. And mess and fun are two essential ingredients for a seriously creative group, I find. It is also the total antithesis of an “orderly program!” It does seem that a lot of stuff could get lost in the mess or overlooked in the fun, and probably it does. But somehow the really good stuff keep bubbling to the surface and streams of communication move at light speed, and somehow impact just about everybody. The presumption often is that if we don’t write something down (Make the record) it will be lost. I guess there is some truth in that – but the capacity of groups to process massively complex issues in an elegant fashion, at least in terms of the end product (forget how they get there) simply blows me away. And the whole business of “record keeping” by whatever means is only a very small part of that story.

So where am I going with all this? Around in circles, for sure. But there may be a point. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke! My experience, and I suspect our common experience, in Open Space is that amazingly dysfunctional, cantankerous, angry, disillusioned groups of people can, and often do, achieve truly elegant results. Not always, not everywhere … but personally I have never been really been disappointed provided: The people assembled because they cared to be there to engage an issue or opportunity they cared deeply about. From that point on it was pretty simple. Sit in a circle, create a bulletin board, open a market place, and get out of the way. 

There is a part of me that wishes all this wasn’t true, that it had not been my experience. To the extent that I “created” Open Space I can honestly say that is the last thing I ever intended to do. Yes I have had massive fun and met many great people, but -- it cost me a lot of money and no small amount of professional reputation. Billable hours went out the window, and talking the way I have just been doing is not the sort of thing that gets you a tenured appointment at a leading business school J But I love it!

Harrison 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 04843

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

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 Tricia Chirumbole
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2013 1:28 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Electronic Open Space

Thanks Harrison and Michael for the thought-provoking feedback! please send more :)

Awesome story about the work in Nepal Michael! Do you think the AI framework added anything or would you have preferred to stay straight up, no rocks? 

My rationale: This is a rough, scratchy draft of thoughts and I was hoping for ideas! 

The desire is definitely to be open and user-driven, with all but one event being OS and the invitation for groups to branch off and do their thing throughout and offline. 

Use of AI reasoning: I chose an AI design for the first event to help people get in that appreciative mode of thought and set the tone. We are so used to doing things in a certain way and I don't think this perspective emerges as easily for some. 

The first event was also intended to help get everyone up to speed and on the same page in terms of larger trends that everyone may not be aware of and to provide a good launching pad for an Open Space with a primer in shared values and existing assets. 

I do see that shared values is something that comes through in an Open Space, but I was drawn to the very pointed approach of focusing on strengths and values exclusively before delving into what do we do, how do we do it, what's already happening, etc.....I guess alternatively you could turn it into an OS prompt. 

The structured event prompts using the AI "d's", as well as the shared docs, are intended to allow for a flowing pool of participants, where each event may have a different mix, but people can jump in and have a sense of where the flow was going.....it is true that the flow may go faster or slower or in a different direction, so the event prompts may be limiting or inappropriate...will have to think on that - perhaps have the community decide the prompt for the next event after each is completed as well as determine the frequency of the real-time events? I like that better - thoughts? 

that's all i've got for now - any other insights or illustrations are much welcome!!

On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 12:44 PM, Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com> wrote:

harrison and tricia, your comments each remind me of some work we did in nepal about ten years ago.  

on my first visit we did half a day of open space with about 20 college students and instructors, followed by a long lunch and some time to talk about why it works.  when i went back a year later, they'd organized a day-long event, for twice as many community organizer, ngo, activist types, to discuss "nepal 2020."  during that day, i talked with as many of the 40+ participants as i could about what it might look like if we did a 4-day model i'd done elsewhere, two days of OS and two days of OS training.  when i went back the next year, i thought that's what we were going to do. 

what happened is that we had something more than 100 folks defy the travel ban imposed by maoist rebels to attend what was billed as the first national conference on peaceful development.  the OS+training plan never saw the light of day.  since something they were calling the nepal AI national network had officially convened the four-day meeting, it was to be OS and AI, and we were do it and train it.  

our four days looked something like the plan tricia posted here, four open spaces, each one of ours was on a different "D" of appreciative inquiry.  the first morning was significantly eaten up by formal welcomings, but the afternoon was all open space.  then next days openend with bits of open space training observations, followed by a new opening and agenda.  the last afternoon was formal closings, presenting results to various government officials.  at night, some did AI training.  so we did and taught os and ai all at once, loosely shaped on tricia's outline, but also rather chaotically as harrison suggests.

there was no formal reporting for this work but i wrote up my story.  http://www.michaelherman.com/cgi/wiki.cgi?NepalConferenceJournal  ...in the beginning, we also set up a simple blog for their work.  it started in english and then dissolved into a number of organizations' websites, mostly in nepali.

as the political turmoil proceeded, the rebels destroyed a 6000-year-old gate in western nepal, to which one of my colleagues (whose house was damaged in the blast) responded "we are starting to organize an open space on how to rebuild the gate."  in the following years, they continued and extended the OS/AI work with more conferences.  when the decade-long rebellion was resolved, the conversation shifted to how they were going to get the 600 members of the newly formed "constituent assembly" legislature together in an OS/AI conference.  to my knowledge, that event never happened, but the main practices seemed to have taken hold and the new government is still in business.

thanks to everyone who's been having and sharing this conversation.

michael

--

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

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

On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:

Tricia – lot of good thinking here, but I can’t help feeling that you that you may just be working a little too hard. J I understand the pressures to describe a program (series of progressive/linked activities). Funders, etc like all that. But two things come to mind, or at least pop out of my experience. 

1st No program ever ran the way it was “supposed to,” albeit a great deal of effort usually goes into trying, and then, after the fact, making it seem like everything “worked according to the plan.” 

2nd Detailed Programs tend to take on a life of their own, regardless of what the emergent systems and the environment surrounding them are actually doing. It is called confusing the map with the territory – and is usually very frustrating and painful.

The alternative? You might be surprised when I suggest – Just open space for anybody who cares about, “development of feasible social enterprises” and then support the emergent system as it grows (or not). That system will have its own internal resources and rhythms which cannot be known in advance, but as they emerge all can be supported with cheerleading and/or a little help as required. 

When you start with The Program, as opposed to emerging system, you almost inevitably get it wrong. For example, by adding bells and whistles which may be wonderful in themselves, but really just consume time, space, and energy accomplishing tasks that the system will create alternate ways of achieving in a more economical fashion. The point might be awkward, and surely open to debate, but I wonder why use Appreciative Inquiry? I have yet to see anything achieved in AI which does not appear equally and more easily in Open Space. AI is wonderful, but it moves too slowly (for my taste) and follows a pre-determined rhythm – which never matches the natural rhythm of an emergent organization. Appreciative inquiry is a natural act, I think, and part and parcel of  what well functioning self organizing systems do all by themselves. So cut to the chase and invite the emergent system to self organize and appreciate. Or something…

Harrison   

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 04843

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20>  

www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20>  (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 Tricia Chirumbole
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 1:02 PM

To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Electronic Open Space

ok, coolio. rough thoughts follow - things like padlet could fit well into the "tools" section. Starts with a summary and then a detailed description of a collaboration experience follows. 

I have it broken down into a discrete time period punctuated by a series of events, though I was interested in the concept of a structure that could be ongoing. Like you said Skye, we have too much unnecessary fragmentation in our lives!

I also have stuff on the need, value, potential revenue streams, etc - ALL thoughts welcome!

The Opportunity/Need: The opportunity is to accelerate the development of feasible social enterprises by providing a format to rapidly generate and test ideas, which are informed from the outset by the whole system: entrepreneurs, partners, champions, sources of funding, and the community they intend to serve. 

Additionally, there is the opportunity to build a community that develops and tests cooperative models of innovation and social impact. 

The Solution: A system for ongoing, whole systems collaboration that includes:

1.       A series of online, real-time events to respond to a specific prompt, such as: “Opportunities for promoting access to healthcare in poor/remote communities” OR “Designing for disaster prone areas”

a.       A cross-section of a “whole system” is invited so that you have everyone in one space that you will ever need to help get an initiative off the ground – yes, like Future Search, and yes, an ideal scenario. 

b.      More than one series could be held in parallel or throughout the year on different topics.  

2.       An Open Space technology format to the events to support self-organization and encourage engagement and creativity: http://www.openspaceworld.org/

a.       The online events could be managed by a set of seasoned OS facilitators, who use Blackboard collaborate to create virtual Open Space environments – I recently participated in an event run by these folks and found it to be a strong approximation of a face to face OS event and very effective.

3.       An Appreciative Inquiry design to encourage a strengths-based approach to new initiatives: http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/ 

4.       Worksheets and forms to support participant records of events

5.       A google groups list and shared documents to facilitate asynchronous and continuous dialogue, as well as informal small group work in between each event.

6.       One face to face event per series to generate greater engagement and momentum, showcase results to a broader audience, and recruit future participants.Possibly a combination of Ignite-style presentations followed by an Open Space (may be able to combine the series topics during one event.)

Detailed sketch

Rough Model Outline: 

1.       Hold all workshops twice to encourage participation by as many people as possible and to allow for thorough discussions.

2.       Establish a Google group for ongoing and asynchronous communications between events. 

3.       Discovery. Event #1: Successes and Strengths – Use Appreciative Inquiry workshop model

a.       Focus on stories of successful projects, organizations, models, communities, etc. 

b.       Identify themes, trends, assets, and resources

                                                               i.      Saved in shared google doc open to current and future event participants

c.       Recording of event available as a podcast – not sure of fee

4.       Dream. Event #2: Opportunities and Offers – Open Space event

a.       Participant-driven agenda and small group discussions about opportunities in the identified area of exploration. 

b.      All small groups take notes on discussion highlights, as well as take note of identified next steps, and any offers of time, resources, contacts, etc. – worksheets made available.  

                                                               i.      Discussion highlights and table of offers available via shared google doc

                                                             ii.      Participants can add to the “offers” google doc after event, identifying if they are a person/organization seeking a partner, or offering to partner, or offering anything else like contacts, information, potential investment, professional services, etc. 

5.       Offline: Based on discussions in Event #2, small groups may have formed that will continue to flesh out opportunities according to their own schedule and methods. 

a.       Request that updates be posted to a blog, or to a shared google doc. 

6.       Design. Event #3: Concept Development and Team Building – Open Space event

a.       Participant-driven agenda and small group discussions on concepts identified earlier, or new concepts. 

b.      Prompt involves brainstorming concepts and inviting participants to form teams of people or organizations who want to take concepts a step further. 

c.       All small groups take notes on concept discussion highlights, as well as take note of teams in progress, or individual interest in being part of a team, as well as basics of team members, such as location, availability, nature of desired involvement – worksheets made available.  

                                                               i.      Discussion highlights and team notes available via shared google doc so participants can get involved with teams outside of group sessions that they participated in and so people who missed the event can remain involved. 

                                                             ii.      Participants can add to the team building google doc after event. 

7.       Offline: Based on discussions in Event #3, teams may have formed that will continue to flesh out concepts according to their own schedule and methods. 

a.       Request that updates be posted to a blog, or to a shared google doc. 

8.       Destiny. Event #4: Action Planning – Open Space event

a.       Participant-driven agenda and small group discussions on action planning for concept initiatives in development. 

b.      Prompt involves strategic planning for moving forward offline with concepts in development. Some structure may be provided and/or tools/worksheets, but format will be up to participant driven groups. 

c.       All small groups take notes on action planning highlights, including tangible next steps, any requests for resources, team members, information, and any identified timeline or goals. Worksheet provided. 

                                                               i.      Available via shared google doc

9.       Offline: Teams meet according to their own schedule and methods to implement their concept. If interested in participating in Face to face event, develop an elevator pitch and an Ignite style presentation, 

10.   Event #5: Face to Face, Ignite style – this following part is all weak

a.       Teams present their plans and progress in an Ignite-style presentation: 20 slides, 20 seconds each. 

b.      Audience to include participants of year-long collaboration and others. 

c.       Potential for Q&A with audience and investors

d.      Audience can also include broader group of interested parties

Possibly hold an OS style event to get more feedback, buy-in, and participation from a broader group in the engaged face to face environment.

On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 12:31 PM, Skye Hirst <skyeh at autognomics.org> wrote:

Yes, Tricia, that's whats been coming into my thoughts today.  How to create a Vortex/Matrix of what works as a way for bridging theory/experience.  Both are essential and visualizations work better than words often especially when Pointing during an emerging process - but a format like you mention might be a way of Mapping it as it unfolds and we co-create it.  Hmmm nice.  Skye Send it along please. Skye

Quote from Norm -  "There is nothing messier than a bunch of facts without a theory."  And perhaps we could say also there's nothing messier than a theory disconnected from truth of what works known out of experience.

On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 11:08 AM, Tricia Chirumbole <tricia at investorswithoutborders.net> wrote:

This is awesome HO and Jon!

I will continue to post notes on the OS list - notes from this week' skype coming soon :)

We are planning to continue the Village Care/OS in cultural contexts skypes - Skye will be updating us on topic and plans for next call. 

AND I am inspired to try out the padlet!....Jon, your ears must have been ringing, as Suzanne mentioned you on our skype and probably has already been in contact. 

This could be a cool tool for ongoing visual collaborations. Anyone want to try it for brainstorming an action plan for scaling the Village Care model? we could then share the link with the OS list - what you think HO, muddying waters?

Along these lines, after I attended a collaborative circles online OS, I cooked up some thoughts on a method for "whole systems collaboration for social enterprise development" that uses both virtual and face to face interactions and OS.

If anyone is interested in learning more about this concept, let me know and I can share my rough draft! 

I am working on recruiting my friend who runs a social enterprise business plan competition with the William James Foundation as a partner. 

On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 4:04 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:

Ever since it seems like we have been trying to set Open Space to Electrons. Or at the very least do what 

-- 
Tricia Chirumbole
US: +1-571-232-0942 <tel:%2B1-571-232-0942> 
Skype: tricia.chirumbole

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-- 
Tricia Chirumbole
US: +1-571-232-0942 <tel:%2B1-571-232-0942> 
Skype: tricia.chirumbole

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-- 
Tricia Chirumbole
US: +1-571-232-0942
Skype: tricia.chirumbole

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