[OSList] org'n works too good to use OST.?

Tue Aug 26 03:40:00 PDT 2014

Dear Harrison,

my "last" client in the last 10 years of facilitating os events for a 
living contributed a short article (about 20 pages) published in "Meine 
opens space Praxis" under the title "Our First Ten Years", How Open 
Space transformed the way of doing business in the German Agency "YOUTH 
for EUROPE".

Basically, they had a full fledged 3 day os event including a Planning 
Meeting and Action Planning every year in May for the 30+ members of 
their agency  (they did have this retreat long before they ran into 
me)... beginning in 2001.
Shortly after starting this way of running their annual retreat they 
installed a second gathering in December to get all the other folks 
involved in their "field" which grew into an annual event with 100+ 
people (partners, clients, government officials from the Ministries 
associated with their work, folks from the European Union who funded 
their work, young people, people from other national agencies in other 
European Countries...).

Every year, they discussed whether they should use os again. Every year 
they  decided to do so again, maybe the events continue... and in 
addition to the two regular annual events they convened about 30 
additional os events during the decade I worked with them... I 
facilitated a few of them... and organized a 5-day os training for folks 
from more than 20 countries working in "their" field. So os has spread 
throughout Europe in national and international youth work.

This report by my client was eventually translated into French, Polish, 
Spanish, English and Chinese... and published as an ebook  containing 
all 6 versions... plus a remarkable preface you contributed!

The report is a good read for all of us going to Belgrade since you can 
meet the colleague there who is continuing the os-work with them after I 
"retired"... in case you are curious how it continued (as if one could 
fathom!)...

Here is where you can get the ebook
> http://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Practicing-Open-Space-Our-First-Ten-Years-E-Book?x37695=840d76550e7f8922e0c50538f187a7b6

and if you are still with amazon
> http://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Open-Space-transformed-business-ebook/dp/B00H2FIDV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409049299&sr=1-1&keywords=Our+first+ten+years+How+open+space+transformed

Have a great day
mmp

On 25.08.2014 23:57, Harrison Owen wrote:
> Martin ... I can't speak for anybody else, but my experience has been that
> when OS is "always," The Conference of the Year, sort of thing... it gets a
> little drab. Not to say old hat. I have zero problem with folks convening an
> OST any time them see the need. I have even less problem with them
> understanding that everything happens in open space (in the context of a
> self organizing world). And both of those together are just dynamite. BUT...
> Nothing of consequence ever happened on an annual/quarterly basis, I think.
> Serious stuff (other than taxes and Quarterly Reports) happened when it
> happened. And at that precise moment space needed to be open. In lots of
> cases, the space was automatically open simply because the usual under
> pinning's life were blown out of the way (new product, fiscal disaster, the
> competition). Under these circumstances, choice of theme is a no-brainer.
> Everybody knows! At other times, people intuit that the ground is
> shifting... and so in advance, to achieve advantage, or whatever... Open
> Space is a marvelous way to go. But the precise "question/issue" may be a
> little opaque. But so what? Emergence is always opaque -- until it happens.
>
> Harrison
>
> Winter Address
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, MD 20854
> 301-365-2093
>
> Summer Address
> 189 Beaucaire Ave.
> Camden, ME 04843
> 207-763-3261
>
> Websites
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
> Martin Boroson
> Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2014 1:08 PM
> To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
> Subject: Re: [OSList] org'n works too good to use OST.?
>
> Thomas
>
> Your interesting situation and questions have provoked some deep reactions
> in me. Thank you!
>
> First, I wonder why there is need for an Open Space to be exciting and
> dramatic. Yes, as a paid facilitator, who wants his client to feel that the
> event was worthwhile, I would want the event to be dramatic, powerful,
> transformative.  Personally, some of the most wonderful moments of my life,
> as facilitator, are when I have opened the space for a group that is
> troubled or stuck or anxious, and then see them break through into their
> passions and their truth, or experience an OS kind of freedom for the first
> time. But I wonder if we, as facilitators, can get addicted to that
> experience? I mean, how many Big Bangs can one have? :)  And I would be
> concerned about any attempt to artificially raise the energy for the group
> in advance.
>
> Second, it seems to me that cycles are part of life, and there are times for
> dormancy, slowing down, percolation, and other times for bursting forth.  So
> maybe it is okay to have an Open Space in which nothing dramatic
> happens--presumably that is just a reflection of where the group is at, and
> that's okay. So I am wondering if it is okay to sit with boredom?  As a
> creativity junkie, I have had to learn that not all times are
> creative--sometimes I just have to clean the house.
>
> (On a deeper level, these issues are really about "enlightenment"--and the
> issue of whether it happens just once or many times, and also, what you do
> after enlightenment. Some people do indeed have trouble coming back to an
> ordinary life after an experience of enlightenment. And some people become
> breakthrough junkies, always in search of a bigger bang.)
>
> Finally, I was a bit confused by Harrison's statement that an Open Space
> only be held when needed, and not be done just because "the calendar has hit
> a certain date." I certainly understand that the "ideal" conditions for an
> OS are when there is a sense of urgency--high passion, tight deadline, big
> problem, etc.  But I have always thought it would be nice for an
> organization to have an Open Space on a regular basis just to "take the
> pulse." The idea of this would be that employees would know that there is a
> regularly available space in which to bring up issues and work on them, and
> that the managers will be present and listening in that space.  Yes,
> sometimes it will be boring. Other times, unexpectedly exciting. At
> sometimes, it will be just a chance to take a nap. And at other times,
> something so hot will emerge that an OS needs to be scheduled just on that
> topic.  So, I'm curious to know if anyone has experience with organizations
> who have regularly-calendared Open Space events.
>
> Warmly,
>
> Marty
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
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>
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of
> Thomas Herrmann
> Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2014 4:33 PM
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Subject: Re: [OSList] org'n works too good to use OST.?
>
> THanks for your responses Eric, Elisabeth and HO I have never used any
> warm-ups in an OST but it sure would be interesting to see how that would
> work! A "real" theme has always worked for my groups and I like that. Your
> suggestion Harrison is pretty close to the theme already chosen (From good
> to best (but in Swedish)) - but I think it was not communicated clearly,
> with passion. It will be interesting how things work out on Friday. And what
> they/we come up with.
>
> One idea that struck me is to use a fish-bowl start where the leaders - and
> if others care to join - clarify way ahead.
>
> Another thing. As I shared earlier we had a brief report out in the morning,
> before starting. I had preferred to have it in a separate room but due to
> difficulties with microphones we had it besides the circle. 9 groups that
> started last year shared - one minute each - their achievements. And there
> were some quite major achievements. Hmm maybe this set a tone that
> interfered.
>
> It is always difficult to know what affects what and how. I very seldom have
> any activities such as presentations before starting. Hmm
>
> Hmmm.
> More comments very welcome
> Hugs
> Thomas
>
> 23 aug 2014 kl. 16:30 skrev Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>:
>
>> One of the problems of doing an Open Space as an "annual affair" is
>> simply that it is done because it has "always" been done -- and not
>> because there is some specific, high passion issue and opportunity. In
>> my experience, the predictable result is (unfortunately) what you
>> experienced. And as is true with any sort of meeting... if there is no
>> compelling reason to have it -- Why bother? My practice is Open Space
>> when you need space opened -- and never because the calendar has hit a
>> certain date. All that said... For your second event how about
>> something like this..."Things are great! How do we make them greater?
> Issues and Opportunities."
>>
>> Harrison
>>
>> Winter Address
>> 7808 River Falls Drive
>> Potomac, MD 20854
>> 301-365-2093
>>
>> Summer Address
>> 189 Beaucaire Ave.
>> Camden, ME 04843
>> 207-763-3261
>>
>> Websites
>> www.openspaceworld.com
>> www.ho-image.com
>> OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
>> archives of OSLIST Go
>> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.or
>> g
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf
>> Of Thomas Herrmann
>> Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2014 8:27 AM
>> To: OSLIST
>> Subject: [OSList] org'n works too good to use OST.?
>>
>> Had a "funny" experience yesterday when I facilitated an OST with an
>> organization that I mentioned about earlier, they have dived into OST
>> and use the approach more and more in everyday life. Every August they
>> have 1-2 days with all employees. Last year we had 2 full days (twice
>> with half the staff each time) in OST resulting in a total of 23
>> action plans implemented by self managed workgroups. We have had
>> follow up meetings reporting the progress from teams that now have
>> dissolved or are still working. Their business (a hospital) now runs
>> really smoothly, producing well over targets with energy and high spirit.
>> Out of different reasons the message for the first of this years
>> conferences (one full day, next Friday is the next - for the other
>> half of the staff) was a bit blurry (in my opinion/how I experience
>> it) so the energy was not so high (setting agenda was really slooooow,
>> didn't experience anything like that in the hundreds of events I have
>> facilitated!) and some thought the day was a bit boring/slow. At the
>> end most who were still there were happy(some left early - long day on
>> Friday is not a good choice either)  - 9 action plans with concrete
>> improvements! I used re-opening space, so it was all by invitation (-:
>>
>> Anyhow, a challenge may be to find a really hot theme when business
>> runs so good. I am now in communication with the leadership about how
>> we can get the steam going better next Friday.
>> Any experiences to share, ideas and/or suggestions?
>> Warm regards
>> Thomas Herrmann
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