[OSList] Hospital story from Thomas Herrmann

[Thomas Herrmann]

Hi dear Michael, thanks for asking
I'll share some more…
SHORT OR LONG OST
One of the persons in the leadership team of the department I am working with had somehow heard about OST and got in touch with me. Originally they had other plans for the second day but wanted OST for the first. So I met with the team and shared how I work with OST - focus on thorough pre-work and follow up - and of course I got very excited to learn they actually had two staff days planned. When I shared my excitement it started to spread…and finally they decided to go for the whole thing. This is actually my experience since a few years back. When I became more confident, excited about the opportunities a real OST can give, including pre work and follow up - and share it, they more and more often get it. So I don't believe anyone saying they don't have time. Because what happened during these two days would, as we all know, have taken loooooong time and is not even possible the "traditional way"…

You had a couple more questions in relation to this. I think in this case they have a tradition of having a 2-day retreat every 2nd year. When they understood that they can get something really valuable, lasting out of it, they went for it. I think that first they got interested in OST because it seemed "fun". But when they understood the power it can open up in the organization, they got excited. Many organizations have these kind of retreats but usually they don't have a real purpose besides having a good time together...

THEME
So we had 2 full days with half of the staff (100+ persons) one week and the next week the other half. The theme was something like (a bit hard to translate) XX-clinic in change. How are we going to "fix" it? (means what do we do out of it). Do you dare to join?

DESIGN/FOLLOW UP
It was very high energy days both occasions although it was interesting to see that there was a bit more grief/problems coming up day 1 of the second conference. Anyhow both occasions had about 12 action plans, in total 23! (I used re-opening the space for this + had 2 sessions for action planning during the afternoon of day 2)
2 weeks later I facilitated a follow up meeting with the leadership team and all sponsors of action teams. I use Whole Person Process facilitation as a container for this kind of meetings, sometimes blended with OST but this time I chose Worldcafé melted into the meeting, as we had identified a few questions that the leaders wanted to process: 
How to let the principles/law live on. 
The role of action plan sponsor. 
Follow up/report backs/communication. 
How to make decisions and implement these projects. 
+ a couple of open tables for "other questions"
Anyhow, we used a grid to see how/if any of the action plans could merge or cooperate. A few decided to merge and a few decided to cooperate. Down the road they had regular report backs visiting the leadership team as well as in staff meetings. They have also started to use intranet, but it's been a bit slow there I think.

In february we had a follow up meeting with sponsors of action plans and leadership teams (and a few more - it was an open invitation). I use a method to let the people evaluate effects from development work (mostly OST as part of it) and they came up with a lot both related to the action plans and other behaviors/actions and organizational benefits. I use the framework from Kirkpatricks four levels (1. Experience. 2. Learning. 3. Transfer to behaviors/actions. 4. Results/effects). So in the end of the OST they did reflect/document in pairs on level 1,2 (actually in relation to the aspects of the medicine wheel), this was further processed in the first follow up meeting (after 2 weeks). Then in the 2nd follow up meeting where I took part they had a dialogue and documented results on level 3,4.

I hope you manage to follow me, I tried to quickly cover some of the points you raised - good process for me too (-:
Cheers
Thomas
PS Just heard back from the leadership team - we go for it without presentations on Friday and we will sharpen the invitation a bit. I am longing already (-:
DS

26 aug 2014 kl. 03:40 skrev Michael Wood <michael.wood at uwa.edu.au>:

> Hi Thomas (and anyone else)
> 
> I would be very interested to hear a bit more, Thomas Herman,  about what you are learning about using Open Space in a hospital context. 
> 
> In particular, what the convening question/theme was for the original Open Space, how much time was given to it,  and how action teams emerging from the 'big' Open Space have functioned, and/or were formally 'resourced' or 'authorised' by the Hospital Administration after the OST meeting? 
> 
> The 'story' I hear from my hospital contacts here is 'not enough time to open space'. Assuming that all hospitals around the world are probably overstretched, I'm curious what precipitated the decision to formally 'open space' last year and how the internal administration decided that they just had to give it the time they did? 
> 
> Regards
> Michael Wood
> 
>> Hi
>> Tomorrow I will facilitate an OST with a hospital that is becoming deeply engaged in the use of OST and keeping it alive in ordinary life of the organization. 
>> My sponsor wants the action teams (maybe around 10) from last years big OST to give a brief report back (I often use a method for maximum 1 mts/person in situations like this) and that is all fine. We had originally planned it in the foyer with morning coffee as an informal arrival activity. Now we discovered that it will be very difficult to hear there as there are no microphones available there, so we will have this presentation in the main room (and have coffee there too). I am thinking about seating these people in a inner circle inside the two big ones (it's an OST for 100 persons) and let them share to each other using the microphone. Otherwise there is also a stage at the one side of the room.
>> 
>> Any suggestions, experiences and/or ideas welcome. 
>> Good night &
>> Cheers
>> Thomas Herrmann
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