[OSList] Pain and Anger

[Daniel Mezick]

Hi Bronwyn,

You cite this specific (and BIG) problem:
"...People feeling very unsupported by their hierarchy, lack of 
recognition by senior management that they are part of the problem, lack 
of responsiveness to past recommendations for action, and deep cynicism 
that anything will come from 'yet another talkfest'. "

Wow, sounds like the "high potential for conflict" property is set to 
"True"....!

Because of this, the authorization level of the Sponsor is key.

I would find someone from senior management who is 
"highly-and-formally-authorized", and willing to stand up and say 
something like:

0/ Welcome
1/ This is authorized time & space
2/ We have some problems, they are [list issues here]. This meeting is 
designed to explore these issues together.
3/ Our theme is [list theme here.]
4/ I promise the following on behalf of senior management: to inspect 
proceedings & take action on the most pressing issues
5/ Enjoy! And now here is our facilitator...

....having that highly-and-formally-authorized Sponsor stand up like 
that, and also *be present for much of the event* is also very important 
in my view, because it signals high interest and commitment items {1..5} 
above.
_
__Based on your citation of this as a fact:_
"...People feeling very unsupported by their hierarchy, lack of 
recognition by senior management that they are part of the problem, lack 
of responsiveness to past recommendations for action, and deep cynicism 
that anything will come from 'yet another talkfest'. "

_...My guidance is: _
proceed cautiously unless and until you can locate a 
"highly-and-formally-authorized" Sponsor. My concern is that if your 
middle-manager is the Sponsor, and that they may not have enough 
authorization to help make the event be (and feel like) a significant 
shift from the status-quo.

Kind Regards,
Daniel





On 5/11/14 8:38 AM, Bronwyn Pagram wrote:
> Hi there. I have quietly enjoyed os-list for a couple of months now - 
> thank you for all the open sharing. Very valuable for a 'newby' to 
> open space like me.
>
> I have been asked to facilitate several regional open space workshops 
> for an organization where there is a lot of deep-seated pain and anger 
> behind the scenes. People feeling very unsupported by their hierarchy, 
> lack of recognition by senior management that they are part of the 
> problem, lack of responsiveness to past recommendations for action, 
> and deep cynicism that anything will come from 'yet another talkfest'. 
> The topic is staff wellbeing. The workshops are being done in the 
> context of middle management concern for their people (they are the 
> sponsors) as well as an organisational strategy refresh for which 
> staff wellbeing will form part for the first time (senior managers are 
> aware of concerns and also of several stress-related illnesses and 
> staff leaving).
>
> There is no prior experience of open space in this organisation, 
> although the middle-manager driving these events has been exposed 
> elsewhere. I would be grateful for any suggestions as to how to best 
> structure the day (5.5 hours - limited by considerable travel time to 
> come in/go home). I am thinking to include both talking/listening 
> circles as well as traditional open space.
>
> Ideally participants would take away some actions themselves... as 
> well as there being some meaty inputs to senior mgmt for the strategy 
> refresh.
>
> Thanks a lot. Bronwyn
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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-- 

Daniel Mezick, President

New Technology Solutions Inc.

(203) 915 7248 (cell)

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