[OSList] OST for big changes in company

Sat Jun 4 12:36:57 PDT 2016

Hi Karolina,

If you have been supporting this company for a while, I assume you are in a position to ask questions about their change strategy – maybe you are even helping them design their change strategy. If I would be in a position to discuss this with them, I think I would ask some more fundamental questions first.  This is because for me, the idea behind Open Space is that there is not one person (or a small group of people) who has the answers. Usually, when you involve the whole system to explore the challenges that are ahead of us, the solutions are much better than any one person on their own could ever imagine. This is what happens over and over in Open Space and this is why it is so great. But this greatness comes with a price and I always discuss this price beforehand.

So the question is: is there a possibility to put this major change itself on the table? How certain are the management of the company that the solution they have chosen is the best solution? Could the whole system, brought together in Open Space, maybe design an even better solution, with less pain for the people in the system? From the perspective of change management, we know that people are much more likely to adopt and support a solution they have designed or made a contribution to.  

If managers choose to use Open Space, I assume they hold the same beliefs that are the basis of Open Space: that a solution discovered and designed together by the whole system is usually much more sustainable and more successful in the long run. This belief seems to contradict with your story of a management team designing a solution on their own and using Open Space only to give this solution a softer landing. I don’t think this is a very good way to use Open Space. What is the true belief of this management team? Do they believe in the positive energy and the creativity of the people? Do they really trust the people who work for them? If they do, I would suggest they involve the people in the decision making. If they don’t, then Open Space is not for them.

Koos

Van: OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] Namens Karolina Iwa via OSList
Verzonden: donderdag 2 juni 2016 15:53
Aan: World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
Onderwerp: [OSList] OST for big changes in company

dear group, 

i am seeking advice and stories.

on monday i have a meeting with the board of a company we've been supporting for the last year in their growth. some time ago they decided to make a major change (cannot get into more details at this point), which most probably a. will make quite some people in the company experience negative emotions and b. is coming quite unexpectedly. 

the board intends at designing the best change experience they can in the moment of communicating the changes and after. 

we intend to open the space after the news has been shared + the reasons behind it & consequences for the company & employees have been communicated, so i am wondering - from your experience:

- what would be similar stories you took part in / heard of?

- what can be helpful / should we pay attention to while preparing the meeting for the board and with the board preparing the whole organisation meeting?

thanks in advance for sharing.

karolina.

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karolina iwa

social innovation

senior facilitator

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