[OSList] celebrating 30 years of Working With Open Space Technology

Mon Apr 18 00:59:29 PDT 2022

Wonderful stories…… Thanks Chris…

😊

> On 18 Apr 2022, at 02:21, Chris Kloth via OSList <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
> 
> Thanks for your post. Birgitt.
> 
> While I have not been active online in recent years, I have followed along. You and I started about the same time and shared many OSONOS experiences in those early years.
> 
> Several of you observations ring true for me. I also did experimentation with when shorter sessions might be effective - especially after an extended meetings. 
> 
> Over the years two of my clients eventually incorporated the principles and practices of OST into their organization cultures. Others use OST more or less regularly.
> 
> One of my favorite memories of an OST meeting involved calling together a group of mental health professionals who were concerned about some pending legislation that could have significant negative affects statewide if passed. One of the things I was aware of as background noise was that the urban leaders and the rural leaders were actively involved in a political battle with each other. While that issue had very little to do with the reason they gathered, they ended up with a shared legislative strategy AND resolved the urban/rural issue while they were at it! As we all know - they just needed the space!
> 
> Another was when The U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System was planning their annual national training program. My colleagues and I had worked with some of their local jurisdictions using OST and some people suggested using OST for their national event. There was definitely some resistance. They finally agreed to half traditional and half OST. They started in the traditional format and spent the last day in open space. Starting the next year they did the whole event using OST!
> 
> One of my favorite memories of Harrison is dancing with Harrison and Ralph to the music of the Rolling Stones at one OSONOS. 
> 
> Another is from US election day, 1988. (There is a separate Harrison story related to that election, but I digress.) I had invited Harrison to do an Open Space training with me in Columbus, Ohio. Our "design" for the day was to model the process by using the usual OST calling of the circle and agenda setting to shape the training on the spot. While I was still thinking in terms of introducing Harrison, and having Harrison make some opening remarks and call the circle, he unexpectedly handed off calling the circle to me. Once we had the agenda, we shared roles working       with the group. Participants were very satisfied, including two who were openly skeptical about the process. In retrospect, I was struck by Harrison's humility, as well as his confidence in me - someone he had not know for very long.
> 
> In the words of the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it's been!" And a wonderful one, as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Shalom,
> 
> Chris Kloth 
> Principal/Lead Consultant
> ChangeWorks of the Heartland
> 254 South Merkle Road
> Columbus, OH 43209-1801
> Ph: 614-239-1336
> Cell: 614-907-2409
> Fax: 614-237-2347
> Email: chris.kloth at got2change.com <mailto:chris.kloth at got2change.com>
> Web: www.got2change.com <http://www.got2change.com/>
> 
> Pronouns: he, him, his
> 
> White Silence is Violence
> 
> Think Globally, Act Locally
> On 4/5/2022 6:01 PM, Birgitt Williams via OSList wrote:
>> Dear friends and colleagues,
>> this month I am celebrating 30 years of working with Open Space Technology. What a grand journey it has been, giving me a vehicle to be of help to leaders and  their organizations...while simultaneously growing me. I benefited a lot from in depth four day trainings in OST with Harrison, attending, co-sponsoring seven training sessions in Canada. I continue to facilitate in the ways that we were originally taught, with adjustments made to adapt OST for the online environment. I refuse to facilitate an OST less than four hours, with sessions never less than one hour. 
>> 
>> My two favorite experiences of being a participant in OST meetings: the first OSONOS in a hotel near Dulles airport in which just over 30 of us gathered to explore our learning with OST and the excitement of participating in what was then pioneering work with organizations. The second of my favorite experiences was the Expanding Our Now event in Oregon in the mid 90's sponsored and facilitated by Harrison Owen and Anne Stadler. Five full days within an OST container, exploring and accomplishing ways to expand our now. Again, about thirty of us came together, from a number of countries, with profound experiences within which each of us experienced personal transformation and the expansion of ourselves, and the expansion of our NOW. We who gathered understood that the bigger our NOW, the better we facilitated. The power of a multi-day OST is not often the current offer...however, it is powerful beyond what can be imagined.
>> 
>> In those early days, I experimented with how short an OST meeting could be while still retaining what I believed was valuable about OST. Four hours was the shortest I would go...and in those days I did so as a means for following up from a multi-day OST for the purpose of moving topics forward that had been prioritized from the multi-day OST. At the time, I believed a short (ie 4 hour) OST was valuable only after a multi-day OST in the organization. I believe that OST was initially devised for multi-day meetings.
>> 
>> I also experimented with frequent OST meetings in the same organization ie: monthly. The story goes that the first two monthly OST meetings were loved by our staff and Board as the newly preferred way to have  our monthly meetings. At the third meeting, I sat and said to those gathered (about eighty people) that they need what to do so please post their topics. Everyone stayed seated until someone said "we know what to do, however, there is something important in this opening that you do that helps us to determine what we want to post and to get on with it. We need you to do the opening. It is not sufficient to tell us that we know what to do." And so I learned that the opening, even with a well seasoned group, gave benefit from the ritual and was to be included. At the fourth monthly meeting, as I entered the room, a staff member stood up and said "we don't want to do these kinds of meetings anymore. We come up with all sorts of ideas for going forward but after the fact, we find out what the barriers are to taking action and it is very disheartening to us". We sat together and talked this over. Two gifts emerged from this. The first was the concept of the 'givens', providing the shape of the OST meeting (defining the playground to which people were invited) by clarifying beforehand any non-negotiable barriers. Once we worked out the givens together, we successfully had years of OST meetings. The second gift was the emergence of another meeting method Whole Person Process Facilitation (WPPF), designed to be used in between the OST meetings to examine what had come out of the OST meeting and what would move forward into action..and how. By alternating OST and WPPF for our monthly meetings, more actionable items moved forward than would have moved forward with OST alone. And the participants, with the addition of the givens, and the bi-monthly OST/WPPF meetings were well satisfied that we had a new way of working...during meetings and then into the daily life of the organization.
>> 
>> My favorite examples of facilitating OST meetings is difficult to narrow down. One that stands out as dear to my heart is for Saving Newborn Lives, a global project of Save the Children USA. Representatives from eighteen countries participated in the OST that evolved into the strategic plan and was a significant part of their organizational transformation from a research program to a service delivery program.Another one that stands out is an OST for the exploration of issues and opportunities for housing hard to house marginalized people. In our Regional government at the time, the idea of one-third of the spots designated for the homeless themselves was a big challenge           resulting in skepticism about it all working, one-third of the spots were for government, and one-third of the spots were for non-profit organizations. The people were in genuine contact with one another, and a lot got accomplished, much to the surprise of many of the participants. I heard just last week that one of the task forces developed from that OST is still active and has been making a big difference for almost thirty years in getting marginalized people housed. A testament to sustainability of results from a single OST meeting.
>> 
>> If you know me, you know that I was attracted to the genuine contact that is experienced in every OST meeting...genuine contact with self, with other, with the collective, and with Creator/Spirit/Creation/Conscious Energy. I developed the Genuine Contact Program and way of working, with Working With Open Space Technology as one of the essential modules of this program 
>> 
>> I appreciate the journey, the blessings inherent in the journey, the miracles I have witnessed with OST, and its role in my life,
>> 
>> in genuine contact,
>> Birgitt
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Birgitt Williams
>> Senior consultant-author-mentor to leaders and consultants  
>> Specialist in organizational and systemic transformation, leadership development, and the power of nourishing  a culture of leadership.
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>> 
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