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At 11:05 PM 1/23/00 -0700, you wrote:<br>
<br>
>Having said all that, I do have a couple of questions:<br>
><br>
>1. I am curious about how people have used Open Space in their
own<br>
>companies. I read Chris' story about the OS in Vancouver and
tried to<br>
>imagine myself saying no to the "organizer" (our
CEO). (BTW, thanks for<br>
>the story Chris, I forwarded that part to my boss just to give him
some<br>
>context for our meetings in early February). Are there those on
the list<br>
>serve that are using OS in their own company, and how do they find
the<br>
>balance between the role of facilitator and the role of
employee.<br>
**************************************<br>
The facilitator has exactly one job. To keep the space open. This may
mean saying no to the Boss or even chairman of the board. Obviously there
can be problems here -- and an outside facilitator, at least for the
first OS in an organization can substantially reduce the anxiety level.
But I find that opening space for your own organization can be very
beneficial -- with some safeguards. If nothing else, it keeps it all in
the family and clearly says "We can do this." To safeguard the
space good conversation prior to the event is essential with the Boss (or
whomsoever). If they trust you and clearly understand that their role is
to be a participant as all other participants -- no problem. If that is
questionable, best go with the outsider. But in either case (insider or
outsider) up front conversation is essential.<br>
*********************************************<br>
>2. I am curious about OS in multiple languages. I want to
introduce this<br>
>in many areas of our company, most of whom are Chinese. We also
have<br>
>offices in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and would like to offer a OS
for<br>
>people from all areas. I would love to hear stories of
multi-language OS.<br>
******************************************<br>
Multiple languages in Open Space is no problem. But it goes a lot easier
if there is at least one common language for most of the people. The way
I work it is that participants are invited to post their issues in the
language they intend to use for the session, and then provide a
translation of the topic in the "common language." So if
the session is going to take place in Japanese, and I don't speak that --
I need to find a partner who speaks Japanese and will attend the session
with me. This sounds like a hassle, but it is really not. And the search
for partners actually accelerates the group bonding process. People who
ask for help from other people are sometimes disappointed, but usually
they find a new friend. Actually the process is identical with what
happens at any good international bar. If I want to talk to somebody with
whom there is no shared language, usually there is somebody else in the
bar who can help. And the next thing you know total strangers are in
conversation. I once had a group of 150 with 27 languages, from 17
countries. Worked perfect.<br>
********************************<br>
>3. I am sure there must be those who are practicing OS in
Asia. I am<br>
>particularly interested in experiences in Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong
Kong<br>
>and Malaysia. Again, stories and insights would make my
day.<br>
********************************<br>
I don't know of anybody -- but the person who would is Brian Bainbridge
in Australia <<font size=2>briansb@mira.net</font>>. Actually Brian
has done a mess of Open Spaces all over, including some of the places you
mention.<br>
<br>
Harrison<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854<br>
USA<br>
phone 301-469-9269<br>
fax 301-983-9314<br>
website <br>
<a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a><br>
Open Space Institute websites<br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
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