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Great, great story Judy! Thanks for sharing it. You made me laugh too
with the high heels and the pantyhose :-)<br><br>
Esther<br><br>
At 11:33 2007-11-23, you wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">In keeping with the vein of
‘Just Do It and resources will appear’ (formerly Finding Funding for
Community Work), this is a report on an Open Space event I facilitated
this week wherein, I ‘Just Did It’ and … resources appeared (or will
appear). <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">The title of this story and
the theme of the OS event is (was); <b>“Making It Happen”.<br>
</b></font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i><u>Background on me (for
context):<br>
</u></i></font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">My life was forever altered
the week of May 27 – 31, 1996 when I took the Open Space Train the
Trainer at St. Ignatius College (a monastery in Guelph, Ontario) with the
Man with the Hat, Larry Peterson and Birgitt Williams. At the time,
I was an Organizational Development/Training and Development type working
for a large prestigious (at the time) multinational corporation.
<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">I had just spent a year of my
life working for a Type A micromanager (who was located in Australia)
planning, organization and implementing a series of conferences for the
senior level executives outside of North American. It was a huge
and cumbersome project. I was on the phone 24-7. I spent thousands of
company dollars – doing a detailed needs assessment, designing workshops,
hiring facilitators around the world, and managing the onsite logistics
in four international locations. All while playing the role of
group psychologist and attempting to manage the emotional roller coaster
inherent in a micromanaged, remote team. While the hotels were nice and
the food was good, at the end of the day (or month or year), most people
involved (participants, sponsors, organizing team) would say (provided
they were guaranteed confidentiality) that we did <b><i>not</i></b> get a
good return on the investment. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">If it weren’t red, I would
have grey hair as a result of this experience. After that, unless I
found a better way, I swore I would never get involved in planning large
group events again. Fortunately, at St. Ignatius College, I found
‘the better way’. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">After that I introduced the
approach to my company. While I had considerable success at the
lower levels, my inroads with the executives were limited.<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">I was let go from this company
several years ago. Since then, as an external Organizational
Development/Training and Development type, I have had several
opportunities to Open Space with organizations and sponsors who ‘get it’
as I do. I also had child number two. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">This past spring, as both kids
would be in school in September and our finances were faltering, my
husband and I agreed that it was time for me to seek full time employment
again. To help me learn ‘how to get a job’, I joined a local
networking group comprised of ‘Executives in Transition’. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">This is where my story begins.
<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i>The Story – ‘Making It
Happen’<br>
</i></font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"><i> <br>
</i></font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">The first session I attended,
I felt a bit awkward. The group, about 60 ‘Executives in
Transition’, were mostly 40-60 year old men in suits and white
shirts The few women attendees were wearing dressy suits,
high heels and pantyhose (not attire this mother of young children is
familiar with). I tried not to feel too self-conscious, as I
stood up in my Birkenstock equivalents and corduroy pants to introduce
myself and give my ‘30 second commercial’. (I had failed to read on the
website that the dress code for these meetings is ‘first
interview’).<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">However, it appeared like a
group where I could work on my 30 second commercial, interviewing skills,
and, network to make connections to those who might hire me. So I dusted
off my ‘professional woman’ jackets and pants (no pantyhose for me…) and
showed up at the second meeting better ‘suited’ to fit in. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">The format of the group was
conventional. The first half hour was “Good News’ – reports from
people who had interviews or had landed, and then new members were asked
to give their 30 second commercial (aka ‘You never get an second chance
to make a first good impression.). Then a keynote speaker, followed
by 1 ½ hours of table team ‘networking’. For networking we were
numbered off and asked to go to the appropriate table. In a
round robin fashion, each person at the table talks about their career
background and direction, practices their commercial, and the group
supports with suggestions and advice. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">At the first networking
session I ended up with a group of men (mostly in white shirts), most of
who were in the Food Packaging industry. I learned a bit about this
industry and asked some relevant questions, and they were polite and
worked to understand my field and come up with appropriate suggestions
and advice for me. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">Of course, I know that this
process would be much more valuable (and fun) if we did it in Open
Space. To me, it is a ‘no brainer’ application. So I suggest
it to the Man in Charge. He was intrigued, and amongst other
questions asked me how he would ‘measure the success’ of such a
session. I told him that we would measure it by the number of
people who showed up (there are about 1500 members of this group, but
only 100 – 150 show up for the weekly meetings at three locations) and
the formal and anecdotal feedback from the attendees of the
session. He agrees that it might be a good idea to ‘try something
new’ and says he will fit me into the schedule. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">Several months later, after
numerous exchanges of emails and conversations (discussing Open Space and
agreeing on the theme and invitation), the Man in Charge schedules the
session for November 20<sup>th</sup>. In the announcement on the
organization’s website and in the local paper, and at the November
13<sup>th</sup> meeting, the session is announced as “Open Space
Technology – The Next Generation of Networking” by expert speaker – Judy
Gast. (Wow…. an Open Space <i>and</i> a Networking expert…if only...life
would be beautiful…) I raise my hand and clarify that I am
not an expert on networking and will be ‘facilitating’ a session where
participants have an opportunity to get into conversations about whatever
they have passion for. I say our theme will be “Successful Career
Transitions – Making it Happen”. The boss of the Man in Charge
(i.e. the founding father of the organization) interrupts me and says
curtly, “Oh, I didn’t know, no one told me about that”. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">Weeks before the event, I
discuss the set up for the room with the Event coordinator for the
facility. I give her a hand drawn diagram. She sends me back
a computer diagram with 60 chairs in a <i>square</i>. I email her
back that the chairs need to be in a <i>circle</i>. We go back and
forth. She sends me a terse email and says that the square is the
best her software can do. I explain how once before I showed up
early in the morning before an Open Space and had to rearrange 200 chairs
into a circle. She reassures me that her staff will understand the
concept of a circle. (They didn’t.)<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">I patiently wait for the Man
in Charge to send out the short, pithy, intriguing announcement (as we
had agreed) to the entire group (all 1500 members). He
doesn’t. I call him a couple days before the event and politely
tell him that if members think that a speaker named Judy Gast (i.e. an
unknown person who hasn’t written a book) is going to talk about ‘Open
Space – The Next Generation of Networking’, then he will get less than
the normal number of attendees. He sees my point and emails the
announcement to the entire group. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">The day before the event I am
shopping in my local drug store and I see a cute little battery-operated
massager in the shape of a bee. I think this will be cute to use
when I describe the bumblebees. At 25 dollars it is
overpriced, but I fork over my grocery money for the week and buy it
nevertheless. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">I show up for the event early,
concerned about whether the facility staff understands the concept of a
<i>circle</i>. Forty five minutes later, after having rearranged
chairs, put the bee and the pens and paper in the centre, put up the
posters and garnered flipcharts for the breakouts, I am ready and
confident that everything is going to work just fine. After all,
The Man with the Hat’s number one mantra is: “Anyone with a good head and
a good heart can do it”. I had loving parents who sent me to good
schools, so I should qualify. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">About 75 people show up by
8:30, the scheduled start time. A different Man in Charge welcomes
everyone and announces the ‘workshop’ agenda. First he says we will
have ‘Good News’ and ‘Introduction of New Members’. That will be followed
by Part One of the Open Space Workshop, followed by a 15 minute break,
after which comes Part Two of the Workshop. Obviously, he didn’t
know and no one told him either. I don’t say anything. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">We have about 20 new members
(the average for any previous meeting I attended was 6). It takes
forever for them to get through their ’30 second commercials’ per the
required formula, which is projected on the wall. (I couldn’t convince
them that an overhead projector was really not required for this
piece.) The group patiently and politely listens. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">The original Man in Charge is
handed the mike to introduce me. I had emailed him a short, pithy
biography. Since I hadn’t written a book, I thought the group would need
some information about me to let them know they were not going to be
turned over to a complete incompetent (this group is particularly
sceptical of touchy feely HR/OD types). He doesn’t read it.
He says something to the effect of “At this group, we are always willing
to try something different. After all, if you always do what you’ve
always done, you’ll always get what you always got. Judy Gast, a
member of this group, twisted my arm to try this new process for our
networking. It is called Open <i>Source</i> Technology.
Please be sure to give us your feedback at the end so we know whether to
do it again. Please welcome Judy Gast.” <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">I sigh, under my breath, but
loudly. The man sitting next to me notices. I stand up, thank the
Man in Charge for the opportunity to present something new to the group,
and start walking the circle. I breathe. They are all
staring at me, sceptically, with their arms crossed. Or so it
appears to me. In the interest of time, or perhaps because I was nervous,
I don’t say half the things I had planned. Actually, I cut it short
because...at the last moment..I remember the words of the Man in the
Hat. His second mantra is ‘Think of one more thing <i>not to</i>
<i>say</i>… or was it <i>not to</i> <i>do</i>?’ Whatever, it
works. (That, by the way, is the Man in the Hat’s third mantra: ‘It
always works’.)<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">I didn’t forget to give
tribute to the Man in the Hat – even told the group about the Utube video
wherein he does a 30 second elevator speech on Open Space in the back of
a cab. (They were not interested, probably should have left that
piece out.) <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">When I get to the part about
bumblebees and butterflies I turn on the battery operated
bumblebee. It makes a loud racket on the wood floor as it buzzes
around. People laugh. I am glad I spent my grocery money on
the bee… I know I have plenty of oatmeal and peanut butter in the
cupboard. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">When I say ‘Go for it’ and
point to the paper in the centre, half a dozen folks rush to the
centre. Others are amazed. After several periods of
silence, wherein people and potential topics lurk, twelve sheets of paper
are posted on the wall - six for each time slot. Perfect – just
what the grid allocated (there were more stickies/spaces if
needed). I invite everyone to go to the wall and get to work.
Everybody goes to the wall. The mingling, shuffling and buzzing
starts. Several ask me questions about what they are supposed to
do. I think; perhaps I left out too much. Oh well, they get it and
go to work. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">A couple minutes later I go to
the wall to peruse the topics. There are only four topics posted
for the first session and numerous people are still hanging out deciding
where to go. Where are the missing topics? I look
around. The initiators took their papers and posted them on the
walls next to their flipcharts. I scurry around and collect them
and retape them to the agenda wall. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">A woman wearing a dressy suit,
high heels and pantyhose comes up to me. She tells me that she
would have posted a topic but she didn’t want to get down on the floor in
her skirt and heels. I smile apologetically and tell her that
I am sorry I didn’t think of that. I hand her a piece of paper and
encourage her to post her topic. She carefully writes her topic on
the paper and tapes it on the wall. I’m glad that I don’t own
a dressy suit, high heels or a pair of pantyhose.<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">When it is about 10 minutes
past the time for the second session to start, people are all over …
mingling and talking to each other (being butterflies). Two people
come up to me, plainly worried. “Aren’t you going to ring a bell
and ask people to move to the next session?”, they ask.
“Whenever it starts is the right time”, I reply politely. Turns
out, they were topic initiators - worried that no one would show up for
their sessions. They returned to their flipcharts, people showed
up, and the discussions flowed. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">The boss of the Man in Charge
is concerned as one group has about 20 people, and one person appears to
be dominating. He tells me a story about how for a while they ‘had’
to put an external ‘person in charge’ at each of the networking table
teams to make sure that everyone got equal air time. I smile and
make an inane comment noting that; ‘if you treat people like adults, they
are more likely to act like adults’. He doesn’t get it. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">When it is time for the
closing circle, I do ring my bell. Every seat is occupied. I
explain that this time is for comments, reflections, insights on what
they learned… whatever people feel like saying. I walk the
circle with the mike. Numerous comments are made about how much fun
it was, how people really opened up and shared what was important to
them. There are several poignant comments about new insights, new
connections and actions planned as a result of the conversations. A
man volunteers to write up the session, include all the Reports and post
a consolidated document on the website. A woman asks me how often this
group plans to use this approach for our meetings. I carefully
deflect the question and turn to the Man in Charge to answer it. He
smiles (at me) and asks the group; “How many people would like to see us
use this approach again?”. Everyone raises his/her hand
enthusiastically. He says that they will for sure use it (and me,
if I am available) again. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">When it is over, numerous
people come up to me and thank me for the great session. Several
people want to talk to me about potential applications for their
not-for-profit or other group. One person asks me to be a speaker at a
course that she is organizing. I am happy the ‘trial’ worked.<br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">After cleaning up, the Man in
Charge comes over to thank me. He says he wants me to do it for the
other two locations and he will deem those sessions ‘workshops’ (vs.
speakers). I tell him I don’t really care what it is called
(after all this one was announced in the beginning as a
‘workshop’). He tells me; “We <b><i>pay</i></b> people to run the
workshops.” I reply, “Fine, make it a workshop”. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">After all, I need money to buy
groceries for my family. <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times"> <br>
</font><font size=2><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>Postlude and
thanks</i></b></font></h1><font size=2><br><br>
</font><font size=4>I want to thank Larry Peterson for encouraging me to
write up this story. He has been my colleague, friend and mentor
ever since I met him at St. Ignatius College in May 1996. <br>
</font> <br>
<font size=2>Judy Gast<br>
</font><br><br>
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