<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><div>You get what you prepare for (or not). </div><div><br></div><div>So in terms of cohesion I think there is a correlation between how cohesive a group is and the intensity of engagement. I also think there is no way to know if you have enough or not enough cohesion. </div><div><br></div><div>Instead it's about creating the conditions that invite the group into engagement. And invitation is not a noun but a verb. It is a way of being and talking about why we need to come together and meet. I like to invite people to participatory processes in participatory ways. If the conversation is important and strategic, I go find the people that need to be there and work closely with them. </div><div><br></div><div>Of course let's be clear too that every OST event has its own purpose. I don't think I have ever used OST explicitly for transformation. And sometimes the purpose of an OST meeting is action and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's just learning. </div><div><br></div><div>So it's hard for me to talk about how much cohesion is important for transformative potential to be activated. Instead my basic heuristic around building invitation is "Start the conversations long before the meeting begins." </div><div><br></div><div>Chris<br><br><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">-- </span><div>CHRIS CORRIGAN</div><div>Harvest Moon Consultants</div><div>Facilitation, Open Space Technology and process design </div><div><br></div><div>Check <a href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com">www.chriscorrigan.com</a> for upcoming workshops, blog posts and free resources. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div><br>On Apr 28, 2015, at 10:12 AM, Daniel Mezick <<a href="mailto:dan@newtechusa.net">dan@newtechusa.net</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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Hi Jeff, Chris, Michael and All,<br>
<br>
First of all thanks for your engagement in the thread's topic; and
adding to the discussion.<br>
<br>
And, I feel that I have to explain myself here. <br>
<br>
After sleeping on this, I have come to realize that part of what is
motivating me to post about "public vs private" events is.... <br>
<br>
.....my limited experience in Open Space. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<ul>
<li>I've attended dozens of public Agile-conference or
software-conference events with segments that included OST. </li>
<li>I've arranged and helped to execute and participated in less
than 20 OST gathering held inside organizations. </li>
<li>
I've also attended a few Open-Space-community events that were
all OST over several days.</li>
</ul>
That's not a huge amount of experience data and almost all of is
Agile-related. Agile being one kind of process change...<br>
<br>
...And so here is my "aha", and related confession: almost all of my
OST experience has been part of the Agile community (public
conference events) or using OST with Agile adoptions (private OST
events.)<br>
<br>
And the differences are very striking. And that's where I am
starting from when I discuss the divergences between public vs
private events. My entire experience is around Agile stuff. In in
this space, the differences are, well, striking.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The role of the Sponsor being an obvious example...<br>
<br>
...Chris contributes:<br>
<i>"My experience is that sponsors of any event who are unwilling to
do the pre-work to shape an intention and invitation and to design
the architecture for implementation of the results (whatever those
results are expected to be) will miss the mark on transformation."</i><br>
<br>
And with respect to private corporate events: you can say that
again! <br>
<br>
Now if we look at the role of the Sponsor in a public event, say, an
annual confab, like in a community of practice, like the Agile
community for example, we can see some striking differences there. <br>
<br>
In a public event, almost anyone can stand up and welcome the group
and discuss the context, introduce the Facilitator, etc. So for
example if the conference Chair wanted to delegate this temporary
Sponsor role to someone else, they could, and the OST will not
likely suffer from that. Because the cohesion is low. The folks are
only there for 1,2,3 days, that is the risk or the investment or
commitment to it. <br>
<br>
But if this Sponsor-delegation stuff happened in org, and someone
with little authority sent the invite, did the Sponsor role
stand-up, welcoming etc, the signal is clear: this event is not
authorized and therefore has no oomph. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The Sponsor role:<br>
----------------<br>
With Agile-adoption clients, I've seen this Sponsor-delegation stuff
suggested and have strongly guided against doing it, based on the
hypothesis that for process-change and other kinds of triggering
transitions in organizations, the OST event must be clearly and
highly authorized. <br>
<br>
The Invite:<br>
----------------<br>
Plus: n most Agile-conference OST events, there IS NO INVITE
WHATSOVER. The invite is implied via the conference offer, and
attending the event constitutes acceptance of that "invite." Add to
this the fact that the theme is often emergent in nature, defined
not weeks in advance but instead days or hours in advance. <br>
<br>
The Proceedings:<br>
----------------<br>
Finally, the proceedings. In public events, they are often
nonexistent or an afterthought. In private events...WOW they are all
over it. <br>
<br>
<br>
Regarding Agile-related OST events: Not a whole bunch of people have
experience observing public vs private OST events in the Agile
space. If they do, they are not documenting or publishing them.
Harold Shinsato has some experience here and I think Tricia
Chirumbole also has a bit of this experience with both. As I say
previously, most all my experience with OST is inside Agile-related
situations, both public and private events....<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
...In the end what I am saying is: the way the Sponsor plays, the
Invite, and the Proceedings are all very different in my experience
when comparing public vs private (all Agile-related!) events.<br>
<br>
I think what I am calling "low cohesion" is a real factor in typical
public Agile events. Does this pattern carry to non-Agile spaces?
Circumstantial evidence includes the fact that BarCamp and
Unconference formats have proliferated via public events; I view
these formats as "OST Lite" derivatives of OST. <br>
<br>
I wonder of this creation of more bare-bones OST-related gathering
formats like Barcamp and Unconference for conference events tends to
support what I am saying? <br>
<br>
...so there you go. I wonder what y'all think about this...<br>
<br>
Daniel<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/27/15 11:35 PM, Chris Corrigan
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:221EDE41-E4C8-4B42-8B20-29510DBC8A0F@gmail.com" type="cite">
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Daniel…
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">I think what you are proposing is interesting,
measuring the conditions and how much of each there are. I say
generally, that the more of each you have, the better OST works.
But I’d never be able to really put a number on it.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">And my experience is that there seems to be no
difference between the likelihood of public or private events
being anymore or less likely to exhibit these conditions. There
is nothing inherent tin the ontology of these two kinds of
events that would predict that. The five pre-conditions do seem
to point at specific factors in the ontology of an event that
would make for a potentially richer OST event. Radical
transformation is rare and is never guaranteed. But we can work
with conditions to create potential.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">in fact for me it comes down to the pre-work. My
experience is that sponsors of any event who are unwilling to do
the pre-work to shape an intention and invitation and to design
the architecture for implementation of the results (whatever
those results are expected to be) will miss the mark on
transformation. (and this pre-work includes being clear about
what they are NOT doing as well)</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Like any event, the quality of the container
matters. Paying attention to the constraints and the attractors
builds a container where a real need is allowed to produce real
conversations which can create real action and ultimately
change. If you don’t break people’s patterns and expectations
of a meeting or conference beforehand, it’s unlikely they will
come prepared for transformation. And that is the biggest
predictor of “flat feeling” OST events for me. </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">I think your text tagged <HERESY> below is
actually <HYPOTHESIS> and needs to be tested in some way.
But the test will apply to your practice, your context and the
particular events that you are drawn or invited to. The
practice of working with clients in Open Space is impossible to
standardize. It is an artisanal practice. There are a few
basic skills and talents one needs to have developed in order to
assure quality, but nothing can take the place of experience and
the path of mastery that is individual and practice based. </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Chris</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">
<div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Apr 26, 2015, at 11:30 AM, Jeff Aitken via
OSList <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org" class="">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica;
font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant:
normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;
line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space:
normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display:
inline !important;" class=""><HERESY></span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">And
that is why I think OST is for "development and
transformation in organizations" (that actual subtitle
of the SPIRIT book) and that it is not at all as
effective, in terms of impact, when implemented in a
public conference.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
float: none; display: inline !important;" class=""></HERESY></span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">I am
guessing the scores for the 4 dimensions are almost
always be lower in a public vs. private event.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">
<br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">Certainly
that is my general subjective observation, based on a
small sample of direct experience (less than 20
experiences doing OST inside corporations...)</span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
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