Hi everyone, Thank you for your responses!
Rijon--These are great resources you mentioned. They resonate a lot with the Vector Theory of Change work that Marc mentioned. I am using the Open Space Agility framework as grounding for culture change work I am doing with a client right now. BOSSAnova has some great ideas for safe-to-fail probes. Anna Caroline--Myrianne Oulette walked us through a Genuine Contact strategic planning process for the Open Space Institute-US earlier this year. Your message reminded me to revisit my notes on that process. Thank you! Marc--Thanks for mentioning the Vector Theory of Change (VTOC). I read Chris's blog post and the Vector Theory of Change article you referenced. It's a great framework for ongoing culture change work, and I will keep it as a handy reference. I am an internal OD, and business units are starting their 2023 planning processes now. So, I've begun receiving requests for strategy development. One of them is a broader request that involves shifting the culture to be more customer-centric, and I think VTOC, BOSSAnova, and OTC will be useful tools and frameworks. SOAR from Appreciative Inquiry also comes to mind for me for meeting strategy requests. SOAR couples well with OKRs, and one could potentially use SOAR to help converge the issues and opportunities from an OST session. Much love to all, Jake ________________ When the mind is quiet, the sun of your heart will shine once again, and you will be free of problems. - Robert Adams <http://www.robert-adams.info/> On Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 3:24 PM Marc Rettig <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello David, > There are definitely kinships and resonances. Perhaps especially with the > participatory, “systemic” (Danny Burns), and “transformative” flavors of > action research. > > I don’t have a nuanced understanding of how action research is practiced > in the wild. Perhaps one difference is where the power of listening, > interpreting, and experimenting is centered. In the case I spoke of, it is > very carefully placed in the hands of Everyone (where “everyone” = ~70 > folks). If you look further into how Snowden, the Cynefin Co, and others > are applying these ideas I’d be interested to hear how they compare with > action research in your view. Near the end of Snowden’s TEDx talk > <https://www.ted.com/talks/david_snowden_david_snowden_complexity_and_citizen_engagement_in_a_post_social_media_world?language=en>, > he describes a nation-scale use of story-collection, sense-making, and > “probes” that feels different to me than anything I’ve encountered in the > AR world. > > (But I fear I am flirting with topic drift here, away from OST.) > > Marc > > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > Marc Rettig > Fit Associates LLC > > www.fitassociates.com > marcrettig.me > > > > [email protected] > > 412.215.0026 cell > > > > > > *From: *David Osborne <[email protected]> > *Date: *Monday, August 22, 2022 at 12:13 PM > *To: *<[email protected]> > *Cc: *Marc Rettig <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> > *Subject: *Re: [OSList] Re: Strategy frameworks? > > > > Vector Theory of Change sounds like Action Research by a new name to me :) > > > > David > > > *David R. Osborne* > Organization and Leadership Development > > > 6400 Arlington Blvd., Suite 665, Falls Church, VA 22042 > > 703-939-1777 | [email protected] | change-fusion.com > > > > > > On Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 11:04 AM Chris Corrigan <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Thanks for the shout out Marc. If anyone has further questions about this > I’m happy to weigh in as well. > > > > On Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 7:16 AM Marc Rettig <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hello, > > I can offer a framework that is serving well in some of our work. > > We are in a long-haul culture-shifting effort with a local organization, > and the group has now done the repair and relationship skilling needed for > them to start thinking about creating together. Which has raised questions > like, “Where do we want to go together?” “Who do we want to become?” > “What’s worth trying?” Strategic questions! > > > > As you say, frameworks help. We’ve drawn from Dave Snowden’s vector > theory of change > <https://cdn.cognitive-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2022/02/02160119/VTOC-paper-2022.pdf>, > which—now that I think about it in light of your question—has nice > resonance with OST. We’ve certainly been taking an open-space-ish approach > with this organization. > > The idea is that in social complexity we’re working with emergence, so > it’s not helpful to invest in trying to implement a pre-imagined > destination. We can’t see the other side of this forest until we get there. > So we need a way to navigate in our desired *direction,* responding to > surprises and what we learn along the way, going at the *pace* of our > ability to live into our questions together. That’s the “vector”—direction > and velocity. > > This was seeded over a series of group sessions. > > - It took almost a year for this group of people to become able to have > honest, generative conversations about race in their organizational > culture. People talk about “describing the current state of the system” and > “noticing recurring patterns.” In some contexts that may be > straightforward. For these folks it has been a long and courageous road. > Real fear in real bellies. > > > - Small- and whole-group conversations about values and principles: even > before we name the direction we’d like to go, can we say how we would > recognize whether we’re making progress? What would we look at to notice if > we’re traveling in our desired direction? When we allow ourselves to dream, > what are the common themes that emerge? > > - Small- and whole-group conversations about directions. Never mind the > destination, what direction do we want to travel together? What are our > shared longings? In their case, their questions have to do with racial > equity and belonging. So their directions included desired qualities for > things like the diversity of their teams, relationships among colleagues, > self-care and self-forgiveness, relationship with the communities they > serve. > > - The next step will have parallel tracks: > -- A rhythm of experiments shaped by the question, “What’s worth trying > now (to move us a little further in a desired direction)?” > -- A way to collectively handle specific incidents and scenarios as > they arise along the trip > > -- Building a sub-group’s capacity to host these kinds of conversations > and processes themselves > -- Building the whole organization’s level of relationship skills > > > > So the strategic framework is pretty simple: > - a set of vectors or directions, > - principles for noticing how you’re traveling, > - a set of roles, rituals, rhythms and artifacts for deciding what to try, > how to try it, who’s involved, and how you’ll learn from it. > > Then it’s a (difficult!) matter of holding a long-lived container for > managing this portfolio-walk through the woods together. > > > > Here is Chris Corrigan’s helpful summary > <https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/towards-the-idea-that-complexity-is-a-theory-of-change/> > of the approach. > > > > My example is of course a bigger deal than one open space session. But as > a framework or approach, maybe it’s helpful. > > Cheers. Thanks for all you do, all of you. > > Marc > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Marc Rettig > Fit Associates LLC > > www.fitassociates.com > marcrettig.me > > SVA Design for Social Innovation <http://dsi.sva.edu/> > > > > > > > > > > *From: *Jake Yeager <[email protected]> > *Reply-To: *<[email protected]> > *Date: *Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 8:04 AM > *To: *<[email protected]> > *Subject: *[OSList] Strategy frameworks? > > > > Hi beautiful people, > > > > Are there any strategy frameworks you like to couple with OST? I've used > OST with a group to create OKRs and it worked well. Wondering if there's > anything else out there that you like. > > > > If I remember correctly some folks here have also mentioned simply theming > the sessions during convergence and using the themes as strategic pillars. > Could couple with dot voting and/or opening space for action. > > > > Thanks! > > > > Much love, > > Jake > > -- > > ________________ > > > > When the mind is quiet, the sun of your heart will shine once again, and > you will be free of problems. > > - Robert Adams <http://www.robert-adams.info/> > > _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list -- > [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > -- > > ____ > > CHRIS CORRIGAN > > Blog and resources: http://www.chriscorrigan.com > > Harvest Moon Consultants: https://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com > > > > Registration now open: Complexity Inside and Out online program Fall 2022 > <https://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com/complexity-inside-out.html> > > > > Register now for the Art of Hosting September 26-28, 2022, Vancouver BC, > Canada <http://aohbowenisland.weebly.com/> > > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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