Christine, I have changed the title as I think we are well out of the classroom – but not out of the dilemma. You said: “- when to say no ..- when to say yes and do more prework to help the organization get ready to what may happen- when to say yes and serve the group..”
All good questions and few easy answers. And the easy ones are almost too obvious to mention. I have no problem quickly saying No when it becomes clear that: 1) The client just wants an OS demonstration. And the reason is simple. There is not much to demonstrate and if all you do is go through the forms, the usual response is, Is that all there is? Followed by a dismissal. Without a “real business (life) reason there will be no passion, no responsibility because nobody cares. 2) The client is interested in controlling the group in order to achieve a particular (narrow), predetermined outcome. To achieve this result, the space cannot be open, and if it is open the outcome will be unpredictable. Beyond these two particulars, the critical thing for me is the presence of what I have come to understand are the essential preconditions for Open Space. 1) A real business issue that people really care about. 2) High levels of diversity in terms of points of view, people and groups. 3) Serious complexity in terms of the issue, its causes and ramifications. 4) Obvious passion and conflict – People really care. 5) A clear sense of urgency – Something needs to be done NOW. And last – but really first and foremost – that participation is a matter of voluntary self selection. There is no easy metric that I have discovered, but when all the conditions are clearly present, you don’t need a careful survey with detailed data. It hits you right in the face. Situations will vary and not all of the preconditions will show up at maximum levels. But two of them (1 and 5) are pretty critical. If the convening issue is not one of genuine concern, nobody will really care. And if there is little or no sense of urgency, little will get done. But voluntary self selection is for me the “deal breaker or maker.” When people are forced to come by some external power the space is not open. Simple. I understand that there are situations where this can be a little tricky, but there are ways to make it happen, even in very hierarchical organizations. Finding such a way is a most useful task for “Prework.” Sometimes that takes a little time, and sometimes not. My favorite and most recent example occurred with a large division of the US Government. When they first came to me, it was obvious to anyone, even if they didn’t want to admit it, that the first 5 preconditions were present to the maximum. But when I mentioned “voluntary self selection” we hit a serious snag. To a person the senior folks were of the opinion that if it were voluntary, nobody would come. I just let them sit there with those thoughts for a moment and then remarked, “Well if nobody would come they didn’t have a just a dysfunctional organization, they had a mutiny. And neither Open Space, nor anything else I could think of would do much good. After some more silence, they bit the bullet (took the leap, whatever). As it turned out there were 178 people in the organization and 177 came. The one who didn’t was a pregnant lady who went to the hospital instead. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Dr. Potomac, MD 20854 USA 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) Camden, Maine 04843 Phone 301-365-2093 (summer) 207-763-3261 www.openspaceworld.com www.ho-image.com (Personal Website) To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of christine koehler Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 4:16 AM To: World wide Open Space Technology email list Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space classrooms Harrison Yes, this is THE dilemna we are facing so often. And I learn from you that sometimes it is better to NO beforehand. So now my question is : - when to say no .. - when to say yes and do more prework to help the organization get ready to what may happen - when to say yes and serve the group.. Right now I am in the "more prework" period. And if more prework is not possible, offer other ways to work with group. But it leaves me with a taste of uncompleteness (if this word exists in English) Would love to hear what other say.. Christine On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 9:31 PM, Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote: Barry said, “It worked so well that they didn't invite me back after the 3rd time because the School Administration was not keen on the turmoil caused by the students expressions of freedom and demands for change.” Nice Barry! And yes, for anybody who cares, Barry is my son. Nepotism is always nice J And for anybody who may have questioned the “Trojan Horse” character of OS, Barry’s story should be interesting. I think this story sharply focuses the dilemma most of us face when offering to open space. Specifically: Who is our client? The traditional answer, of course, is whoever is paying the bill, which is typically the sponsor. In service to the client, it is understandable that we should try to shape Open Space to fit their needs and expectations. This will often take the form of identifying, and staying within, or away from, what some have called the “Givens.” Those things which supposedly can’t be changed or even talked about. But just suppose that those “Givens” are EXACTLY the thing(s) that must be talked about if the participants are to experience their own power and potential in order to bring their full force to bear on the resolution of whatever difficulties the organization in question may be facing? This can get pretty existential, not to say painful should it becomes clear that the sponsoring organization is only a degree or two away from being a prison camp – that most of the difficulties they have identified with morale, creativity, lack of emergent leadership, innovation, etc. are precisely what one would predict in the circumstances. And of course, one of the “Givens,” spoken or unspoken, is that the prison guards and senior staff are not to be questioned. Fortunately this sort of situation doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, what to do? I don’t think there is any easy answer, at least I never found one. You can, of course, refuse to do the Open Space. But that leaves you in the uncomfortable position of deserting a bunch of fellow human beings wallowing in a miserable situation. Fortunately for our peace of mind, most such organizations will back out of doing an Open Space before you are confronted with the issue, but not always. Then what? For whatever it is worth, I have always made it clear to clients/sponsors, especially in such situations described above, that they are my client up until the time we actually open Space. From that time on my allegiance is to the integrity of “The Space” as a place where every person and every issue is honored, welcomed, and respected. After all that is what I mean by open space. Of course, The Powers that be can shut the space down. And if that is their choice, I leave. The Law of Two Feet applies across the board. I have only had to “walk” once, and I think that is due to the fact that I made my position very clear before we started. But I do have to say there were several situations where I came very close. Nervous making and painful for sure, but Hey – That’s why we get paid the big bucks. J Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Dr. Potomac, MD 20854 USA 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) Camden, Maine 04843 Phone 301-365-2093 (summer) 207-763-3261 www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20> (Personal Website) To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Barry Owen Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 1:39 PM To: World wide Open Space Technology email list Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space classrooms Tricia, I have done exactly this with a local MBA program It worked so well that they didn't invite me back after the 3rd time because the School Administration was not keen on the turmoil caused by the students expressions of freedom and demands for change. My "Way" was simply to Open Space as if it were a 3 Full Day Event. This Time/Place Post-it matrix reflected what any 3 day event would have (Opening - Sessions - Lunch - Sessions - Evening News - Party . . . ending with Closing) The opening was normal - No difference than if it were the full 3 days Each time I did it, the groups of 30ish students posted @ 30 Issues We had time for 1 session (45 minutes) and had 4 Break-out spaces Then we had Evening News. At the end of evening news, I simply made the suggestion that they could complete the remaining 26 sessions at other times. What happened was unfathomable to me and the sponsoring Professor . . . The students self-organized and DID arrange times and places (Coffee Shops) and "completed" the sessions on the wall in a period of about 3 weeks. The topic all three times was centered around "Rankings of MBA programs and how their MBA program could improve their standings" The School Administrators were always invited but never showed up, and they had all the power and squashed all efforts by the students to effect change . . . I think the professor was ultimately forced to describe Open Space Technology rather than demonstrating. DO-IT You'll have a blast. Best, b On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 1:30 PM, Tricia Chirumbole <[email protected]> wrote: Hi all! I am writing to request your advice and experiences with open space in classrooms - this is for a one time MBA class. the upcoming engagement: I have been invited to hold an Open Space style class for MBA/International Affairs students in a Global Perspectives class on Feb 24th at George Washington University (my former MBA program). The standing theme of this class in the prof's curriculum is, "Putting it all together" background: This invite was born from discussions I have been having with the professor of the aforementioned class, about the opportunities of introducing some Open Space and Scrum practices into their MBA program - she is also the Associate Dean and involved in program development. My real interest was to explore opportunities not just for actual classroom time, but also for other components, such as: The kick-off orientation week for FT MBAs, Curriculum/program planning, and for executing projects. My pet titles include: Hacking my MBA, and the Agile Classroom. the conundrum: So, this is cool, BUT, I am concerned about the short time frame (2.5 hours) and the isolated nature of the engagement. I would very much like anyone's direct experience or insight on holding classes OS style or holding similarly short, one-off Open Space engagements. I know they are done, I can envision how I would do it, but I still feel concerned that I may have jumped on low hanging fruit that may not be the best format for sharing these practices. For me, I can definitely see open space style classes and "agile" classrooms w/out multi-day OS summits, but I see them flourishing more as part of an ecosystem of principles and cultures being practiced, rather than as a one-off classroom brouhaha! All thoughts welcome - thank you in advance! :))))) Tricia Chirumbole Open Space Facilitator, Certified Scrum Master Mojo Collaborative www.mojocollaborative.com 571-232-0942 skype: tricia.chirumbole twitter: @themojozone _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org -- Christine Koehler, créatrice d'espace de Dialogue et de Coopération <http://uploads.wisestamp.com/59a7171fcb010f7c1cffbbe7e93ad57d/1320761435.png> Executive Coach, Médiateur www.christine-koehler.fr <http://www.christine-koehler.fr/> Tel : 06 13 28 71 38 Fax : 09 72 32 36 65
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