Kay, I agree with Larry. It is perhaps the most important work that we do as Open Spacers. I see it as the *consulting* side, rather than the *facilitation* side, of our work. In some ways, the facilitation of an OS event is easy, at least when it is compared to the work of getting the right people to come and educating/coaching key people on OS etiquette, like active listening.
In 1996, I ran a series of open spaces under the sponsorship of the CEO -- all employees were invited so those who chose to come were interested in answering the central question *How can we provide superior customer service and quality products?* I spent alot of time with the CEO coaching him on what he thought effective leadership nehaviuors would be during the events. The bottom line, so to speak, was that he realized that he wanted to learn and that reqired listening, which meant he (and his exec team) needed to shut up. He was a little anxious about the topics which would emerge but after the first OS of six, he really understood what was going on and how he, as the leader, could affect the outcome, both positively and negatively. It got to the point where, for the first OS, he had a 15 minute presentation, by the last one, he ripped through his intro in about five minutes, because he wanted to hear what te employees had to say! Good question! Thanks for asking it. Chris Christopher J. Carter, OpenMind Consulting Services 1805 Whyte Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1B1 Canada Phone:604-737-0999 Fax:737-0988 Email:[email protected] WWW: http://www.tmn.com/Community/ccarter/home.html
