First of all - hello to all! I believe this is my first time speaking up with this group, though I have been following the conversations avidly for some months.Your spirit and words are a real inspiration, and often a good laugh too!
Here's the situation. I am a member of a local professional group "ACCORD" (Association for Creative Change and Organizational Renewal and Development - what a mouthful!) It is a small, primarily Toronto/ southern Ontario based group of OD types, some academics, community people, a few students, etc. - in my experience, a neat group of people! About half are self-employed consultants (like myself!) The organization has offered inexpensive learning programs with leading edge types, and opportunites for networking and informal learning.They have also had, at least some of the time, a focus on spirit. Their "Spirit at Work" conference in '96 is still talked about (I believe Harrison, that you gave a session there!). Anyway, the organization is unravelling, membership declining, program attendance declining, $ dwindling........... the usual. I am on a task force of volunteers that have agreed to advise the Board on the road they should follow/ the type of large scale intervention they should use to engage the membership and determine their future - if they have one! I am going to present how Open Space would work..... and then we'll see if that is the way they want to go! SO - here is the question!! How do you provide the opportunity for input and participation from those who can't actually attend the OS day(s)? Many of the membership are self-employed consultants, who book their time well in advance, or may be struggling financially and can't afford to give up billable time. Other members or ex- members may care about the issues, but not enough to give up their time!! I was thinking to include with the invitation: 1)a fax-back/ e-mail back response sheet (e.g. "give us your thoughts around...theme...) which could then be posted on the marketplace, and sorted and incorporated by those there in person, as they saw fit and 2)a tick list indicating their desired degree of involvement in action going forward I've also been pondering some sort of dial-in teleconferencing input, e.g. at agenda creation time, and at convergence time, but I don't like this as much because it creates the illusion of involvement without any real responsibility. I'd really appreciate your feedback and ideas on how to create opportunities for involvement for those who truly care, but just cannot be there at the time. (For those who don't care - well that's a different story!) Many thanks........ I'm looking forward to some interesting stuff! Meg Salter MegaSpace Consulting 416-486-6660 [email protected]
