Hello Meg, I'm empathetic to your desire to "make things work". I sometimes find myself trying to rekindle what has been valuable in the past, but slowly dying in the present. As I go through the agonizing stage of "what can I do to make this work", I remember the message from Meg Wheatley in her book A Simpler Way. She describes three continuous cycles that human systems naturally experience to survive. Human systems are dynamic; they organize, disorganize and reorganize, then repeat the cycle, based on a component of chaos theory. Perhaps your volunteer task team (those who can, will and want to be there) is the special catalyst to "reorganize" and facilitate a transformation. It might be nice to give those who cannot be there an opportunity to submit their ideas, by whatever means (mail, e-mail, etc.), but after that effort, remember "whoever comes is the right people", as one of Harrison's OS principles state.
Good luck, Meg. Bev McCarthy Ashford Group, Inc. 7398 St. Ives Place West Chester, Ohio 45069 [email protected] (513) 759-9255 phone (513 624-7530 fax -----Original Message----- From: Meg Salter <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 4:17 PM Subject: Request for Advice - Contributing to an OS when you can't be there 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]
