Thomas Hermann wrote: I'm working on an idea to use OST in a program for developing leadership. In short it´s about starting from the white wall, letting the participants create their own program in Open Space. A colleague of mine will support the projectgroups in their work. More OS-gatherings will happen on the way thorugh the program, which might never end...? Any suggerstions and/or experiences appreciatied. I´ve read and appreciated much of the info concearning OS and Education.
Hi Thomas, I've done a program evaluation in Open Space with MA students in Leadership and Training at Royal Roads University in Victoria. It was an amazing experience, and the students took to the process like ducks to water. In fact, I've been chatting with several who intend to use OST as a data-collection vehicle for their research projects. I've directed them to this listserve, so hopefully one of them will jump in to this discussion. . . (Caroline, are you lurking???). Having recently graduated from the MA (Leadership and Training) program at Royal Roads myself, it seemed like such a natural fit that I contacted the university as soon as I got home from the facilitators' training last spring. I believe that the iterative process you describe would be ideally suited to adult leadership students in creating their learning community. In Open Space the community would grow organically and NOT require any of the manipulative fertilizer that the instruction team seemed to feel was necessary to encourage the growth of our learning community. Having said all that, I have another story to relate that ties in with Birgitt's concerns. One of the faculty decided that since Open Space was making an appearance at the university, she ought to learn the process. She found a description of the process on the 'net and set about to do an "Open Space" prior to the evaluation that I facilitated. I don't know the details of what transpired, except that I was warned when I came to do the evaluation that one of the classes had had a "bad experience" with a "disastrous Open Space". (Something was muttered about one of the first nations students in the class being deeply offended by the explanation of the process and all hell broke loose - but I wasn't able to glean all the details of what offended the student or why or what "disasterous" meant.) Basically, I surmised that the facilitator had a very rudimentary understanding of the Open Space process . . . my assumption is that the facilitation was very heavy-handed with lots of intervention. I entered a milieu where people felt very guarded about the process itself - so cautious, in fact, that the assistant director of the leadership program insisted that I cancel the Open Space for the class in question and use an different facilitation method. However, I did do an Open Space event (using the theme "How could the MA (Leadership and Training) program be an even richer learning experience?") with the other class (one which had never experienced anything called "Open Space Technology"). The assistant director attended the event and was astonished with the quantity and quality of evaluation data collected, by the excitement of the participants, by the energy and synergy in the room - and as puzzled as I was about what on earth could have happened with the other class. So, I've already experienced Birgitt's scenario of having the OST process defamed by faulty facilitation and/or a poor understanding of the process. I agree with Birgitt that it would be nice for clients to have some way to check on the credibility of their facilitator - but sometimes the facilitator is a (trusted) internal dilettante (or, to use Birgitt's analogy, a chef who improvises a recipe using whatever ingredients are cheap, readily available or come to mind, but calls it "Lindy's cheesecake" and sets up an expectation of a rich, creamy, delectable, cherry-topped delight). However, once the damage is done and the credibility of the OST process is undermined, it is very difficult to undo. I'm certain that if the arrangements had not already been made (and announced) that I would be leading the evaluation process in an OST format, BOTH OST sessions would have been cancelled. As it was, the credibility of the process was restored (I hope!!) by "Opening good Space" with the second class. I think that Peggy's comment about mentorship and lineage might be something to explore more deeply. (Even in the cooking world, don't master chefs often cite their professional lineage? Trained at such-and-such an amazing restaurant, under the tutelage of so-and-so, a famous chef?) Certification, with all the attendant difficulties and bureaucracy, certainly seems dissonant with the spirit of Open Space. However, even if a certification program WERE to exist, someone hiring a facilitator ought to do their due diligence anyway by contacting professional references. I agree that this listserve is a phenomenal learning instrument!! Laurel. Laurel Doersam Human Resource Consultant (Employee Wellness) Capital Health Region Victoria BC * * ========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected] Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== [email protected] To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed
