hi chris m, i find that there is ALWAYS something in the culture/story of any organization that is totally consistent with how open space works. at one export trade council, it was the tradeshow and marketplace. at one church, it was the buzz that happened on the church steps after mass, and the ritual of practice. with software developers, it was wiki website that they used to manage projects, or their 3x5-cards-on-the-table method of organizing modules being written. in very competitive analytical places it's the voting with the feet, the speed of documentation, and numbers of issues and people able to be processed and involved quickly. one latino group recently got excited about proceedings posted in gallery form and understood it immediately as mural. the story and link/bridge seems always there. i try to listen to the story, find the link, make it bridge, and then bring as many pieces of ost across the bridge as i can. what i can't get across, i sometimes point to in the distance. any selling that might occur is more of a noticing of the benefits of adding each piece of ost ritual to what's already in place on their side of the bridge.
m Birgitt Williams wrote:
Chris, Many of us have had great success by providing the prospective client with a list of large group methodologies. An excellent resource in a nice table is on Martin Leith's site www.martinleith.com <http://www.martinleith.com> . I use one of his handouts, I quote from The Change Handbook by Peggy Holman and Tom Devane (Berrett-Koehler, 1999) and I refer them to Large Group Interventions by Billie Alban and Barbara Bunker (Jossey Bass, 1997). It all makes a great business case. And then I let them know that my favorite method is OST because my clients have had the greatest benefit from the most open of the methods. I also believe in "selling" benefits rather than methods. Blessings to you and to all with whom you make Genuine Contact, Birgitt Birgitt Williams of Dalar International Consultancy www.dalarinternational.com <http://www.dalarinternational.com/> We provide inspirational and practical “how to” guidance for leaders who want to achieve healthy and balanced organizations to produce exciting, tangible results for the organization and for its people. View the calendar for upcoming training in the Organizational Health and Balance series of workshops featuring the Genuine ContactÔ program at http://www.openspacetechnology.com/training.html We invite you to join the Genuine Contact list serve at http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/genuinecontact Contact information for Dalar International Consultancy: Po Box 19373, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27619 Raleigh, North Carolina USA Phone: 919-522-7750 Fax: 919-870-6599 Founders of the Wellness Revolution for Organizations Founders of the International Alliance for Mentoring Creators of the Organizational Health and Balance series of workshops featuring the Genuine ContactÔ program -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of chris macrae Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 2:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Unbearable lightness of open management My research of human resource and OD types interaction with OS (primarily in UK) has begun and initial patterns suggest these 3 blocks: 1.Corporations- haven’t heard of OS 2.Consultants - Aware but (block loop 1) wouldn’t know how to sell lack of structure, NB opposite to what clients expect in 2 senses : a) what they do with their people normally, b) what they pay facilitators to actively facilitate 3. Aware but (block loop 2) wouldn’t know how to market as a core method of my career as a facilitator – take so much time to propose with so little days work back etc I guess this isn’t big news to many alumni here, but has there been a recent debate on whether there are any newly emerging ways to bust these blocks? A very small idea might be if we could come up with 9 other open methods as a top of 10 of open. Perhaps if everyone in corporations could recognise that innovation and self-organising depends on at least one open method they already know, one could cross-fertilise the whole family. Do you have any open methods to add to this top 10 shopping list (if indeed you agree that items appearing are all open) “Unbearable lightness of open management”- 10 most open methods of innovating 1 open space 2 email (fully developed use of virtual teams, practice communities, personal networks) 3 grounded theory (being an iterative opinion research method which starts with a blank canvass rather than conventional wisdom on issue of inquiry) 4 storytelling as iterative process in systemising communal energy, emotional participation -survey what’s our greatest story -see if people really participate in it -see what change it systemically connects with sincerely Chris Macrae, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>, www.valuetrue.com <http://www.valuetrue.com/> 2004 Year of Transparency Although nobody has filled it in yet, there is also an open format of the mini-survey I have been carrying out at http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?forum=1&topic=66&comment=2097 <http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?forum=1&topic=66&comment=2097> * * ========================================================== [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, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [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, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
-- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 300 West North Avenue #1105 Chicago IL 60610 USA (312) 280-7838 http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space ...inviting organization into movement * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
