As we reflect upon the new year we do look back at the past year and in doing so my experience in giving Open Space training in France this automn stood out and I thought I'd share bits of the story. The consultants' team who organized the workshop and is now active in facilitating OS events in France is called Ockham www.ockham.fr. From what could be gathered from their network, this was possibly the first OST training of this kind in France. This group of consultants gathered near Paris for a three-day training to which they invited some of their clients from the fields of communications technology, auto manufacturing and heavy equipment production.
We began by looking at how OST can be explained to a client. In order to experience the method, participants chose a theme that had real meaning for them and proceeded to do the preparation for the event. Their passion for this theme was made evident by the depth of the conversations and by the commitment reflected in their action plans later on during the convergence phase of the process. They completely set aside their training hat and let themselves fully live their OST event. During the debriefing, leadership, vision, community and management were examined through the lense of the OS experience. Various options for convergence processes were presented, the reflection went deeper on the roles of the facilitator and leader and finally participants addressed their various how-to questions. Theory was intermingled with practice throughout the workshop. I had certain doubts at the outset but I leave delighted about the training and the possibilities of the OST method, one participant said. Others saw the potential of this approach not only to produce measurable results but more importantly, to transform interpersonal relationships which are instrumental in creating and sustaining healthy and high performing organizations. Several participants were already planning an OS event, with groups of 10, 150 and even 800. One has since successfully integrated the approach in the second part of a team training day by letting participants chose what they wanted to discuss about team work. The client was a bit scared of the emptiness and the disorganisation but at the end was enchanted by the results, he reported. The excitement this participant demonstrated at the OS training has gone up several notches since then. Another informed me yesterday that having lead an OS in the context of another team building session, he feels very confident for one he will soon be doing in a university context. For my part, I could not have hoped for a more pleasant and gratifying experience. A great camaraderie developed as we all enjoyed the richness of experience in the room as well as the different terminologies, colloquial expressions and accents coming from both sides of the ocean and also from different regions of France. The workshop allowed us all to enhance our knowledge and also gave us the opportunity to share stories around a good glass of wine and exquisite food, a much appreciated custom of our French cousins. Diane Diane Gibeault CPF / FPA Diane Gibeault & Associé.es Associates www.dianegibeault.com diane.gibeault@rogers .com Ottawa Canada (613) 744-2638 Facilitation and Training in Support of Transformation Facilitation et formation en appui à la transformation * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
