Herman -- I would judge that you are an intelligent, educated professional. And you are asking whether you did the "right" thing???? What do you think? Your participants have already told you what they think! Could there be any question? CONGRATULATIONS! Now just do it again and you will have even more fun.
Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Herman Kasselman Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2006 12:47 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Novice OS user Hi, This is the first time that I am placing something on the list. I am an avid reader of all your work in Open Space for the last 6 months but, as I am not a trainded facilitator and I do not work in this field, I did not contribute. Some things changed radically last Friday. I was asked by a colleague to assist him, as facilitator, in identifying the issues/topics that he needs for developing his business plan. Just some background about myself first: I work as a Director in Human Resources in a National Department in the Public Service in South Africa. I am also a trained Social Worker and Executive Coach. Back to last Friday. After I recieved the request I did not know what to do. I then had the idea to use OS as the method to identify the issues/topics that will enhance the critical sucess factors of his office. I went home and during the weekend I read trough all the information I could get my hands on. I also started to plan a one day event according to the OS principles. The only environment that bothered me is the invitation part. Here I will sit with 13 employees and they are there because they are expected to. In reading the info on OS I though that the principle of "Who comes is the right people" will cover this as well. So I went along and planned the event. Come Thursday, 5 April, I was ready to do something that I never experienced, but something that just sounds right to me. And may I say, what an event! I started the event with downloaded info on a file tucked away on a table where I can consult it when necessary. The participants expected the old SWOT analysis and soforth, what they got was radically different. Everybody participated and they could identify 5 topic/issues to discuss. After the first session I arranged the 5 in 2,2 and 3 concurrent sessions and I sat back (with a lot of anticipation). It was exhilirating to sit back and see what will happen. Some aspects that I noticed as I kept myself "busy". The groups used different languages at different stages - usually when they wanted everybody to understand. As soon as someone suggested a solution the group kind of changed the comment to what their understanding of the brief was. I thought it was fantastic. Two of the most junior employees offered topis and acted as convenors - this I tough was awesome! At the end of the day, after closing the OS, everybody came and thanked me for what happened. I felt very humbled as I did nothing but allowed the OS to really work as I thought it should. We accomplished our goal and the scene was set for my colleague to develop the business plan that will address all the critical sucess factors of his office. So here is my question: Did I do the right thing? * * ========================================================== [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 * * ========================================================== [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
