Thomas,
I have used conversation café on a couple of occasions right at the
beginning of workshops when it was evident that there was fresh pain from
some recent bad news. The thought was: if we don't deal with this issue
upfront it will be on the mind of all, will be the talk during breaks and
meals and will poison the workshop. We had tables of 5 for an hour or so and
then sharing main points from each table with the whole group. It worked
like a charm. It gave space for all to talk about what was on their mind and
to put the issue behind them. To my surprise the "painful issue" didn't
resurface for the rest of the workshop. All participants were able to jump
into the workshop and have a grand time.
There was great appreciation on the part of all that such a space had been
provided for them to talk freely about what was on their mind.
Henri
"On n'entend bien qu'avec le coeur" Le Petit Prince
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Michael M
Pannwitz
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 11:26 AM
To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Subject: Re: SV: Design question for an OS-meeting (PRETTY LONG)
Dear Thomas,
storytelling and the phase in the grief cycle which is called "memories"
might be two different kinds of things. "Memories" comes before
"despair" and "silence" and "vision"...so if you do "memories" in the
morning there is no time for despair and silence before entering into
the open space phase of the event.
"Just" storytelling might keep people from goint into working on issues
and then on projects.
On action planning: if you do the 55 dot delphi stuff with the issues
there is a phase for both identifying related issues and for jotting
down further ideas and actions and questions on the "hot issues"
identified. This, of course, is done only to the 6, 7, or 8 issues that
are weighed most heavily.
The reading and augmentation exercise is done before action planning and
preferrably the night (here lunch break)before action planning.
To me, action planning is not the work on the identified most weighed
issues but the work on projects participants bring forward. The entire
process of prioritization (Delphi or what have you) is in essence more
data on the system and not yet a real indication in which projects
people want to invest themselves. Thats why sometimes (I have not
experienced this myself, yet) people are becoming impatient with Delphi
etc. because they want to work on the action plans of their projects.
I wonder about what you said is supportive or not for people to follow
their passion. My experience is that when there is passion and
responsibiliy leadership will in fact show up in force...even if there
seems no or little support from others (least from me or my interventions).
Thanks for letting me in on this project of yours, always a great chance
to go to new places and ideas.
Right, I would also like to hear how it went...
Greetings from Berlin
mmp
Thomas Herrmann wrote:
Dear Chris, dear Michael
Thanks for your sharing of thoughts and experiences.
I agree with you Chris, 3 sessions back2back is heavy. I am working on
trying not to push too much into the designs. Although is´s so free, my
experience too is that people often work quite hard in OS, especially
when time is limited - OK this time we have at least 2 days which is
good! Thanks for the reminder!
STORYTELLING
Michel, the decision to include storytelling was done when we during the
pre-work identified that there is some grief due to the changes they are
facing, and some not too constructive myths living in the organization -
a bit of mistrust between the two schools that are being merged. So the
idea is to give space for stories to be shared before lunch, and thereby
releasing more energy for the work towards the common future of this new
organization. Chris, I do prefer storytelling the night before, but this
time it was not possible.
(I tried a design for storytelling in a meeting in Norway in January
(which I think I shared about) which I plan to use again. It includes
brief opening, transfer in, sharing in groups of 10 + documenting on
flip-charts which are put into the large circle when we re-gather.
Finally an invitation to share stories in the large circle. In all 2,5
hours - we start our meeting at 9.30 so that´s a good fit. Worked
marvellous in Norway anyway, where there was BIG grief. It´s good to
have at least the lunch to digest and prepare for OS.)
ACTIONPLANNING/INPUT FOR ACTIONTEAMS
Michael I like your suggestion - to save the actionplanning phase until
monday. Unfortunately we do not have enough time/space available on
monday to work as a whole group. There is only small time (about 1,5
hours) & small spaces for groups to gather to continue their work.
So I think we´ll at the minimum identify hot topics on friday.
I like the idea of having some sort of an "audium" - exibition/input of
ideas. I guess that could be either on the reports produced or maybe on
issues that are brought up for actionplanning or the actionplans? If we
have brief next-step-sessions, say 30 mts. They could post their actions
on flip-charts on each a space in the main room. Then we could have say
30 mts for all to walk around read and add ideas as input for the
groups. At the same time they could sign up for those groups they wish
to take part in. And then closing circle. This would all be added into
the documentation which they would all get on monday morning, before
gathering their groups. How does that sound?
REGARDING VOTING/GROUPING OF TOPICS
My experience is that the top voters are almost always taken into action
by someone. I heard on the list that people are sometimes angry with
this process. I can´t recall I ever had critical feedback on this and I
think it is partly because i make the purpose so clear. Just to get the
info what topics have most energy for the group as a whole. It can also
be of value to the sponsor regarding priorities regarding financial means.
I think that getting a lot of votes can be supportive for those who have
passion to bring the topic further. So on the other hand not getting
support could work the other way around. HOpefully it helps that I point
out that a topic which has only a few votes can be of great important
to just a few people and be of value for the organization anyhow. So go
with where your energy is - is the message for the re-opening where
anyone can bring any issue forth for action planning.
Chris, I promise to have fun!
Cheers
Thomas
-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
*Från:* OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]*För *Chris
Corrigan
*Skickat:* den 28 juni 2006 11:27
*Till:* osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
*Ämne:* Re: Design question for an OS-meeting
Hiya:
I see...
In my experience 3 1.5 hour sessions back to back is a heavy load
for attention. I would stay at four total, which should be fine for
a group of 100. I don't work much with same day storytelling, and I
might be tempted to add a session to the morning of day one if I
needed another.
It seems like you have a good opportunity to deepen comittment to
action if you start the action planning conversations on day two and
then invite the groups to "park downhill" by leaving with a clear
sense of the work to continue on Monday. Then come back Monday and
continue the conversations then with the benefit of a couple of
sleeps under their belts.
I'd be interested to see how that goes actually, to have two formal
action planning meeting scheduled within the context of an event.
Hope this helps...interested to see how it goes.
Chris
On 6/28/06, *Thomas Herrmann* <tho...@openspaceconsulting.com
<mailto:tho...@openspaceconsulting.com>> wrote:
Hi Chris
What I was thinking about more particularily was:
1. Maybe include another session in the morning day 2. I´ve
planned to start at 8.00. That would mean lunch at 12 or 12.30
and less time in the afternoon for activities such as
actionplanning.
2. Spending less time working on actionplans, instead give time
to let people give each other feedback to bring to the action
planning sessions coming monday.
Regarding the voting and grouping of topics I still often do
that. My experience is that sponsors in organizations like to
have this information and it gives a good structure, common
picture to the participants. I AM VERY CLEAR that this is not a
process to exclude any topics, that´s why I also use re-opening
(guess it is what you call non-convergence) to identify topics
for action planning. The voting/grouping does take some time and
I agree a "clean" re-opening is nice too...
Cheers
Thomas
-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
*Från:* OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
<mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu>]*För *Chris Corrigan
*Skickat:* den 28 juni 2006 10:37
*Till:* osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
<mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu>
*Ämne:* Re: Design question for an OS-meeting
I canlt see anything wrong with your design here Thomas. I
would opt for "non-convergence" on day two, or more precisely
"non-prioritization" by simply re-opening the space for those
that are willing to take responsibility for convening the action
teams they want to see happen.
Other than that, it looks perfectly workable to me...or am I
missing something in your question?
Cheers,
Chris
(Frolunda Fan in passing!)
On 6/28/06, *Thomas Herrmann* <tho...@openspaceconsulting.com
<mailto:tho...@openspaceconsulting.com>> wrote:
Dear friends in Open Space
I am planning a two day OS-meeting and would like to ask for
any ideas from
you.
My sponsor is a headmaster. Two schools are being merged
into one unit and
the start will be a 2-day OS-meeting in August. About 100
participants both
teachers and other employees.
The OS-meeting is Thursday-friday and on Monday there will
be time for
action teams to meet to work more on the action plans. So my
question is
around how to get the most out of the afternoon day 2,
having in mind there
will be a few hours to work further on Monday. We have to be
finished by
15.30. Any sharing of experiences, suggestions and ideas
welcome!
Yesterday we had our pre-meeting and the design we discussed
goes like this:
---DAY 1---
Storytelling in the morning
LUNCH
Opening
2 sessions (1,5 hours)
Evening news
Dinner
---DAY 2---
Morning news
2 sessions (1,5 hours)
LUNCH (printing reports)
Reading all the reports
Prioritization/grouping of topics (to get a structure of the
material and
info about where the energy is in the groups as a whole)
Re-opening
Next step action meeting
Closing
---
Hugs
Thomas Herrmann Phone +46 (0)709-98 97 81
Open Space Consulting Fax +46 (0)300-713 89
Pensévägen 4
434 46 Kungsbacka, Sweden
Email: tho...@openspaceconsulting.com
<mailto:tho...@openspaceconsulting.com>
www.openspaceconsulting.com
<http://www.openspaceconsulting.com>
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