Thanks for inviting this conversation, Harold.
When I do Open Space - there is a Newsroom Coordinator (ideally
someone other than myself / the facilitator - sometimes I am both).
And I don't know if this is obvious or done by others so I will name
it as the way I do it: the Newsroom is in the same big room that the
Agenda Wall and discussion circles and food are in.
After each discussion time ends, I or the Newsroom Coordinator removes
the topic signs from the Agenda Wall for that time zone, and brings
those signs over to the Newsroom.
This becomes
a) one of the tracking mechanisms the Newsroom Coordinator has for
organizing her/his understanding of what notes transcriptions have
been completed and what notes remain
b) a visual shift in the Agenda Wall to help participants see what is
currently in session
The Newsroom Coordinator often uses the option of posting those topic
signs on the wall to indicate what notes still need transcription.
At Evening News, the Newsroom Coordinator can point to the wall and
say 'our goal is for you to transcribe your session notes by the end
of our meeting - these are the notes that still need to be transcribed.'
To me, that is not getting in the way of anybody's self-organizing or
assuming passion and responsibility for co-creating the Book of
Proceedings - it's holding space for participants' documenting their
dialogue.
I am all for the rich chaos that some people feel (remember - some
people do not feel that it's chaos) in Open Space.
I am also all for accessibility and inclusion: color-coding post-its
to time zones or moving topic signs to show on a Newsroom wall what
notes are still outstanding is, to me, helping people do what they do
so well - without doing it for them.
What do others do?
Lisa
On Oct 12, 2010, at 8:53 AM, Suzanne Daigle wrote:
Thank you Harold,
Since being introduced to the Scrum/Agile community which happened
when Harrison facilitated a one-day Open Space event in Orlando this
year, I’ve been drawn to their culture, processes and tools which I
know was inspired by Open Space principles. What you describe here
connects with what I have been struggling with knowing that Open
Space can powerfully ignite individual and collective passion on
what people truly care about and yet somehow the pent-up desire for
action that starts to percolate (which I know cannot be rushed)
doesn’t always materialize afterwards.
The News Wall and the reports are so important and sometimes when
some folks don’t seem to get around to it, I am saddened wondering
if my instructions were not clear enough or simply if some
participants are so engaged in the moment that they do not want to
stop their conversations – they just want to go deeper. I have
learned to accept what is and yet, it still gnaws at me feeling that
a “little nudge” could perhaps do so much without disrupting the
self-organizing essence of Open Space.
I agree with Michael Pannwitz that the Marketplace for me is a
sacred space that I would never touch. I wonder though if with the
right labeling, initiators (or note taker participants) themselves
could not transport their topic sheets to the areas you describe.
For example, Summary Reports in Process and then simply Summary
Reports Completed. Perhaps this “visual nudge” with some brief
words of explanation could do a lot.
Change, execution and action can be so wonderful when you’re doing
what you love and are passionate about. What if this too was part
of the “invitation” and our “heartfelt intention” ?
Others may have strong views to the contrary on this but Harold I’m
with you that maybe a visual cue like this could do a lot!
Suzanne
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