Hi Bronwyn,
You cite this specific (and BIG) problem:
"...People feeling very unsupported by their hierarchy, lack of
recognition by senior management that they are part of the problem, lack
of responsiveness to past recommendations for action, and deep cynicism
that anything will come from 'yet another talkfest'. "
Wow, sounds like the "high potential for conflict" property is set to
"True"....!
Because of this, the authorization level of the Sponsor is key.
I would find someone from senior management who is
"highly-and-formally-authorized", and willing to stand up and say
something like:
0/ Welcome
1/ This is authorized time & space
2/ We have some problems, they are [list issues here]. This meeting is
designed to explore these issues together.
3/ Our theme is [list theme here.]
4/ I promise the following on behalf of senior management: to inspect
proceedings & take action on the most pressing issues
5/ Enjoy! And now here is our facilitator...
....having that highly-and-formally-authorized Sponsor stand up like
that, and also *be present for much of the event* is also very important
in my view, because it signals high interest and commitment items {1..5}
above.
_
__Based on your citation of this as a fact:_
"...People feeling very unsupported by their hierarchy, lack of
recognition by senior management that they are part of the problem, lack
of responsiveness to past recommendations for action, and deep cynicism
that anything will come from 'yet another talkfest'. "
_...My guidance is: _
proceed cautiously unless and until you can locate a
"highly-and-formally-authorized" Sponsor. My concern is that if your
middle-manager is the Sponsor, and that they may not have enough
authorization to help make the event be (and feel like) a significant
shift from the status-quo.
Kind Regards,
Daniel
On 5/11/14 8:38 AM, Bronwyn Pagram wrote:
Hi there. I have quietly enjoyed os-list for a couple of months now -
thank you for all the open sharing. Very valuable for a 'newby' to
open space like me.
I have been asked to facilitate several regional open space workshops
for an organization where there is a lot of deep-seated pain and anger
behind the scenes. People feeling very unsupported by their hierarchy,
lack of recognition by senior management that they are part of the
problem, lack of responsiveness to past recommendations for action,
and deep cynicism that anything will come from 'yet another talkfest'.
The topic is staff wellbeing. The workshops are being done in the
context of middle management concern for their people (they are the
sponsors) as well as an organisational strategy refresh for which
staff wellbeing will form part for the first time (senior managers are
aware of concerns and also of several stress-related illnesses and
staff leaving).
There is no prior experience of open space in this organisation,
although the middle-manager driving these events has been exposed
elsewhere. I would be grateful for any suggestions as to how to best
structure the day (5.5 hours - limited by considerable travel time to
come in/go home). I am thinking to include both talking/listening
circles as well as traditional open space.
Ideally participants would take away some actions themselves... as
well as there being some meaty inputs to senior mgmt for the strategy
refresh.
Thanks a lot. Bronwyn
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