OPENING THE SPACE AT CLOSING! At the close of a two day Open Space for a division of a governmental agency in Michigan I drew Harrisons hypothetical diagram (from the OS training workshop) to explain what the possibilities are after the initial Open Space event, namely, do-its, get more info and then do-it, or get more info and do a mini-Open Space. This diagram drawn on a flipchart looks like a neural network depending on the outcomes of the initial Open Space as well as the outcomes of the do-its and the more infos.
During a late lunch hour on day two the proceedings had been printed up from the use of lap-tops and copied. So after drawing Harrisons diagram, I distributed the copies of the proceedings and asked participants to take about a half hour to read the sessions through noting what each one thought were possible do-its or more infos and then noting which ones of each they personally had passion for and were willling to take responsibility for - whether they had participated in the session or not. When all had finished reading and making notes, sitting in the circle and calling out one item at a time, we filled about six flip chart pieces of paper with the do-its and more infos (about five items per flip chart paper). As each one was transcribed onto the flip chart I left room at the left-hand margin to indicate which it was: the do-its were symbolized by a green rectangle that said do-it in the center and the more-infos were labelled with a red triangle that said more-info in the center. I left room after the description and then drew a line across the page before the next one was listed. This was fast, furious, and fun with great participation. When all the lists were posted on a blank wall (which was the opposite wall from the agenda which was still there from day one), I asked them to peruse the wall and sign-up for each do-it and more-info they had passion for and were willing to take responsibility for seeing it happen. It was like a mirror image of opening the space and efficiently created an action plan of about 30 do-its and more infos to take home with them. The group was about 25 people, and the CEO was not a control freak, obviously; she thought this was effective as well as an opportunity for a few who couldnUt attend to jump in when they returned. We then did the traditional closing using a talking-stick about what was different and what it meant. My guess is this would work with a larger group as well as long as the CEO is really open to self-organization and agrees to doing this ahead of time. After the Open Space the tasks were listed on a shared computer drive and are being deleted as they are completed; a separate planning meeting was held around tasks related to planning issues; and the appropriate use of more OS is in the works. For those of you who may be interested, I did move from Michigan to Colorado last summer, and the new address and phones are: Linda Stevenson 609 Cascade Avenue Boulder, CO 80302 telephone: 303-247-0946 fax: 303-247-0952 email: steve...@tmn.com The very happiest of holidays and hope to see many of you in 1999 and to share a quote composed by Rumi and Shams Someone who doesnUt make flowers makes thorns. If youUre not building rooms where wisdom can be openly spoken, youUre building a prison.