Nigel, I have been doing research on the value of using Open Space Technology. Your email with a concern about value was interesting. I am up to my neck in the subject as we speak and have reviewed a cross representation of reports and writings (40 plus) on experiences with Open Space. Value reported (each noted occurance - an incident of value) was noted and categorized in the authors language (nurture, increases, shared, allows etc...). Here is a small sampling (NOT ALL IN EACH CATEGORY and not all categories, LIST TOO LONG) of what I have found so far that OS event attendees and practioners say is value related - personal or organizational.
VALUE INCIDENTS OF OCCURENCE TYPE ORG 314 PERSONAL 86 TIME FRAME IMMEDIATE 235 POST (OS EVENT) 106 POTENTIAL VALUE 55 SYSTEM COMMUNITY 173 VISION 85 LEADERSHIP 65 MANAGEMENT 52 OPEN SPACE HELPS CREATE A CLIMATE THAT: VALUE INCIDENTS OF OCCURENCE NURTURES CREATIVITY 25 ENERGY 22 SPIRIT 21 FREEDOM 16 EMPOWERMENT 13 INCREASES RESPONSIBILITY 24 COMMITMENT 17 TRUST 6 OWNERSHIP 4 INVOLVEMENT 3 SHARED LEADERSHIP 25 COMMUNICATION 14 IDEAS 10 KNOWLEDGE 7 QUALITY 6 ALLOWS LEARNING 36 SELF ORG 23 IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY 21 AWARENESS / DISCOVERY 17 COLLABORATION 14 IMPROVE COMMUNICATION 11 TEAM BUILD 10 TRANSFORMATION 10 CONFLICT RESOLUTION 9 INTEGRATION 8 PROBLEM SOLVING 8 REFLECTION 8 CONNECTION 7 IMPROVE EFFICIENCY 7 INCLUSION 7 My Assumption: CEO's get paid to Open Space in their organizations to capitilizes on the above to meet their organizations goals. An OS facilitator is in essence doing the CEO's function in this regard. If this is a correct assumption then the Fair Market Value of OS might be....1 day of CEO's pay X no. days OS facilitation + 2 days (prep recovery).... example 3 day OS event = 5 day CEO's daily pay. Just imagine what one would be paid for if Opening Space in Microsoft! Then again the value of OS is hard to determine. One could leave the amount of payment up to the CEO. Using the principle of OS "whatever happens is the only thing that could have"....whatever happens in the amount of payment is the only thing that one could have been paid. I know of several consultants (not OS) who use this method. They open space on the amount of payment and leave the value of their services up to the customer vice imposing a value for their service (let go of control). They deliver the same product but get different payments based on the customers determination of the value of the services. They all have thriving consulting services, are in high demand and make more than their contemporaries. Thanks for listening Rich Norris At 06:34 AM 4/3/00 +1000, you wrote: >Hello Harrison, > >I was quite taken aback having been noticed, Re: A Story from OZ. >Brian Bainbridge emailed me about you quoting my piece. It was a >strange case and I must admit I was worried that the guys involved >might not even be able to read. > >>The immediate return was a very obvious $8000, a ten times increase >based on time, productivity and materials. The manager and I worked >it out after the session. The $100K I extrapolated from there, over >time, possibly longer than a year though. So I think they got the >best part of the bargain after all. > >One of the big problems I come across is the question of value and >how much we should charge for an open space facilitation, after all, >we just sit there (not really). What's it worth if holding the space >saves them $1000's? Yet nothing happens unless the group takes >responsibility and does something because it is important to them. > >It's pretty hard to put a value on Open Space, but in this case it >was black and white. >*****************************************************8 > > Richard Norris (407)779-0531 <rnor...@digital.net>