My two cents in this discussion goes something like this... I don't sell OST. What I am "selling" (or more correctly, what my client is "buying") is a certain result. When I am contacted by a client, as I was this morning, who wants a meeting full of input and yet structures an agenda with lots of talking heads, I challenge their assumptions a little. Do you really want to hear from people? If yes, then what is the bare minumum we can tell people to get them going? And just how much do you want to hear from folks???
Most clients tell me they really want to hear a lot from people, so I tell them that I have a process that will maximize that component and then I usually ask them if they have ever heard of OST. If the answer is yes, we save some time. If no, then I explain what's likely to happen and what they can expect. The words "Open Space Technology" may never cross my lips again, unless they get curious about what we're doing. In short, as a facilitator I have a number of tools I use to meet my clients expectations. OST is one of them. And it always EXCEEDS expectations. So no one seems to mind paying me to do it for them. As long as I deliver the results I say I can deliver, my clients don't seem to mind if I spend the whole day asleep, so it's not really a question of doing nothing elegantly as it is doing what you say you're going to do. Most clients want to get somewhere and don't care how. When I explain the how, most of them still don't care. But after we do an OST meeting, a lot of them express delight over the how. And if they never hire me again because it seems that I have done nothing, no matter. That's their choice (but it's never happened). People are always amazed about what they can do when everything clears out of their way. Anyone who has paid a bagpiper to STOP playing in front of their window knows that there is a certain value is "doing nothing" So my advice is not to get too hung up on the process, because most people wouldn't know "process" if it came up and shook their hand. I am not an OST facilitator; I am a facilitator. And I use OST. (Sounds like a recovery meeting!) Chris -- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology http://www.chriscorrigan.com 108-1035 Pacific Street Vancouver BC V6E 4G7 Phone: 604.683.3080 Fax: 604.683.3036 cor...@interchange.ubc.ca * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed