Hi Brendan, Whenever I've done OST in healthcare, I've stressed in the opening that this method has been chosen because it is so very efficient, effective and powerful - that it can accomplish the same in a couple of days that may otherwise take months (or years) of committee work. Since passion and responsibility drive the process, it's quite different than the participants' everyday experience in modern health care - tons of responsibilities, but often not related to what attracted them to health care. They often entered their chosen field with HUGE passion, but get overwhelmed with the realities of the system and the passion gets buried . . . responsibility is a complex issue in health care, worthy of a discussion all on its own!!
At any rate, I've had the best feedback when I've taken a "roll up your sleeves, we're doing serious work here, looking at important, complex issues" approach in the opening. I stress that OST is a very practical, pragmatic methodology. If you have the rare luxury of a two day or more time allotment, the discussion gets very productive on day two (ie, it gets into the philosophical underpinnings of the work - becomes less about task and more about process, motivation and inspiration). It seems with health care, unless there's a "task" element to the work, folks get uncomfortable, but once they settle in, the discussions get very deep. The other major issue in healthcare is the grief work. If you have the opportunity to address this prior to the actual OST in a storytelling format, that's very helpful. There's a sense of loss: nostalgia, but also RAGE about the way the system has changed from high touch to high tech. There's animosity, even open hostility, between planners and doers, between front-lines and management, between research and care, between heart and head, and dozens of other layers. Hence, perfect conditions for OST, and when it works, it's magic. On the other hand, if sufficient time isn't allotted, and the grief isn't addressed, the meeting can and will deteriorate into a prolonged and nasty bitch-session with lots of blame, refusal to take responsibility for any of it, and ultimately attacking OST because it "doesn't work". Hence, the opening is crucial, where the facilitator clearly tells participants that they own the meeting, that they are responsible, that this is their opportunity to discuss what is important to them. It also helps to state that OST is NOT a panacea (hey, it's health care . . . think snake oil!), NOT a "feel good" process that will make them all warm and fuzzy (let that part be a pleasant surprise if it happens), and NOT a magic formula that will immediately transform their work lives. But it's a step in the right direction. In almost every health care OST I've done, once that stuff is cleared up in the opening, then people are prepared to let it work. The other thing that's happened more than once is a coup attempt in the opening circle where an angry union steward has stood up and demanded to know how many front-line people are in the room and how many managers. It's important to stay really calm and just promise that as the meeting progresses, everyone will have the chance to talk with many other people and hear their stories, but we're now's the time to get to work. Once the steward was so insistent, that I promised if it was still important at the end of the OST to know what everyone's title was and from which department they came, people could do that in the closing circle. (Of course, it became completely superfluous by closing circle and the angry steward became an OST devotee.) Hope this addresses some of the stuff you were wondering about, Brendan. Sorry to ramble on - health care is a fascinating environment. Best of luck in your training - it will be a wonderful experience for all of you! Hugs from Canada, Laurel. * * ========================================================== 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
