Hello Corinne, and Welcome! I would say that it's definitely possible to run and grow your business in open space, even with just the two of you. And, I'll suggest that it might not *look* like open space to outside observers, i.e. there might not be a circle and facilitator and such. Or might there?
To see how this works, let what normally passes for open space technology, circle, invitation, marketplace, law of two feet and principles, bulletin board dissolve a bit. It's enough, I think, if you each agree that you know some things, many of which can be listed explicitly, and don't know many others about what might happen, most of which can't even be named. It's enough, in practice, to list the things you know, about your needs, resources, interests, purposes, desires, and what might need to be done now about all of that. If there are open, unanswerable questions, probably they show up as 'things to explore', then list those too. Put the list of everything you know you want, think you have, guess you can or will do next, and might explore... all on individual post-it notes on a wall or poster or wherever is handy. Someplace that can stay visible and available for reference. Then just have regular conversations in front of that board, as often as you find necessary, and whenever you don't know what is happening or what to do next. The 'question', i think, that all these post-it note issues and topics and questions answers is this: What is this business and what should it be? If you add new issues whenever you sit down together in front of this bulletin board, and keep notes every time you retire or resolve an issue... which might be through active development work, or might be when conditions change and some area posted for action or exploration just 'falls off' the wall... just make some notes, or don't, but move it off to the 'done' pile. As for involving clients or others, they need not be joining you in an 'event'. They're likely only needed for one or a few conversations. So ring them up when it's time (whenever it starts is the right time) and chat about those few issues. They don't need to know that they're working in what you call open space. If you hire someone new, give them the pile of 'done' issues, perhaps some of which have notes on them. That is your training and orientation program, how we got here, from the beginning. And this goes on, each of you and both of you sitting with, updating, reflecting, conversing, and resolving the issues on the post-its... until it's over. My business is just me, unless you count my wife as an advisory board, and this is how i've run my practice for many years, with the same 'mind' to my to-do list as I bring to any community bulletin board wall in any oepn space meeting. In the end, it's the mind we make, not the meetings. And when I get a chance to do a meetings with clients, it is really just sharing that mind and practice with them, even when they are several hundred people. Enjoy! and Good Luck! Michael On 2/19/07, Corinne Nelson <corinne_lyne...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Michael, "What might our business look like if we selforganize" This is a lovely question - thank you for pointing it out! One of the challenges we're facing is the physical number - it's truly the two of us (my husband and I) who are concerned with this topic. That's not much fuel for OST, in my experience. Have any of you created a business that has OST principles built into its structure? I'm sure this is the place to find people who hav been there and done that! Warmly, Corinne Nelson 719.237.0710 corinne_lyne...@yahoo.com p.s. We could survey our clients to see if they would be interested in a topic of this sort - my hestitation has been their interest level. Sounds like that's easy enough to resolve with a couple of questions to them. Thanks. --- Michael M Pannwitz <mmpa...@boscop.de> wrote: > Dear Corinne, > this is a wonderful question. > And there is a pretty good starting point for your > journey: > Invite all who you think should be part of this > endeavour > "What might our business look like if we > selforganize" (or something in > that vain), hire a facilitator and have an open > space event around this > topic. > As people come together and work on their issues in > Open Space they will > immediately and concretely get a glimpse of what > their business might > look like. And then take it from there. > Look around the world map > > http://www.openspaceworldmap.org/ > > for a facilitator near you... > there are 45 in the US and 434 worldwide. > Have a great time > greetings from Berlin > mmp boscop eg > > Corinne Nelson wrote: > > My name is Corinne Nelson, I live in Colorado > Springs, > > Colorado (US) and I'm NEW to the OS community. > > > > I am wondering how one might set up their > business, > > any business, with OST principles as a > cornerstone. > > > > You see, my husband and I have several businesses. > > > Our desire is to design them intentionally, > embodying > > OS principles throughout. > > > > What might that look like? > > > > I am very interested in your thoughts - thank you > for > > sharing them! > > > > With much appreciation, > > > > > > Corinne Nelson > > corinne_lyne...@yahoo.com > > 719.237.0710 > > > > > > Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg > Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany > ++49-30-772 8000 > www.boscop.de www.michaelmpannwitz.de > > > Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing > 434 resident Open > Space Workers in 69 countries (working in a total of > 126 countries > worldwide) > www.openspaceworldmap.org > > * > * > ========================================================== > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: > http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 300 West North Ave #1105 Chicago IL 60610 USA phone: 312-280-7838 email: mich...@michaelherman.com skype: globalchicago http://www.michaelherman.com http://www.openspaceworld.org http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist