I just finished my second Open Space event for HAPPEN (a local executive networking group for people who are in career transition). This post is a follow up to the tome that I posted to this list after doing the first OS with this group last November. I think it also is in line with the current thread - Be Prepared to be Surprised.
This second session went well - good turnout, good topics and conversations. This time the 'Man in Charge' let the group know about the opportunity and sent out the invitation at least a week before the event. That helped. The interesting thing to report was a conversation I had midway through with the 'Boss of the Man in Charge' (i.e. head honcho of the group). This man was particularly sceptical. At the last session he told me that one of the groups wasn't 'working' (i.e. one participant in his opinion was dominating) and he asked me to 'facilitate' that session. I politely told him that I couldn't do so, however he was free to intervene if he thought that would be helpful. My conversation with him this time was interesting and delightful. When I arrived in the morning he was sceptical. Midway through I asked him how he thought it was going. He responded somewhat incredulously,"I didn't think that this would work, however it is working here... and the people are enjoying themselves". What happened was obviously a surprise to him. As I was thinking about it while driving home, I remembered my first conversation with the 'Man with the Hat'. I met him in a coffee shop after he had finished an OS training nearby. He explained the process to me... I was sceptical. I thought 'That would never work' and I brushed him off as another consultant with the latest technique to sell. However, he must have intrigued me - as a year later, I took the course... During the wrap up at today's session, numerous people commented about how it was the best session they had ever attended of this group. They explained that they were much better able to go deep on their topic and get into meaningful and helpful conversations (than the typical session where participants are numbered off and expected to do a round robin prescribed process). A couple commented on how they got to know each other much better through this process (i.e. than the typical process). Many comments were made with awe (or surprise) in their tone. I encouraged those who commented to write down their thoughts on the evaluation form. As a follow up to the previous post, when the thread on this group was 'getting paid to do community work' and many on this list encouraged me to "just do it", I want to report back that I did, it worked and I got paid this time. And have numerous new connections and potential leads as a result. To conclude - just in case anyone out there hasn't already figured this out - the Martini Drinking Man with the Hat has introduced us to something pretty profound.... Judy Gast in snowy Mississauga, Ontario, Canada * * ========================================================== 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
