Dear Reinhard & Marianne,
Sounds very familiar ........... I agree with Kerry that having someone
experience another OS is a good way forward.
Otherwise the only thing I have to add to what others already have
written is two things I have sometimes done
when meeting the situation you describe:
1. Propose other interactive meeting designs beside OS, and line up the
pros and cons of each -
typically the alternatives give the client more a sense of control
over content and outcome, but the price
they pay when comparing to OS is high ......... Rather than convincing
to do OS, the discussion then becomes
a choice between alternatives. And ....... "a bit like OS" does not
exist in my book, like you can't be a bit pregnant,
either.
2. I take the paradoxical approach, saying something like - clearly the
most powerful design which meets your
objectives would be Open Space Technology, but I am sorry to say that
probably not all conditions which need
to be there to be able to use the method are not in place .......
I have found this often changes the discussion into one where the
client starts to attempt to convince me that
the conditions are in place. Not many like the idea that the best
option is not available - possibly because of
their own choices.
I would definitely not go for a compromise. And there seem to be many,
many opportunities ...... Yesterday I facilitated
an Open Space and one of the participants, an Accenture manager,
invited me to come and facilitate a one hour Open Space session. This
afternoon I am meeting with a client who wants a two hour Open Space
with 300 people at a large
fair ........ Sometimes it turns out more space can be created. If
there isn't the space for an Open Space, that's just the only thing
that could happen - and the thought or wish to try the real thing may
linger on and emerge later.
Good luck !!
Gerard Muller
Open Space Institute Denmark
Phone: (+45) 21269621 Skype: openspace1
Mail: g...@openspace.dk
On Jun 10, 2008, at 1:05 PM, VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE wrote:
Dear friends in open space,
I ask for your help in a difficult situation, and need it within 30
hours from now. So if somebody has an open ear and some time to
answer, we would be very grateful.
The situation: since 10 years i have been accompanying open space
sessions as a visual recorder. Now i have for the first time the
chance to use open space in a project on my own. It is in the frame of
a bigger project in a company of 6000, which deals with values, more
customer orientation, more emotions within the company, as the board
declared. We proposed an open space session of one day with some 80
representatives of the coworkers, because we want to make their
situation and priorities visible, to bring the outcomes together
afterwards with the aims of the board, to define the frame, the aims
and rules and conditions of a project of about 2 years. We talked the
method over with the representative of the client, a young, friendly
hr-manager. He is curious, but a bit anxious, and under somer pression
from the different board members.
Now after some afterthoughts he declared, that he does not want an
open space session in pure form, because he thinks the people are not
ready for it. He is eager to end with some results he can control.
His proposal for the workshop: at the beginning a board member and he
will talk about the bigger project for half an hour, and show a little
movie, in order then to ask the people for ideas and proposals for the
definition of the longer project. He wants to avoid discussions about
the mistakes and problems within the company (which he says he knows
already), but to be more positive. He does not want to call the
workshop open space, but “offener raum”, does not want to use the 4
principles (although some of their contents), but wants to use the law
of two feet. When people are asked to bring their themes to the wall,
he wants to moderate that himself, ask additional questions about why
and how. Then he wants to walk through the groups and offer some
moderation there as well. And in the end he wants to interview the
people offering their outcomes to the plenum again.
We are near the point to step out of the whole project.
On one hand i remember discussions here in the open space network
about moderations of the os - method, for which we are open, and can
also follow some of the hr-managers ideas and doubts. But it has to
stay a trustworthy method. For that i would like to hear what you can
recommend us.
We asked for a meeting with the hr-manager to get clear with his and
our feelings, in order not to mix them with the methods and procedures
of the project, and will have this meeting this week.
The project came to the actual situation, as i see it, because at
the beginning the hr-manager was very fond of us, proud to present us
to the board, and start the project with us. Then we had two
workshops, which ended with results, which did not fully fulfill his
expectations, and he somehow withdrew his trust. We don’t want to be
victims of an infringement (i hope that is the right expression), of
an unclear mixture of roles and responsibilities. We want to stay
responsible for the methods we use.
The results of the project so far in our view gave a realistic image
of the situation within the company, which is not very open, but has a
good chance to profit from the project. But it is important not to
confuse the starting phase with the project, and not to expect final
results bevor it even starts. Seen with “open space – eyes” the
outcome was the only one that could have happened.
Now we want to clear our relations with the hr-manager on Thursday
and Friday, and – if we succeed – develop the agenda for the coworkers
workshop. For this second task we hope to get some help from you, as
what to propose to him.
Thank you for every response in advance
reinhard
Reinhard Kuchenmüller
Marianne Stifel
VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE®
Kuchenmüller&Stifel
tel +39-0566-88 929
www.visuelle-protokolle.de
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