Hi Lisa,

Not in business or corporate environment, but my manager would happily provide 
information on how she has worked with the results of Open Space after the 
first event. Her name is Reina Buijs, she is Head of the Health Division in the 
Directorate General for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs. Her email address: 
reina.bu...@minbuza.nl<mailto:reina.bu...@minbuza.nl>
Your client can also contact her by telephone (+31703485825)

Warm greetings,

Dicky
From: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org 
[mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Lisa Heft
Sent: dinsdag 17 mei 2011 17:11
To: OSLIST
Subject: [OSList] After the OS event

Hi, folks - just another request, as I have not yet heard from anyone.

If you have a client (especially a business / corporate client) that might be 
happy to chat with a client of mine about how they integrated the information / 
learning / achievements from an OS meeting or retreat into the work of the 
organization **after** the dialogue meeting (OS or otherwise) - thank you for 
sending me an email with either that direct contact information or a few lines 
you write describing that.

Then I can share that with this particular client.

Many thanks. You can send this to me directly at 
lisah...@openingspace.net<mailto:lisah...@openingspace.net>

Of course, I have also described to this client that thinking about how to 
sustain the ideas and momentum of the OS (or any other dialogue) event is an 
essential thing to talk about (design, create mechanisms for) in this pre-work 
stage. So I am delighted that she is asking for more ideas about this. Other 
clients I have had trained different levels of staff in convening meetings and 
groups post-event, trained their members how to apply for funding, sent out 
'news flashes' to show the full group / system what is happening across the 
system post-event, and more. All ways of showing the system back to itself - 
all ways of sustaining and growing capacity and feeding information back into 
the system for continuous learning. This has been true amongst my 'dream 
clients' whether for Open Space or other work where people gather together for 
projects, retreats and working groups.

And here is a little present - an experience I had with a client who fully 
understood how to support sustainability after an OS (or any retreat / working 
meeting) event...

Enjoy,
Lisa

Sustainability: Leveraging the Momentum of the Open Space Event

by Lisa Heft


When discussing action or follow-up (during the pre-work stage), it is 
important to analyze who has capacity for follow-up, in what form, and how this 
might fit into ongoing projects, abilities and timelines for an organization or 
community. This is true whether the meeting process is Open Space or any other 
approach.

I facilitated two day-long Open Space retreats for a global corporation's 
Information Technology division - to generate ideas, opportunities and issues 
in preparation for their division's strategic planning process.  The objective 
of these meetings was idea generation, after which the Executive team would 
take that data to inform their budget work and decisions on the strategic plan. 
 Every single Information Technology employee attended one of these two 
retreats - from the data entry workers to the administrative assistants to the 
Chief Technical Officer.

Ideas were generated, and then there was a short Action Planning session as a 
part of this particular event's design. The reason for action planning at the 
event was that the Chief Technical Officer wanted to see what projects and 
people might need short- or long-term support and resources. He uses Open Space 
as one of the ways to convene his employees, and he knew there could be some 
surprise topics and projects that the Executive Team might need to fold into 
their resources and their strategic plan decisions. The Executive Team would be 
meeting immediately after the all-employee Open Space to start working on the 
plan itself.

Because this top executive knew Open Space and was fully ready for whatever 
surprises may come out of it - and because the organization could commit to 
every employee attending being given the freedom, mobility, time and support 
from the top for whatever they might feel inspired to work on - action planning 
was designed as a re-opening of the space. Eight action champions announced 
action groups and that 45 minutes was very spirited, with other participants 
butterflying and bumblebeeing from group to group to help with good ideas.

At the end of that time I re-convened the group in Closing Circle.  Action 
champions announced their headlines, and the entire group cheered. One data 
entry person convened a group - he announced "I'm going to redesign the entire 
database!" (cheers and applause!).

During the action group session, the Chief Technical Officer had been 
conferring with his Number Two executive. After the headlines and cheering, he 
stepped forward to say 'While you were working with your action champions, I 
asked my second-in-command to become the champion for you champions.  He will 
be meeting with you to help support you with resources, will create time on the 
agenda of our Executive Team Meetings to report your progress, he will create 
time on the agenda of our company's quarterly Town Hall Meetings, and he will 
research and provide you with whatever else is needed to make your actions a 
success." (More cheering.)

During the cheering he leaned over to me and whispered "That gentleman who 
wants to re-design the database has so much enthusiasm, I can tell he is a 
leader, and can serve the organization in much greater ways than his current 
job title and description.  Unfortunately he does not know that the database 
re-design project is already in progress. But with that kind of energy and 
leadership, we are going to find a place for him on the project."

So in that case, action supported by resources, time, dedicated staff, and 
support from the top. A recipe for sustainability and success.


Lisa Heft
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
Opening Space
lisah...@openingspace.net<mailto:lisah...@openingspace.net>

Ask me about these 2011 workshops for facilitators and others who convene 
people:
 - The Open Space Learning Workshop
        - June and October - Santiago, Chile (en
español)
        - July-August - Buenos Aires, Argentina (en
español)
        - December 14-16 - San Francisco, USA
 - The Power of Pre-Work - August 24-26 - San Francisco, USA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help save paper! Do you really need to print this email?

Dit bericht kan informatie bevatten die niet voor u is bestemd. Indien u niet 
de geadresseerde bent of dit bericht abusievelijk aan u is toegezonden, wordt u 
verzocht dat aan de afzender te melden en het bericht te verwijderen. De Staat 
aanvaardt geen aansprakelijkheid voor schade, van welke aard ook, die verband 
houdt met risico's verbonden aan het elektronisch verzenden van berichten.

This message may contain information that is not intended for you. If you are 
not the addressee or if this message was sent to you by mistake, you are 
requested to inform the sender and delete the message. The State accepts no 
liability for damage of any kind resulting from the risks inherent in the 
electronic transmission of messages.
_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org
To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

Reply via email to