Tricia – You just learned THE most valuable lesson. Lesson #1
You can’t open space if your space ain’t open. Chris said it more elegantly, but that is the gist. And from what you said -- seems like your space was in lockdown. 5 days with little sleep, racing about, worrying, “fixing things”… No space for nothing. Painful for sure, but you will never have to learn it again. I am positive. And THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing! The only pre-work that is really essential is your own. Or put a little differently, if you don’t do your own preparation nothing else really matters that much. At least as far as you are concerned. People kid me about not doing very much, which is absolutely true. But what they don’t see is what I do do before they ever see me. Everybody will have their own way, but before every Open Space, particularly the “dicey” ones, my day starts early. Beginning with a good meditation, followed by a walk and then on to the venue at least an hour and a half (better two) before “Show Time.” I sit in the center, before anybody is there, and if people do wander in, I invite them to join me in the silence. No talking, no planning, no fixing. Just the space and silence. After a bit, I get up to complete the site preparation, if that is needed. No hurrys – sort a walking meditation. I particularly enjoy doing the Post-its especially for a big gathering. It is really “zenish,” if that communicates. A half hour before “Start” I stop everything. Maybe I look at my watch, but I don’t recall doing so…just seems to happen that way. At that point, I leave the venue, go outside if possible – and return at the appointed hour. When I stand at the edge of the circle to invite the festivities to begin, I am about as clear and focused as I can be. It feels wonderful. Something about doing nothing and everything gets done. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Dr. Potomac, MD 20854 USA 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) Camden, Maine 04843 Phone 301-365-2093 (summer) 207-763-3261 www.openspaceworld.com www.ho-image.com (Personal Website) To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org From: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Tricia Chirumbole Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 2:47 PM To: World wide Open Space Technology email list Subject: Re: [OSList] Sticky dots Q shame on me! I messed up the flow, buy-in, and positive energy, by messing up one of the simplest parts....the sticky notes time and session areas. Not totally my fault, but each time I tried to remedy on the fly, made another mistake!! 1) I was a little behind in some final preps bc of early call and have been sick and have barely slept for past 5 days and then people came early..fine, I'll put them to work...also, facilities had not removed the table and equipment, so actually would not necessarily have been behind. - people were a little hard to get to help and a bit distracting and spent a lot of the time standing around, watching me, and making sarcastic jokes about the circle, the principles, the notes, etc....very distracting...I was trying to manage people, go fast, ignore people, and get other work done...so my mind was distraced and I messed up some of the time slots which messed everything up... PLUS, I got resistance in the team picking out breakout rooms in advance and so filled out day 1 notes w/ just the area indicators: 1, 2, 3...finally got them to do it, but it confiused everything..... just whining....will try to salvage! Now I see already however that despite all of the ideas I know everyone has, we have only 2 groups for the morning and people def sitting around and not being engaged, but I don't want to mess much more and start adding to many new topics myself (Iam unfortunately an independent contracter "worker", so I am already violating by participating..) On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 11:08 AM, Chris Corrigan <chris.corri...@gmail.com> wrote: I just want to add, that although I have dispensed with sticky dots years ago as well, I HAVE used them since where they made sense. It's impossible to say what tools are important and what should be jettisoned, but context matters. If your senior people would like the group to prioritize the action plans that were raised, you can create a process to do that that respects the work that has been done and works within the constraints. There are all kinds of ways of doing that. Open Space is an empty frame. We know what it does and how it works. But it does not stand alone. You are using it in a context to accelerate something in an organization and a community. I have found that it isn't wise just to come in and do an open space the way I want to do it without being sensitive to the need behind the call or the context in which you are working. For example a learning Open Space is very different from a product creation Open Space which differs from a strategic planning Open Space which differs from an engagement Open Space. The basic process works the same but the invitation and harvest are very different and the pre-work with the leadership team helps to set the ground for the most successful implementation of ideas. For me if that means we use sticky dots, because that's the best thing to do, we use sticky dots. Chris On 2013-02-12, at 1:46 AM, Koos de Heer wrote: > Hi Tricia, > > I stopped using sticky dot voting in Open Space sessions years ago. > > In the beginning, the agenda process is perfect and does not need any > voting. > > During the Open Space, if a topic needs more time, people will decide they > are not ready and continue to do what needs to be done. > > In the end, when it comes to action planning, I find it much more elegant to > reopen the space for action planning topics. > > So trust the process, trust the people and trust yourself. Take a deep > breath and be present and it will roll (and rock). :-) > > Koos > > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org > [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] Namens Jeff Aitken > Verzonden: dinsdag 12 februari 2013 08:52 > Aan: World wide Open Space Technology email list > Onderwerp: Re: [OSList] Sticky dots Q > > reminds me that the difference between a brainstorm and an open space agenda > creation is that the latter is based on passion and responsibility. > > some items on the brainstorm list may not make it to the open space agenda > wall if the person doesn't actually feel very passionate or responsible > about it after all. > > or it may make it to the wall, but then nobody comes to the session, and the > convenor writes a short report to handle it and moves to another topic. > > jeff > > On 2/11/13, Jeff Aitken <r.jeff.ait...@gmail.com> wrote: >> I would allow the open space process to do the work. I don't see a >> reason to do anything else. I could be misunderstanding of course. >> >> if you are using a 'standard' open space agenda creation process, >> inviting people to put a topic on a sheet of paper and post it on a >> wall with time and place, then i'd allow the wall to be filled with >> topics, and then explain the process of moving topics around based on >> the wishes of the convenors. and let them move things around. >> >> let the law of mobility take care of the rest. and then reflect at the >> end of the day, and they might add and delete and move topics for the >> second day. >> >> jeff >> >> >> On 2/11/13, Tricia Chirumbole <tri...@investorswithoutborders.net> wrote: >>> ok, so I just asked a question re: the need for prioritization of >>> issues and an overwhelmingly large pool of issues in my previous post. >>> >>> I guess part of the answer is sticky dot voting. Cool. I will have to >>> improvise asking people to keep track of their dots using markers >>> since I will have no time to get dots, but that should be ok in a >>> small gorup of 13...not ideal - other thoughts on this are welcome. >>> >>> my questions are - is it ok to do prioritization at outset of day 1? >>> And, if so, would it be better to first generate a marketplace w/o >>> times selected and prioritize them, then have initiators select >>> time/place? or vice versa - neither sound ideal to me. >>> >>> thanks so much!! >>> >>> -- >>> Tricia Chirumbole >>> US: +1-571-232-0942 <tel:%2B1-571-232-0942> >>> Skype: tricia.chirumbole >>> >> > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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 -- Tricia Chirumbole US: +1-571-232-0942 Skype: tricia.chirumbole
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