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Annual Membership Meeting December 2010
Limited opportunities - let's do it for a day or 2 or 3 - management folks have gotten more cautious certainly in Canada certainly since the downturn in the economy. Opening space is a risk. There are a few who are still wanting to do that - had some open space events with some of those few - Taiwan - who are using OS all over the place - aboriginal issues - places in Haiti - earthquakes. Then the more conservative who are wanting to control the outcome - may need something to help them to get to Open Space.
Many would not get to Open Space - not able to get there - partly because Leadership to management position - measurement outcome in traditional sense.
Help prepare them to open the space- even trying to open space in 1.5 hours.
Opening space - around a theme - take responsibility as a team or as pairs of 12-15 people
include some more traditional facilitation - opening some space around some particular theme - what they are facing at this point in history.
Christine - some particular conversation around community conversation - how I have done the blending - how I'm always conscious - groups - the whole system - 2-3 day conferences I've been a part of - something that helps the individual - appreciative interviews (based on the work of Appreciative Inquiry) really warms the space.
In a group that hasn't done anything - helping - focus on the individual - World Cafe' is a nice next step.
Starting to be more curious - where are we going to take this? People feel very honored - their words are being visible - starting to move the things forward. In a community setting - tackle a big issue - their are experts - that provides a tremendous context.
Doug - do this the night before an Open Space event - small groups - it depends - different design for each client - and each group - blended - northrup grumman - coherent culture- design team - each interviewed one client - range of folks - the design team collected those folks ahead of time - then do another round of appreciative interviews - small group themes- invited everyone - craft the questions for the world cafe'.
After the World Cafe' - what was the most burning question - it all flows together.
Harold mentioned Kanban which is a simple tool used in the Lean Manufacturing context which has been extended to any kind of process management. It's simply putting the topics on cards that a group might want to discuss, similar to an Open Space, but ordering and then stepping through as many of the topics as the group can get through based on voting.
Following Thomas Hermann's ideas- making up a talking piece- virtual talking piece and then passing it around the circle - so that everyone has the opportunity to jump in.
Larry - Combining Open Space with other things - most of us can create the conditions for much of what we see in that we guide in a self-organizing way - it requires us as facilitators to be comfortable with that - more comfortable - where we are headed - self-organizing process - don't know it yet.
Collaboration - dance of leader and follower - taking passion for the things that they care about - really trying to participate - people brining their wisdom to the "not the table"...
A "State of Grace document" with Open Space holds the relationship. The open space invites people to come forward to be champions. 10 flip chart stands around the room - whoever wants to be champion of it - people sign their names up - some one or none - whatever that action topic is - create a state of grace document - most useful for these particular people - for situation we are trying to move forward - begin to understand if they don't get the relationship moving along with the project.
Like a performance review. What are we doing? Who are all these people involved? a check-in on a regular basis - in a community basis - groups of people - give them some information - a state of grace document together - if it's about more community gardening - start to understand one another.
Doug - interest is the community side of this - trying to combine different things - curious to hear more - in detail from Ed, and from Maurene - about what those folks are doing - what things look like - real community things - immigration, etc.
Donna - studied it with John Adams - starting a consulting - raising in the market place - international development - make the agency more aware of the vast number of products and services- national center - court administration through out the world. Individual energies - staff overseas. Interviewing - what their thinking is - move into an Open Space - just come up - because they are so very conservative- is going to freak them out.This is a good modality for this exercise- how Christine is using appreciative interview - before moving into Open Space. Background in psychotherapy. National center for state courts.
Karen Davis - part of what life is about- the synthesis - discovering ways of making all kinds of things relevant - bringing the science in - Appreciative Inquiry - Open Space - Future Search - etc. don't have anything - just got out of a legal meeting - hook in later. Ways that Christine got to know Karen was the OSonOS in Halifax - leading a Cherokee dance - dance of alignment - was wonderful.
Christine - promoting civil dialog - they weren't interested in Open Space - were interested in World Cafe' - heartening in Phoenix - most restrictive and racially charged laws on the books - allows the police to stop someone who suspect of being an illegal immigrant. The shouting matches from the two different sides - we decided to step up and do this - so successful - people from the Tea Party - people who were part of PAC's - was a really civil quite generative conversation - what we got to in the end - what Maurene was talking about - rather than flip charts with the different charts - most actual ideas - people that wanted to be in it - post it system. Some outputs from that:
1- A good majority - their biggest disappointment - not enough people from the other side - to understand the thinking.
2- Out of the World Cafe' met 2 months later - decided to each invite - 9 of them - each of them 1 opposite view to a dinner - World Cafe' recorded conversation - gave back to the community - first time there has been any action coming out of the bigger event - very hard because there is no infrastructure - on the one hand - don't want to be the infrastructure - there's a way you stop if you take on too much responsibility.
Larry - forming a coalition - when they did an event - urban health issues - in downtown toronto - five groups came out of it - sustained themselves for months - but because they came up with stuff they had passion for - because they had access to something - to kind of foster and pay for their event - life as well their community life - when that infrastructure is there - framing of the event - community support system - I find that it can sustain - one group that didn't sustain - came up with great ideas went to UBC - was taking role from institutional base - having that based on the community makes a difference.
The event was being framed by various social planning organizations - network or coalition of organizations that were the sponsor - they invited through their various networks to become participants - the city people were involved- the public health people - local health integration network- numbers of health related organizations - who ended up deciding to sponsor. When I do an open space like that - find strong sponsoring group - then it can go forward - can't force it to happen if that's not there. Enough of a base - enough time and space in their own agendas - to pursue the stuff that emerges. Unless what emerges aligns - it tends not to happen.
