Open Space Technology is one way to enable all kinds of people, in
any kind of organization, to create inspired meetings and events. Over
the last 20+ years, it has also become clear that opening space, as an
intentional leadership practice, can create inspired organizations,
where ordinary people work together to create extraordinary results
with regularity.
In Open Space meetings, events and organizations, participants
create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around
a central theme of strategic importance, such as: What is the strategy,
group, organization or community that all stakeholders can support and
work together to create?
With groups of 5 to 2000+ people -- working in one-day
workshops, three-day conferences, or the regular weekly staff meeting
-- the common result is a powerful, effective connecting and
strengthening of what's already happening in the organization: planning
and action, learning and doing, passion and responsibility,
participation and performance.
When and Why?
Open Space works best when the work to be done is complex, the
people and ideas involved are diverse, the passion for resolution (and
potential for conflict) are high, and the time to get it done was
yesterday. It's been called passion bounded by responsibility, the
energy of a good coffee break, intentional self-organization, spirit at
work, chaos and creativity, evolution in organization, and a simple,
powerful way to get people and organizations moving -- when and where
it's needed most.
And, while Open Space is known for its apparent lack of
structure and welcoming of surprises, it turns out that the Open Space
meeting or organization is actually very structured -- but that
structure is so perfectly fit to the people and the work at hand, that
it goes unnoticed in its proper role of supporting (not blocking) best
work. In fact, the stories and workplans woven in Open Space are
generally more complex, more robust, more durable -- and can move a
great deal faster than expert- or management-driven designs.
What will happen?
We never know exactly what will happen when we open the space for
people to do their most important work, but we can guarantee these
results when any group gets into Open Space:
1. All of the issues that are MOST important to the participants will be raised.
2. All of the issues raised will be addressed by those
participants most qualified and capable of getting something done on
each of them.
3. In a time as short as one or two days, all of the most
important ideas, discussion, data, recommendations, conclusions,
questions for further study, and plans for immediate action will be
documented in one comprehensive report -- finished, printed and in the
hands of participants when they leave.
4. When appropriate and time is allowed for it, the total
contents of this report document can be focused and prioritized in a
matter of a few hours, even with very large groups (100's).
5. After an event, all of these results can be made available
to an entire organization or community within days of the event, so the
conversation can invite every stakeholder into implementation -- right
now.
6. AND... results like these can be planned and implemented
faster than any other kind of so-called "large-group intervention." It
is literally possible to accomplish in days and weeks what some other
approaches take months and years to do.
The good news, and the bad news, is that it works. Good news because
it gets people and work moving, bad news because that may mean lots of
things are going to be different than before. Wanted things can appear,
unwanted things disappear, and sometime vice versa -- but that's how
life is. In short, then, Open Space brings life back to organization
and organizations back to life.
