Open Space Technology (OST)

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    Open Space Technology (OST) is an approach forhostingmeetings,conferences, corporate-style

    retreats,symposiums, and community summit events, focused on a specific and important purpose or

    taskbut beginningwithout any formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme.

    Contents

    [hide]

    1 Self-organization

    2 Origin and ownership

    3 Outcomes

    4 Ideal initial conditions

    5 Typical meeting process

    6 Guiding principles and one law

    o 6.1 Law of two feet

    7 See also

    8 References

    9 External links

    [edit]Self-organization

    Open Space meeting at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    Highly scalable and adaptable, OST has been used in meetings of 5 to 2,100 people. The approach is

    characterized by few basic mechanisms:

    1. a broad, open invitation that articulates the purpose of the meeting;

    2. participant chairs arranged in a circle;

    3. a "bulletin board" of issues and opportunities posted by participants;

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    4. a "marketplace" with many breakout spaces that participants move freely between, learning

    and contributing as they "shop" for information and ideas;

    5. a "breathing" or "pulsation" pattern of flow, between plenary and small-group breakout

    sessions.

    The approach is most distinctive for its initiallack of an agenda, which sets the stage for the meeting'sparticipants to create the agenda for themselves, in the first 3090 minutes of the meeting or event.

    Typically, an "open space" meeting will begin with short introductions by the sponsor (the official or

    acknowledged leader of the group) and usually a single facilitator. The sponsor introduces the

    purpose; the facilitator explains the "self-organizing" process called "open space." Then the group

    creates the working agenda, as individuals post their issues in bulletin board style. Each individual

    "convener" of a breakout session takes responsibility for naming the issue, posting it on the bulletin

    board, assigning it a space and time to meet, and then later showing up at that space and time,

    kicking off the conversation, and taking notes. These notes are usually compiled into a proceedings

    document that is distributed physically or electronically to all participants. Sometimes one or more

    additional approaches are used to sort through the notes, assign priorities, and identify what actions

    should be taken next. Throughout the process, the ideal facilitator is described as being "fully present

    and totally invisible" (see Owen, User's Guide), "holding a space" for participants to self-organize,

    rather than managing or directing the conversations.

    Hundreds of Open Space meetings have been documented (http://www.openspaceworld.org; Open

    Space Institute US, STORIES Newsletter;http://www.openspaceworldscape.org; Tales from Open

    Space, edited by Harrison Owen, Abbott Publishing). In "Open Space Technology: A User's Guide,"

    (and seven other books about Open Space), Harrison Owen explains that this approach works best

    when these conditions are present, namely high levels of (1) complexity, in term of the tasks to be

    done or outcomes achieved; (2) diversity, in terms of the people involved and/or needed to make any

    solution work; (3) real or potential conflict, meaning people really care about the central issue or

    purpose; and (4) urgency, meaning that the time to act was "yesterday".

    According to Harrison Owen, originator of the term and the approach, Open Space works because it

    harnesses and acknowledges the power of self-organization, which he suggests is substantially

    aligned with the deepest process of life itself, as described by leading-edge complexity science as

    well as ancient spiritual teachings.[1]

    [edit]Origin and ownership

    The history of Open Space Technology is detailed in the Introduction to"Open Space Technology: A

    User's Guide", by Harrison Owen.[2]

    In the early 1980s, Harrison Owen wrote a paper on what he called "organization transformation". He

    presented this paper at a traditional management conference. It was well enough received that a

    number of people urged Owen to organize a conference to specifically address the issues and

    opportunities he identified in his paper. Owen hosted the first annual Symposium on Organization

    Transformation in 1983, in a traditional conference format, in Monterey, California. The event was a

    success, inasmuch as it was generally agreed that it should happen again. The second annual

    symposium (OT-2) one year later, but still in a traditional conference format.

    Harrison Owen agreed to organize OT-3 for the following year, but by his own account, did not relish

    another year of work to manage all the details. Upon volunteering to host the third symposium, he

    retreated to the bar, where he consistently claims to have discovered what he later called the "open

    space" approach to meetings and events, at the bottom of his second martini. His plan for the

    following year's symposium was informed by his experience as a biblical scholar, associate pastor,

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    peace corps organizer in the villages of west Africa, and federal government staffer and organization

    development consultant in Washington DC.

    The following year, he sent out a simple, one-paragraph invitation, and more than 100 people showed

    up to discuss Organization Transformation. In his main meeting room he set the chairs one large

    circle and proceeded to explain that what participants could see in the room was the extent of hisorganizing work. If they had an issue or opportunity that they felt passionate about and wanted to

    discuss with other participants, they should come to the center of the circle, get a marker and paper,

    write their issue and their name, read that out, and post it on the wall. It took about 90 minutes for the

    100+ people to organize a 3-day agenda of conference sessions, each one titled, hosted, and

    scheduled by somebody in the group.

    Participants at OT-1 and OT-2 said that the best part of the events was the coffee breaks, which

    Owen always pointed out was the one part of the event that he didn't plan and couldn't take credit for.

    His inspiration to articulate the theme, the larger purpose for the work of the symposium, in an

    invitation and then a brief opening comment, and then simply "open the space" for participants to self-

    organize around the issues and opportunities they saw as essential to that purpose, was a consciousdecision to make "more of what works". His martini-based plan sought to minimize the grunt work by

    leadership (him) and assign responsibility for maximizing productive learning and contribution to his

    participants (everyone else).

    The approach worked well, in the 3-1/2 days symposium, where it was repeated annually through OT-

    20. Soon after the first "Open Space" event at OT-3, however, Owen tried the same approach with a

    consulting client, a large chemical firm and a group of polymer chemists. When it worked there, too,

    the participants of OT began trying it out with their clients, in a variety of different kinds of

    organizations, to address many different kinds of strategic and community issues, in countries around

    the world. They returned to the OT symposium each year to share learnings.

    Owen never trademarked or patented or certified "open space" in any way. He always claimed to

    have discovered, rather than invented, it. He said it could be practiced freely by anyone with a good

    head and good heart. From the beginning, he said only that those who used the approach and found

    it valuable, should share their stories and learnings as freely, as well.

    Twenty-five years later, Harrison Owen estimates that more than 100,000 different "Open Space"

    meetings have taken place. The Open Space World Map (http://www.openspaceworldmap.org)

    documents that these events have taken place in more than 160 countries. In December 2009, the

    OSLIST email listserve (hosted by Boise State University athttp://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-

    bin/wa?A0=OSLIST) for practitioners worldwide had 660+ members in 39 countries and more than

    26,500 publicly searchable messages, relating to all aspects of practice. Information about open

    space is now posted in 21 different languages at Open Space World

    (http://www.openspaceworld.org). There are at least five different government-chartered associations

    or institutes (France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and USA) promoting Open Space practice around

    the world, and also active, but informal, organizations in several other countries (including Canada,

    Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, and the UK). The German-language Yahoo group started

    February 2002, had 233 members at year-end 2009, mostly from Germany, Austria and Switzerland

    and also from France, Spain, The Netherlands, Poland and elsewhere, with 3497 messages in its

    archive. At year-end 2009, the Australian email group was more than 500 strong.

    Harrison Owen originally used the term "open space" for his "self-organizing[3]

    meetings". One of the

    earliest implementations of the approach was for a conference theme of "The business of business is

    learning," in Goa, India. The organizer of the conference was interviewed by the local media and

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    described the simple process. When asked what the process was called, he embellished it a bit, with

    the more important-sounding "Open Space Technology". The story was picked up by The New York

    Times(need date, c. 1985), and so "open space" became "Open Space Technology".

    [edit]Outcomes

    There are several desired outcomes[4]

    from an Open Space event.

    1. The issues that are most important to people will get discussed.

    2. The issues raised will be addressed by the participants best capable of getting something

    done about them.

    3. All of the most important ideas, recommendations, discussions, and next steps will be

    documented in a report.

    4. When sufficient time is allowed, the report contents will be prioritized by the group.

    5. Participants will feel engaged and energized by the process.

    [edit]Ideal initial conditionsAccording toOpen Space Technology: A User's Guide

    [2]andother books by Harrison Owen, open

    space technology works best when these conditions are present:

    1. A real issue of concern, that it is something worth talking about.

    2. a high level of complexity, such that no single person or small group fully understands or can

    solve the issue

    3. a high level of diversity, in terms of the skills and people required for a successful resolution

    4. real or potential conflict,[5]

    which implies that people genuinely care about the issue

    5. a high level urgency, meaning the time for decisions and action was "yesterday"

    He goes further to explain these as when we are not ready to do Open Space. When we are:

    1. without a real business issue, nobody cares.

    2. without complexity, there is really no reason to have a meeting (solve it!).

    3. without diversity there is not sufficient richness in the points of view to achieve novel

    solutions.

    4. without passion and conflict -- there is no juice to move things along.

    5. without a real sense of urgency, all that wonderful passion loses focus and power.

    Further, the recognition of these conditions by leadership typically implies some level of letting go of

    control and opening of invitation. In different ways and to varying degrees, leaders convening Open

    Space meetings acknowledge that they, personally, do not have "the answer" to whatever complex,

    urgent and important issue(s) must be addressed and they put out the call (invitation) to anyone in the

    organization or community who cares enough to attend a meeting and try to create a solution.

    In a different text[6]

    he talks about preconditions for open space

    The essential preconditions are:

    1. A relatively safe nutrient environment.

    2. High levels of diversity and complexity in terms of the elements to be self-organized.

    3. Living at the edge of chaos. Nothing will happen if everything is sitting like a lump.

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    4. An inner drive towards improvement. e.g. a cartoon atom wants to get together with other

    atoms to become a molecule.

    5. Sparsity of connections.

    Kaufmann[7]

    is suggesting that self-organization will only occur if there are few prior connections

    between the elements, indeed he says no more than two. In retrospect, it seems to make sense. Ifeverything is hardwired in advance how could it self-organize?

    [edit]Typical meeting process

    At the beginning of an open space the participants sit in a circle,[8]

    or in concentric circles for large

    groups (300 to 2000 people and more).

    The facilitator will greet the people and briefly re-state the theme of their gathering, without giving a

    lengthy speech. Then someone will invite all participants to identify any issue or opportunity related to

    the theme. Participants willing to raise a topic will come to the centre of the circle, write it on a sheet

    of paper and announce it to the group before choosing a time and a place for discussion and posting

    it on a wall. That wall becomes the agenda for the meeting.

    No participant must suggest issues, but anyone may do so. However, if someone posts a topic, the

    system expects that the person has a realpassionfor the issue and can start the discussion on it.

    That person also must make sure that a report of the discussion is done and posted on another wall

    so that any participant can access the content of the discussion at all times. No limit exists on the

    number of issues that the meeting can post.

    When all issues have been posted, participants sign up and attend those individual sessions.

    Sessions typically last for 1.5 hours; the whole gathering usually lasts from a half day up to about two

    days. The opening and agenda creation lasts about an hour, even with a very large group.

    After the opening and agenda creation, the individual groups go to work. The attendees organizeeach session; people may freely decide which session they want to attend, and may switch to another

    one at any time. Online networking can occur both before and following the actual face-to-face

    meetings so discussions can continue seamlessly. All discussion reports are compiled in a document

    on site and sent to participants, unedited, shortly after.

    In this way, Open Space Technology begins without any pre-determined agenda, but work is directed

    by a "theme" or "purpose" or "invitation" that is carefully articulated by leaders, in advance of the

    meeting. The organizers do outline in advance a schedule of breakout times and spaces. The

    combination of clear purpose and ample breakout facilities directly supports the process of self-

    organization by meeting participants. After the opening briefing, the facilitator typically remains largely

    in the background, exerting no control over meeting content or participants, though possibly

    supporting the compiling of whatever sort of document is produced by participants.

    Small groups might create agendas of only a few issues. Very large groups have generated as many

    as 234 sessions[1]

    running concurrently over the course of a day and longer meetings may establish

    priorities and set up working-groups for follow-up.

    [edit]Guiding principles and one law

    In his User's Guide, Harrison Owen has articulated "the principles" and "one law" that are typically

    quoted and briefly explained during the opening briefing of an Open Space meeting. These

    explanations describe rather than control the process of the meeting. The principles and Owen's

    explanations are:

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    1. Whoever comes is[sic]the right people...reminds participants that they don't need the CEO

    and 100 people to get something done, you need people who care. And, absent the direction

    or control exerted in a traditional meeting, that's who shows up in the various breakout

    sessions of an Open Space meeting.

    2. Whenever it starts is the right time...reminds participants that "spirit and creativity do not run

    on the clock."

    3. Wherever it happens is the right place...reminds participants that space is opening

    everywhere all the time. Please be conscious and aware. Tahrir Square is one famous

    example. (Wherever is the new one, just added[9]

    )

    4. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have...reminds participants that once

    something has happened, it's doneand no amount of fretting, complaining or otherwise

    rehashing can change that. Move on.

    5. When it's over, it's over...reminds participants that we never know how long it will take to

    resolve an issue, once raised, but that whenever the issue or work or conversation is

    finished, move on to the next thing. Don't keep rehashing just because there's 30 minutes left

    in the session. Do the work, not the time.

    [edit]Law of two feet

    Owen explains his one "Law," called the "Law of two feet"or"the law of mobility", as follows:

    If at any time during our time together you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning

    nor contributing, use your two feet, go someplace else.

    In this way, all participants are given both the right and the responsibility to maximize their own

    learning and contribution, which the Law assumes only they, themselves, can ultimately judge and

    control. When participants lose interest and get bored in a breakout session, or accomplish and share

    all that they can, the charge is to move on, the "polite" thing to do is going off to do something else. In

    practical terms, Owen explains, the Law of Two Feet says: "Don't waste time!"

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