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Communication in business will always be the key component of organisational success. This applies whether it is internal communication with staff, external communication with customers and suppliers, or communication across projects. Many companies attempt to engage through an old-style system of conferencing, where the agenda is pre-set and rigid and the communication generally flows in one direction only – towards the audience.
We were asked several years ago by a major client, Atkins Global, to facilitate a business conference for key managers across the group of companies. The purpose was to allow managers to pass on important messages while also helping them develop an understanding of the business and its future requirements.
Our solution was an Open Space Technology (OST) event – a style of conferencing new to Atkins and relatively new to the UK. Within one month we had secured a venue, helped the client to develop an overarching question-and-theme for the event and communicated with all those involved. Over two days, more than 80 people attended a conference with no set agenda, no one person leading, and with simply an open space for communication.
During the process, over 30 agenda items were unanimously agreed, based on a theme of ‘how do we create an ethos and an environment for excellence in all that we do but especially in delivering to our clients?’ The agenda items became the focus of individual breakout seminars, dynamic discussions led by the most experienced and passionate people, and the development of action plans for change.
In the closing circle of the event people commented that they had never felt so ‘listened to’, were in control of the event themselves, encouraged that change would really happen and would find it almost impossible to return to the old form of conferencing.
Since that first event we have organised more than eight different OST events for companies in the Atkins Group. We have also managed over 50 events for other clients throughout the UK. Examples include helping public sector organisations deal with change; helping local authorities develop action plans for meeting government regulation targets; helping engineering companies develop project specs with their customers; helping manufacturing companies meet their customers’ needs and develop their products and services and helping organisations run yearly communication conferences with staff.
OST is one way to enable all kinds of people, in any sort of organisation, to create inspired meetings and events. Over the past 15 years, it has also become clear that OST, when used as an intentional leadership practice, can create motivated organisations, where people work together to create extraordinary results on a regular basis.
In open space meetings, events and organisations, 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, organisation or community that all stakeholders can support and work together to create.
With groups of between 5 –1000 working in one-day workshops, three-day conferences, or regular weekly staff meetings, the common result is a powerful, effective, connecting and strengthening of what is already happening in the organisation: planning and action, learning and doing, passion and responsibility, participation and performance.
Open Space works best when the task is complex, the people and ideas involved are diverse, the passion for resolution (and potential for conflict) is high, and the timescale is short. It’s been called ‘passion-bound by responsibility’, ‘the energy of a good coffee break’, ‘intentional self-organisation’, ‘spirit at work’, ‘chaos and creativity’, ‘evolution in organisation’ and ‘a simple, powerful way to get people and organisations moving when and where it’s needed most’.
Open Space is known for its apparent lack of structure and the way it welcomes surprises. In fact, the system is very structured but the structure is so perfectly adapted to the participants and the task in hand that it goes unnoticed in its role of supporting (not blocking) best work. In practice, the stories and work plans created in Open Space are generally more complex, more robust, more durable and can move a great deal faster than expert- or management-driven designs.
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::
Mike Fisher and Rob Chappell have been facilitating OST events for several years and have worked successfully with groups as small as 12 and as large as 300, from school children to managers of large multinational corporations. In every case, the outcomes resulted from the passion of the participants and their willingness to take responsibility for that enthusiasm. Invariably the organisations that have embraced OST have changed forever.
If you already know the answer you’re hoping to get then OST won’t work. If you are simply trying to talk people round to your way of thinking, OST won’t work. In fact, if you’re looking to control events in any way at all, OST won’t work.
OST is a method of harnessing the passion and willingness to take responsibility in your people. The question is therefore a crucially important element.
What do you want to know? Is it the design of a new product or service or the future direction of an entire corporation?
The question or theme you set can either inhibit and restrict or allow space for true creativity. The process begins long before the event, when our OST consultants start working with you to develop a thought-provoking and energising question that will set the scene.
The participants’ first contact with OST is the invitation they receive. From that point, we are setting the tone for the event so it is crucial that the invitation makes people curious, excited and keen to get involved.
Once the question is set, our OST consultants will design and manage the invitation, enabling it to open the space for creative thought well before the event.
One important outcome of OST is the question report that collates all the minutes from the breakout events. Throughout the day, our OST facilitators quietly encourage people to type their notes and ensure that any IT problems are taken care of.
After the event, the raw information is presented in an easy-to-read report, which is sent to all participants.
Sponsors briefingAs managers, we are trained to direct and lead – surely, that is the only way to get to where we want to be? But what if everybody took responsibility? What if everybody led the way? Then we, as managers, would need to rethink the way in which we manage. The hardest thing in the world is not hanging on, it’s letting go.
OST sets in motion a genuinely community-driven process of change and growth. For it to be truly successful, participants must know that they are free to express their passion and take responsibility for leading the way. Managers must genuinely learn to let go.
To help them, our OST consultants spend however much time is needed prior to the event, talking and listening to managers to help them understand the principles of OST and the dangers of controlling, rather than participating.
Since OST is a balance of structure and chaos, from the moment people step into the open space we create, they must feel both excited and comfortable with the environment.
Our OST consultants find an appropriate venue for the event and manage all the arrangements, taking care of every detail and creating the right atmosphere.
The OST facilitator’s role is to create safe surroundings from which participants can feel free to experiment and take risks.
We may wish for freedom but actually getting it can be a disconcerting experience. The facilitators are there to act as a focus for people’s confusion or anxiety, even when participants themselves may not recognise that their behaviour is anxious.
All our courses are custom-designed to meet your specific needs. If you have questions or would like further information, please contact us.
Tel: 01454 410000 • E-mail: enquiries@pendragon-hr.com • Web: www.pendragon-cs.com
Pendragon Human Partnerships, Annwn Court, Shepperdine Road, Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire, BS35 1RL
To download the full Facilitating Communication brochure in PDF format - click here
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