2019年7月25日 星期四

開放空間會議的前置準備 OST-prework

From: Michael M Pannwitz via OSList   
中文翻譯:蔡淑芳  

(德國的Michael M Pannwitz  在 World wide Open Space Technology email list 分享的關於他在一場OPEN SPACE開始前,所進行的讓〞活動的主要領導者們〞做準備的經驗,非常值得參考,所以翻譯與朋友們分享。)

開放空間會議順利與否與事先的準備工作有絕對的關係,從主辦者想要辦一場開放空間會議來尋找引導師協力開始,如何引導主辦者在探詢和準備的過程中,一次開啟一點空間,Michael M Pannwitz 很是迷人,希望你也喜歡!



為協助“領導者〞就位,我發展了一套我習慣的前置準備的流程

1.接觸:
我接到電話,不一定來自“領導者”,常常是來自某個組織的發展部門的人,打電話來找我協助辦理開放空間會議(OST)。就跟所有稱職的人一樣,來電的這個專業工作者對自己所在的組織總有一套屬於他/她自己的看法,簡短聽過他/她的說法後(因為我不希望被他/她帶著走),我會提出我的標準流程,請對方安排一場跟所有共同決定這場會的人接觸的聚會。

2.實體面對面的會議,不是線上或其他的虚擬聯繫:
通常有三、四或五個人(我建議第一個來電者,讓這個接觸是一個多元的小團體),聚會時間可能是1小時或者15分鐘。這個會議,無論產出為何,我都不收取任何費用。該潛在客戶只需支付必須的費用(如,為了參加籌畫未來在塞維利亞舉辦的、300多位來自穆斯林,猶太人和基督徒領導者將參與的促進世界和平會議的初期會議(那場會是由Harrison Owen 引導,我協同),我必須飛到巴黎在那裡過一晚的花費。)

在這次會面中,我建議在場的人針對為什麼要開這個會做些交流,(通常大家的回應會很歧異,然而卻有助於讓核心議題更加清晰)。

之後,我會介紹辦理開放空間會議(OST)的5或6個先決條件,請與會者廣泛討論。
最後,我還問他們:在開放空間會後,當與會者開始領導他們自己,他們做為領導者對自己領導的角色變化有什麼樣的準備?

哦,是的,他們驚嘆,這就是我們想要的。
嗯,我會補充:組織中沒有人應該對OST活動後續產出的各種行動做出承諾,投入其中的人們,自然會知道自己需要那些支持,以及如何取得他們。
在離開之前,我請他們大家帶著這些交流分享,過一個晚上,然後決定要不要再打電話找我。

如果他們後來再打電話給我,而我也覺得行得通,那就往下開啟第三步:

3.規劃會議(籌備會議):
由領導者所選定的,足以與真正大團體對照的8到35人的團體(這是我的OST經驗中有過的大小),進行3.5小時的會議  - 交換他們對於OST會後的期望(想像會後的第一個工作天,什麼地方改變了?)
  •  決定OST的大主題(四個步驟:每個人自己想、任意組合成小團體產出一個主題、然後是快速跑一輪一起權衡已產出的各個主題,三或四人一起找出最終的建議(金魚缸,其他人圍坐外圈,保留一個空椅子,讓外圍的人可隨時坐進來貢獻想法,並立即退出)和第四步,所有人一起檢視,這就是我們的主題了嗎?
  • 腦力激盪一下,在這個主題下、為能將人們的期待成功地實踐出來,誰需要被邀請來參加這場OST?...通常會很快產出一個長長的名單,然後透過檢查每個建議後面是否真的有具體人可邀的人?快速地篩選。例如,如果“媒體”,除非有人說出一個具體的組織或人名,否則就不會被列入。接下來,再檢視名單中那些人是一定要到的?如果確定〞某個一定要在的人〞絕對沒辦法參加(無論何種原因),我建議重新調整期待或可能必須重定主題。這將有助於更多的澄清,並強化大家的共同出發點。
  •  產出接下來需要處理的事務的列表,以及每個事項的負責人,例如發出邀請,為不同的邀請對象設計不同的邀請流程(有些人送出一封信就好,有些人需要信和電話聯繫,有些人需要拜訪等等)

規劃會議快結束前,我請大家坐成圓圈,並簡要分享他們在過去3.5小時的經驗,總會浮出一些出人意料的分享:帶著懷疑來這會,想不會有什麼意思,但現在我整個被點燃了,我將負責找到適合的場地......我當了20年的行政主管,這是我所見過最有成效且最有趣的聚會...我們已經成為一個真的團隊,即使今天之前我從未見過其中的幾個人......(換句話說,這個小組將與“領導者”一起帶領並在他們的系統中傳播這即將到來的OST。) 
這個過程一直都很順暢,因為體系中的“領導者們” 都在場,雖然進行方式也不是“OST”,且發生在這3.5小時的所有產出都是由在場的人一起討論和決定的。  我曾經受邀為一場校園屠殺(柏林南方的小鎮)發生一年後的活動進行引導,當地政府教育部門的官員對活動主題很有意見,我建議主辦團體可以把這個來自政府的干預納入第二輪籌備會議中討論。在那個規劃小組會議中,討論的確曾升溫到可能威脅活動能否順利辦理的狀況,然而,教育單位的人後來接受了。

我想這個過程之所以受用,因為可以避免被”領導者”誤導或欺騙,雖然這並不是我堅持這個流程的原始目的(除非走完這個流程,否則我不會接受那個工作邀約)。我主要的目的是為更廣的領導力撐出多一點的空間,體系內的正式領導者當然也包含在內的。 
我剛從周六的農夫市集回來,一如既往,我遇到了我認識的人,鄰居,朋友,老同事,但是今天一個小孩(大約3歲)在我旁邊揮舞著手臂有如一隻想飛的鳥。我喊道,你下一分鐘就要飛走了。小孩的父親看著我說,嗨,我是約翰內斯,我在我們高中的開放空間活動見過你(10年前,9/11恐攻的隔天),照料著孫子的祖母也說出一個當年跟我一起協力的伙伴的名字。聊天中,他們不斷提到那場活動對他們產生的根本影響,以及學生代表們之後在他們的例行的每周會議中使用開放空間...

回家的巴士上,我想起當年那個活動後,在後續的三場會議(跟所有要與那場開放空間會最後規劃的行動方案的人們聚在一起的團體,一起檢視行動步驟以及下一步)的第一場會後,我跟學校主任的談話:
“嘿,邁克爾,發生了一件奇怪的事!”
  哦,怎麼說。
“我現在比之前多出了好多時間!”
  你覺得如何呢?
“完美,太棒了,是我一直想要的。人們不會再像以前一樣來找我討論一堆細節和問題了。 現在,我終於有時間處理那些對學校真正重要的議題了。“  

來自柏林的問候,我已經回到我家的花園準備要摘黑莓去了。
---------------
The approach I have developed to improve on the role and task of the "leader" goes like this:

1. Contact:
I get a call from someone, not necessarily the "leader", sometimes a person from the OD department of the organization requesting an OST event. This professional person, as anyone else, can really have a number of assumptions about the organization she or he works for. After listening for a very short while (since I dont want to get confused) I suggest my standard procedure, a contact meeting with those that decide on this event.

2. Contact meeting face-to-face, never online or similar stuff:
Usually three or four or five people (I suggested to the first caller that it should be a bit of a diverse small group) gather for this contact meeting which lasts exactly 1 hour and maybe 15 minutes. For this meeting I dont charge anything regardless of the outcome. The potential client simply pays the costs (if I have to fly to Paris and spend a night there which happened in the early stage of the 300 leaders with Muslims, Jews and Christians engaged in World Peace in Sevilla (HO
facilitated, I helped).)
In this meeting I suggest the present folks have an exchange on what the gathering is planned for (usually there is a pretty divergent response but the central issue becomes clearer).After that I tell them about the 5 or 6 prerequites for an OST event and have them exchange on those.
At the end I also ask them how aware they are about the role of leaders after an OST event in face of the fact that participants start to lead themselves. Oh, yes, they exclaim, thats what we would love. Hmmm. I also add that nobody from the organization should make any promises in regard to the potential actions that people will engage in after the event. Them then also leading will know what kind of support they need and how to get it.
Before leaveing I tell them to sleep over all this and give me a ring.If they call me and if I have a hunch that it will all work out, the third step is the :

3. Planning Meeting (preparatory meeting):
A group of 8 to 35 people (thats the range I have experienced in my career of working with OST) that the "leaders" selected, mirroring approximately the expected participants, meet for exactly 3.5 hours to- exchange their expectations re the outcome (Thinking of the first working day after the event, what has changed?)
- develope the overall theme (in four steps: everyone for himself followed by random small groups to come to one theme, followed by a quick round of weighing the various themes, a round of three or four that want to come to a final suggestion (in fishbowl with the rest of the group watching, one empty chair for folks watching to come in and make a suggestion and immeditately leaving the chair again) and fourth an exchange of all to see whether the theme is it
- a brainstorming on who all needs to be invited to the event to actually work successfully on action that would carry the expectations forward under the chosen overall theme... usually a long list pops up which is reduced by a quick check on whether concrete people are behind the suggestions. For instance if someone says "The press" it will not count unless someone comes up with a particular organ or best a particular person...). The list is then checked on once more by identifying who is essential. If it turns out that someone mentioned as "essential" will definitely not come (for whatever reason) I suggest that then expectations have to be reduced or the overall Theme changed. That can lead to more clarifications and strenghens the common ground.
- produce a list of stuff that needs to be worked on and who will be in charge of that for each item, such as producting an invitation, designing different invitation procedures for different target groups (some will need an letter, others a letter and a phone call, some you have to go and see, etc.)
Shortly before the end of the Planning Meeting I ask folks to sit in a closing circle and briefly state what they experienced in the last 3.5 hours. Amazing stuff will surface such as: I came doubting this would make any sense, now I am on fire and have taken charge of finding a venue... I have been working as an executive for 20 years and never had a more productive and fun gathering... we have developed into a real group even though several of you I never met before...(in other words this group together with the "leader" is now leading and spreading the word about the event in their system.)

This kind of approach has always worked also because the formal "leaders" were present and even though it was not done in "OST" nothing happened in the 3.5 hours that was not what those present worked and decided on.
There was, however, one event that I was asked to faciliate a year after a massacre in a school in a town south of Berlin, where the folks of the government (state government, secretary of education), protested against the overall theme. I told the sponsoring group that this intervention could be taken into consideration in a second round of the Planning session. The Planning Group did rise to a stance that would have threatened the event, the secretary gave in.
I think this process works, because it prevents being misled and deceived by "leaders" although, that was not my primary motive for insisting on this process (in fact, I did not accept a job unless this procedure was followed). My primary purpose was to have more space for broad leadership in which formal "leaders" were included, of course.

I am writing this after returning from my Saturday visit at the local farmers market. As always I met folks I know, neighbors, friends, old colleagues. But today a small child (about 3) ran by me waving his arms like a bird wanting to fly. I shouted, watch ought your will fly off in a minute. The father looked at me and said, hi, I am Johannes, I know you from the Open Space event in our highschool (10 years ago, the day after 9/11) and his mother minding her grandson called out a name of a colleague that also worked on the event. Of course, we chatted and they kept repeating what a basic impact that made on them and how the Student Body representatives used open space in their weekly sessions (Anna Caroline Turk was part of that at the age of 18 or so)...

Reflecting on the event on my way home in the bus I remembered an exchange I had with the Director of the school after the first of at least three  "Next Meetings" (checking on the Action Steps and the next steps in a group of everyone that was partaking in the Actions that had been planned at the end of the ost event):

"Hey, Michael, something strange is happening!"
Yes, tell me more.
"I have much more time now then I used to have!"
How is that for you?
"Perfect, great, something I always had hoped for. People just dont come
to me anymore for the myriad of details and questions that they used to
have. Now, I finally have the time to spend time on issues that are
vital for the school."

Greetings from Berlin where I am now returning to picking blackberries
in our garden


運用OST於學習的地圖

因各地的活動頗多,本地圖暫搜集至2016下半年。

活動照片

www.flickr.com

Facebook

Blog Archive