AT&T spent ten long months designing their $200 million Olympic pavilion. The design was so admired that they were asked to make the pavilion accommodate ten times as many visitors. This meant starting again from scratch. The 23 members of the design team did not think they had time to meet this near impossible challenge. Two days later, the atmosphere was very different. A totally new design had been created down to the level of working drawings, and everybody agreed that it was much better than the earlier one. The secret to this amazing turn around was a process called Open Space Technology.
'When you listen to somebody else, whether you like it or not, what they say becomes a part of you..... a common pool is created, where people begin suspending their own opinions and listening to other people's .... at some point people begin recognizing that the common pool is more important than their separate pools.'
David Bohm
Harrison Owen of Potomac, Maryland created Open Space Technology after noticing that energy and creativity was highest during conferences during coffee breaks and lowest during the preplanned agenda.
He created a meeting based on the simple idea that people work best on what they feel passionate about and have responsibility for. He kept the form simple: people gather together in a circle to hear about an issue or concern and then generate breakout sessions based on what they feel is most important to discuss in relation to that topic.
That first Open Space conference was a total success. The degree of participation, energy and engagement was extremely high. Many of the participants in that event were so thrilled with the process that they decided to try it in their own organizations to see if the results could be replicated – and they were.
In the past 15 years thousands of Open Space meetings and events have occurred. Open Space meetings have been held with groups of 5 to 1000 -- working in one to three-day conferences, or at regular weekly staff and project team meetings. Participants have come from Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, banking and new technology companies, religious communities, governmental agencies, community associations and even whole towns.
At the very least Open Space is a fast, cheap and simple way to better, more productive meetings. At a deeper level, it enables people to experience a very different quality of organization in which self managed work groups are the norm, leadership is a constatly shared phenomenon, diversity becomes a resource to be used instead of a problem to be overcome, and personal empowerment is a shared experience. It is also fun.
How it works
The 'technology' of Open Space meetings is simple.
- Management gives the meeting focus and boundaries
- Facilitators assist the group to self-organize the agenda and run the meeting
- Participants generate the ideas, commitments and action strategies
- Management provides the support to ensure follow through and results
Open Space begins with a short, focused discussion on the topic, issue and participants that would ensure the best outcome for your situation. Based on this a group of between 15 and 300 or more meet for anywhere from one-half day to three days to generate ideas and agree on an overall let action priorities.
The session begins with a facilitated introduction that explains the groundrules and enable participants to self-identify the topics and issues that are most pressing and urgent for discussion in relation to the agreed to theme or purpose.
Each of these topics becomes the focus for a breakout session that will generate ideas and suggestions for immediate action ('quick wins') and larger, longer-term fixes that can be considered when the resources are available. The group determines priorities for action and, if required, organizes project teams to continue the work started at the session. Commitment and ownership are critical to the success of Open Space events.
Generate Commitment and Innovative Solutions
The reports of every small group discussion are the proceedings of the meeting. These are available to all participants very soon after the completion of the meeting. These proceedings, owned by all present, become the foundation for future action.
Most tangible is widespread ownership of possible solutions from which action plans can be devised. This is also reported as a change of mood of the organization to being more trusting, nurturing and supportive.
In a curious way Open Space always seems to work. Often reported outcomes are release of ideas and creativity that nobody knew were there, self managed work teams, distributed leadership, a spirit of ongoing learning, greatly increased levels of productivity.
I was very skeptical about this process beforehand. Now I am enthused and re energized and very positive about our future. It really worked" OS Participant |
How is Open Space Different
Open Space solves complex problems fast
Open space problem solving sessions work best on complex issues where it is difficult or impossible to predict a solution. By bringing together the widest range of people who have an interest in the issue and letting them work together on solutions surprising synergies appear. Unlike most processes the more complicated the issue and the more stakeholder groups involved, the more likely there will be success.
Open Space accelerates planning and implementation
Often when developing a new program or strategy, each individual "silo" group is interviewed independently – and a task force tries to integrate the input. The plan is then reviewed, and changes made that never seem to satisfy everyone. By the time a final plan is developed months have gone by. One planner went from a 6 month process with an 80% approval rate to a 40 day process with 95% approval rate using Open Space.
Open Space implements new ideas quickly
Most change implementations stall during the initial "communication" phase of the project. When Open Space is used to launch a project everyone has an opportunity to get involved. Groups can make immediate adjustments and establish cross-functional plans using Open Space. Organizations find that using Open Space to implement projects can cut their implementation time in half.
Who is using Open Space?
- Boeing used a series of Open Space meetings to facilitate a cross-functional design and problem solving process
- Rockport Shoes held a 2-day Open Space for all 350 people in its workforce. One new product range was born that generated about $20 million in sales annually.
- CIBC, Corporate Banking Services engaged each of their regional business units in Open Space to gain buy-in to and implement a new business strategy
- Hewlett Packard Company held seven OST meetings focussed on initiating and exploring business challenges.
- Honeywell used Open Space to help employees come to terms with restructuring
- Intria-HP Ltd. used Open Space to generate strategies to reposition themselves to be more competitive in tough computer services market
- Ministry of the Solicitor General, Human Resources Branch conducted an Open Space to build cross-functional teamwork and enhance customer service delivery and satisfaction
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