Open Space Technology
Getting from Chaos to Order and Solutions
At first glance, Open Space Technology can seem chaotic because anything can happen and the process itself is self organizing. Open Space is designed to engage groups of people, deeply and creatively to solve multiple complex problems simultaneously. With that in mind, the group meets and the facilitator invites anyone from the group to present a particular problem. These people are called conveners. Each conveners problem is written down and presented to the whole group. The facilitator continues to encourage more problems to be presented to the group from new conveners until no other problems are presented.
The conveners then post their problems on what's called the Market Place board. Each of these posts can be considered mini workshops and will display a time and place where these workshops will occur within the facility. The group breaks up and everyone individually begins to shop the workshops in the market place to determine which one or more they want to attend. No one knows in advance how many or if any will want to attend any of the posted workshops, which is part of the process. This gives everyone a chance to determine what problems they are interested and where they feel they can have the most constructive input. Some workshops may only get a few people and others may have many. This is a normal part of the process and why it can seem chaotic. This self regulating process is amazingly effective.
Once the workshops begins, the problem is presented to the group attendees and the group collaborates to solve the problem while a predetermined person records the results. At any time, individuals can decide they have no further valuable input and are welcomed to move to another ongoing workshop to see how they can help there. This goes on as long as it takes which is determined by all the groups.
Once the workshops are done, the recorder posts the results to the entire group on a news wall. This information will be harvested by the whole group to capture all the important solutions to the problems presented. It may be necessary to move into a convergence process that takes the proposed solutions to action items. The group then finishes with a circle meeting where everyone is invited to speak freely about the results of their experience. This collaborative process is highly effective and exciting for the participants.
The conveners then post their problems on what's called the Market Place board. Each of these posts can be considered mini workshops and will display a time and place where these workshops will occur within the facility. The group breaks up and everyone individually begins to shop the workshops in the market place to determine which one or more they want to attend. No one knows in advance how many or if any will want to attend any of the posted workshops, which is part of the process. This gives everyone a chance to determine what problems they are interested and where they feel they can have the most constructive input. Some workshops may only get a few people and others may have many. This is a normal part of the process and why it can seem chaotic. This self regulating process is amazingly effective.
Once the workshops begins, the problem is presented to the group attendees and the group collaborates to solve the problem while a predetermined person records the results. At any time, individuals can decide they have no further valuable input and are welcomed to move to another ongoing workshop to see how they can help there. This goes on as long as it takes which is determined by all the groups.
Once the workshops are done, the recorder posts the results to the entire group on a news wall. This information will be harvested by the whole group to capture all the important solutions to the problems presented. It may be necessary to move into a convergence process that takes the proposed solutions to action items. The group then finishes with a circle meeting where everyone is invited to speak freely about the results of their experience. This collaborative process is highly effective and exciting for the participants.