Readiness:
Any time is the right time to evolve from an Open Space Organization
to a Conscious Open Space Organization. Your changing activities
however, must always start with an Open Space Technology meeting
to provide you with a window into its vitality and core strengths.
This initial Open Space Technology meeting provides the readiness
and participant support that is needed so that all of the change
activities that emerge are firmly anchored in the shared experience
and shared knowledge developed from the initial Open Space Technology
meeting.
Length
of time:
Initial development as a COSO, no matter what your starting
point, takes about a year. There is no "final destination"
and we do not promise one. A life-nurturing rather than life-depleting
way of operating emerges, but the evolution and growth are worked
on an ongoing basis for the duration of the life of the organization,
if that is what the organization chooses. Life-depleting environments
are those where the employees experience high stress as a result
of unhappiness with their work. The high stress results in stress
related illness. A life-depleting work environment is one in which
the employees cannot find meaning in their work, where there is
no real opportunity for their input in improving their daily tasks
or meeting performance challenges. A life-nurturing work environment
is one in which the employee knows what cannot be changed and
knows where the scope is for individual input for change/improvement
in both daily tasks and performance challenges. Put another way,
a life-nurturing environment allows the employee to be the full
person with the full potential that he or she was hired for.
The first
year requires the greatest investment of time, especially of the
senior leaders and management team, as the organization breaks
free of old life-depleting patterns, behaviors, perceptions, and
attitudes. A common life-depleting pattern is one in which the
employees are managed by an attempt to control them and their
activities. This results in behaviors such as energy spent on
complaining rather than on solutions, on avoidance of responsibility
rather than on working with responsibility. The perceptions and
attitudes in a life-depleting situation are generally of a "victim"
or disempowered nature. Breaking free of this and creating a climate
where people don't fall back into these patterns, behaviors, perceptions
and attitudes is the difficult part of the work, but with perseverance
it can be done.
The usual
work of the organization continues through this development phase
but the way that this gets done will change. Providing staff time
for skill development will need to be allowed for. The amount
of time cannot be predetermined because every situation is different.
For most of the staff, much of the development work can take place
within your current times set aside for meetings.
The activities
in subsequent years are part of the new life-nurturing way of
organizational life and do not require additional time or resources.
In fact, the new way of working is much more effective and efficient,
saving time and resources.
Steeply
hierarchical or flatter organizational structure:
Every organization is alive, is organic and is unique.
It does not matter if it is steeply hierarchical or flatter in
its organizational structure. Some organizations require a steeply
hierarchical structure to get their work done effectively, such
as Police Departments. Others get their work done more effectively
with flatter structures, such as Advertising Agencies. The amount
of space that can be opened for potential to be worked with in
each organization will differ. No matter how steeply hierarchical
the organization i.e.: the military, there is always space that
can be opened. To the extent that, what can be opened is opened,
the organization has developed as a Conscious Open Space Organization.
Who
leads the change?
The change must be led from within, by the CEO and senior leadership
team. Senior leadership must be committed to the new way of operating.
Depending on how the organization is structured and how responsibility
for functions has been established, the Human Resources and/or
Organizational Development leaders may, with a mandate from their
CEO, be involved first, to assist and teach the senior leadership
team as well as the rest of the participants.
The
external consultant:
The senior leadership in the organization can lead the changes
necessary for the development as a Conscious Open Space Organization
without external consulting assistance. This is possible after
the initial Open Space Technology meeting. If the senior leadership
team chooses to lead the changes without external consultant assistance,
it is advisable to hire the consultant for 2 days following the
Open Space Technology meeting to assist in developing the list
of key ingredients that must be attended to. It is also advisable
for representatives from the senior leadership team or designates
(human resource or organizational development specialists) to
attend the Organizational Health and Balance series of workshops
for skill and capacity development, and to become authorized to
lead these workshops within the organization. This series of workshops
provides a very positive and effective framework for conversations
within the organization as well as the skills and tools to assist
in the development of and ongoing work as a Conscious Open Space
Organization. The processes, tools, and skills are simple and
easy to use and are duplicable within the organization. The Organizational
Health and Balance series of workshops that feature the Genuine
Contact™ program are available in different locations in
the world and are also available to be brought "in-house"
for your team to do the learning as a team.
There are
advantages to engaging an external consultant/mentor to assist
in the development as a Conscious Open Space Organization. The
external consultant has a mentoring job, to assist the internal
change leaders in their own mastery of the process. And, as an
objective outsider with experience and effective skills, the external
consultant can assist the organization to uncover its truth in
a way that the internal change leader cannot do.
Total consultant/mentor
time during year one is about 40 days including mentoring and
skill development through workshop leadership. The consultant/mentor
involvement is kept to a minimum. The focus of the external consultant's
work is on building the skills and capacity "in-house"
for internal leadership and for all who are involved in the organization
to navigate with change and to work with the true nature of the
organization. Its this true nature that it is alive, organic and
unique, filled with great untapped potential and possibilities.
The organization and its leadership can have ongoing benefit from
maintaining a mentoring relationship with the consultant, involving
one to a few days a year, but again, this is optional and as needed.
