HR Director
Context
1. Name of Interviewer/Facilitator: Larry Peterson
2. Date of Interview: September 17, 2004
3. Role of Person Interviewed: Director of Human Resources
4. Country Where Event Held: Canada
5. Sector/Business: NGO formed by Government
6. How Many OST Events Has the Interviewee's Organization/Unit had? 1
7. Theme of This OST Event: “xxxx” Works for Us
8. Key organisational challenges, issues, drivers for this Event?
● New CEO and some new Executive Team members
● Some board partners ready to shut it down due to poor performance.
● Silos and bureaucracy take too much time to achieve results
● Two “head office” cultures
9. Date of Event: July 2004
10. Number of participants: 60
11. How long was the event? 1.5 Days
12. Planning Process with the Client
a. Number of Planning Meetings? 4
b. Length of Planning Process (weeks or months)? 4 weeks
c. Number of people involved in the planning of the event? 3 plus phone interviews
13. Follow-up with regard to this event
a. Was the follow-up planned before the event took place? No
b. Number of Follow-up Meetings 3
Interview responses
1. How would you describe your experience of Open Space Technology?
-Freeing to allow people to put up topics
-No Limits, people could pursue those things that were near and dear, for which individuals have a passion
-Some didn’t jump in and put up topics. (They needed more lead in.)
-Allowed those who didn’t pick a topic to participate in a variety of discussions
-Could move from one discussion to another and be a catalyst
2. Describe the impact of OST on:
a.The people who attended
For a lot of people it was empowering
b.On organizational results
Different topics had different impacts
One topic that stayed with the organization was clarifying the difference between a matrix organization and silos. More and more people understand that difference. Others are better able to explain why the change is needed.
More people realized that they have expertise that could be helpful in a variety of areas of the organization and that it is not just the formal leaders who have impact.
3. How was it different from your experience of other approaches?
Not the same agenda setting process and the restrictions that come with it.
Since people are not restricted by the agenda, it is like a leap of faith
Saw what was hot in the organization and how things were related
Different people got involved in different ways
- Some excelled in the openness
- Others stayed in neutral
- Some withdrew but then got engaged later in the day
Lack of structure
- Didn’t get a sense of the big picture until the end of the day
- In other approaches I know when we are on track
- It would have been good to have another half-day to pull it all together
4. Given your experience, in what circumstances would you recommend the use of OS to others?
Could be used on pretty well anything under the right conditions
More effective with a strong group, not with the quite and passive. Needs to be some juice to get it going
Need sufficient diversity, too many of one type would not work
When you want to know what’s at the top of mind, bees in the bonnet
Not sure if that it would work if people are totally new to each other or to the organization
1. Name of Interviewer/Facilitator: Larry Peterson
2. Date of Interview: September 17, 2004
3. Role of Person Interviewed: Director of Human Resources
4. Country Where Event Held: Canada
5. Sector/Business: NGO formed by Government
6. How Many OST Events Has the Interviewee's Organization/Unit had? 1
7. Theme of This OST Event: “xxxx” Works for Us
8. Key organisational challenges, issues, drivers for this Event?
● New CEO and some new Executive Team members
● Some board partners ready to shut it down due to poor performance.
● Silos and bureaucracy take too much time to achieve results
● Two “head office” cultures
9. Date of Event: July 2004
10. Number of participants: 60
11. How long was the event? 1.5 Days
12. Planning Process with the Client
a. Number of Planning Meetings? 4
b. Length of Planning Process (weeks or months)? 4 weeks
c. Number of people involved in the planning of the event? 3 plus phone interviews
13. Follow-up with regard to this event
a. Was the follow-up planned before the event took place? No
b. Number of Follow-up Meetings 3
Interview responses
1. How would you describe your experience of Open Space Technology?
-Freeing to allow people to put up topics
-No Limits, people could pursue those things that were near and dear, for which individuals have a passion
-Some didn’t jump in and put up topics. (They needed more lead in.)
-Allowed those who didn’t pick a topic to participate in a variety of discussions
-Could move from one discussion to another and be a catalyst
2. Describe the impact of OST on:
a.The people who attended
For a lot of people it was empowering
b.On organizational results
Different topics had different impacts
One topic that stayed with the organization was clarifying the difference between a matrix organization and silos. More and more people understand that difference. Others are better able to explain why the change is needed.
More people realized that they have expertise that could be helpful in a variety of areas of the organization and that it is not just the formal leaders who have impact.
3. How was it different from your experience of other approaches?
Not the same agenda setting process and the restrictions that come with it.
Since people are not restricted by the agenda, it is like a leap of faith
Saw what was hot in the organization and how things were related
Different people got involved in different ways
- Some excelled in the openness
- Others stayed in neutral
- Some withdrew but then got engaged later in the day
Lack of structure
- Didn’t get a sense of the big picture until the end of the day
- In other approaches I know when we are on track
- It would have been good to have another half-day to pull it all together
4. Given your experience, in what circumstances would you recommend the use of OS to others?
Could be used on pretty well anything under the right conditions
More effective with a strong group, not with the quite and passive. Needs to be some juice to get it going
Need sufficient diversity, too many of one type would not work
When you want to know what’s at the top of mind, bees in the bonnet
Not sure if that it would work if people are totally new to each other or to the organization
posted by Tonnie van der Zouwen at 3:58 PM
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