Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Churc in OS

Context

1. Name of Interviewer/Facilitator: Audrey Coward


2. Date of Interview: November 4, 2004


3. Role of Person Interviewed: Participant


4. Country Where Event Held: Canada


5. Sector/Business: Not for Profit -- Church


6. How Many OST Events Has the Interviewee's Organization/Unit had? 1


7. Theme of This OST Event: What do we care about and what should we do about it?


8. Key organisational challenges, issues, drivers for this Event?
Financial pressures drove the need to re-assess the vision and plan for the future created several years earlier.

9. Date of Event: January 11, 2003


10. Number of participants: 250


11. How long was the event? 1 Day


12. Planning Process with the Client
a. Number of Planning Meetings?
1


b. Length of Planning Process (weeks or months)? 2 months


c. Number of people involved in the planning of the event? 4 plus 2 facilitators

13. Follow-up with regard to this event
a. Was the follow-up planned before the event took place?
yes


b. Number of Follow-up Meetings 1, immediately following the event


Interview responses

1. How would you describe your experience of Open Space Technology?
-- Positive, invigorating, challenging in positive way, engaging, democratic


2. Describe the impact of OST on:
a.The people who attended

--sense of well being ,energy, enthusiasm, more receptive to change , willingness to embrace change

b.On organizational results


-- Acknowledgement that within the congregation there is a core element of people who find it hard to change.

3. How was it different from your experience of other approaches?

-- Recording multiple voices that were heard and people felt they could possibly impact the change

4. Given your experience, in what circumstances would you recommend the use of OS to others?
Visioning
Dysfunctional teams and organizations
Stalemates
Major conflicts and factions within the organization.
Places where people need to find common ground.