| Received this email from a colleague? Sign up for FrictionFree.
This collaboration technique is forty years old but it's never been more relevant and valuable.
About 12 years ago, a tech scale up I was working with was struggling with stagnant ideas and dwindling enthusiasm among its employees. Meetings felt like a chore, and the same voices dominated every conversation. The culture was very much personality-led so even though it was not a large company, big founders with big voices and big personalities held the airtime. And of course, they wondered why no one was 'stepping up and taking initiative'...
That changed when we decided to try something new. One 'all employee' meeting, instead of a rigid agenda, we created a space for a marketplace of sessions, devised by people on the spot. Employees gathered, and the energy shifted instantly. People who had never spoken up before shared groundbreaking ideas, sparking a wave of innovation that reignited the entrepreneurial spirit the company was founded on. Leaders zipped it, observed and asked supportive questions. From there on, the dynamic had shifted for good.
The technique we used to solve this very familiar modern problem was actually forty years old: Open Space Technology (OST).
If you are struggling with dominant voices, solution-resistant complex problems and general malaise, the techniques within OST are gonna help...
What is Open Space Technology?
Open Space Technology (OST) is a facilitation method that enables participants to create their own agenda and lead discussions on topics they are passionate about. It’s designed to tap into the collective intelligence of a group, fostering creativity, collaboration, and ownership. OST works best in situations where there are complex issues to address, diverse stakeholders, and no clear answers - sound familiar?
OST was invented by Harrison Owen in 1983. Inspired by his experience at a conference where the coffee breaks seemed to be the most productive part, he envisioned a format that could harness that energy throughout an entire meeting. The first official use of OST was in 1985 at a symposium for 100 participants.
Open Space Technology shares common ground with other innovative meeting formats like World Café, unconferences and BarCamps. These methods also prioritise participant-driven agendas and collaborative dialogue.
Step-by-step - how to Open Space Technology actually works
Ok, so first I am going to show you how to do a 'straight up OST'. I have run quite a few of these and they do generally feel quite out there! Sense of time fades, people become deeply absorbed in conversation and huge things happen afterwards.
Rumour has it that Harrison Owen would literally just read out the opening statements in Step 2 below and then go upstairs to his room and have a snooze until 4pm when he would come back down and see how people had got on.
Once you've reviewed this very 'pure' version, I'll show you how to use the philosophy and some of the techniques to infuse and enliven regular meetings and workshops.
First, here are the key steps for the pure version:
1. Define the theme: Start with a broad, compelling theme relevant to the participants. This theme should be open-ended to encourage diverse perspectives.
2. Set the space: Arrange a venue with enough space for everyone to move around freely. Chairs in a circle are ideal to really encourage that feeling of openness and equality.
3. Introduce the concept:
Explain the principles of OST:
* Whoever comes are the right people.
* Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
* Whenever it starts is the right time.
* When it’s over, it’s over.
The OST website gives you a script to draw from - you can literally just read it and the session should then be set up and ready to go.
4. Set up the marketplace: Provide participants with materials to write their discussion topics and post them on a bulletin board which is pre-divided into timed sessions. This becomes the marketplace of ideas where people can choose which sessions to join.
5. Let sessions commence: Allow participants to self-organise into groups based on their interests. Encourage them to move between sessions, contributing where they can add value using Owen's one law called the 'Law of Two Feet' or 'The Law of Mobility' which states that if at any time during the time together you find yourself in a situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet and go somewhere else.
6. Harvest the outcomes: Ask participants to take clear notes in each group and pin them on the walls at the end of each session. Encourage people to read and ask questions and contribute further if they want to.
7. Let the outcomes manifest: The idea is not to collect up all the notes and say 'we'll let you know what next in a few days' :-) The idea is to let groups take action on things they care about. Some will fly. Some will not. That's ok.
How to infuse 'regular' meetings with OST philosophies and techniques
You've seen the pure version - it's great (understatement) but it's not a format most organisations would use every day. Let's explore how you might use OST to inspire a different feel and format for regular meetings.
Scenario 1: Strategic planning in a tech company
A tech company facing rapid market changes could use OST for strategic planning. Instead of a top-down approach, OST would allow employees at all levels to contribute their insights and ideas using a one hour open space session. This inclusivity leads to more innovative strategies and a stronger sense of ownership.
Better than a normal meeting because: It harnesses the collective intelligence and creativity of the entire team, rather than relying on a few decision-makers.
Scenario 2: Managing a complex project
A construction firm embarking on a large, multi-phase project can use OST to bring together architects, engineers, contractors, and stakeholders. This approach ensures that every aspect of the project is considered from multiple perspectives, leading to more robust and innovative solutions.
Better than a normal meeting because: It encourages collaboration and problem-solving across different specialties, ensuring that all voices are heard and all potential issues are addressed early on.
Scenario 3: Design workshop
If you need something designing/creating with lots of people involved in the various stages, you might break the whole thing down into, say five, chunks and then invite one person to own each and others to gravitate to the problem chunks they want to contribute to. The free flow movement of people (and their expertise and experience) is a really nice way to seed the right thinking at each stage without running five separate workshops. You can also then look at the whole design together for consistency and coherence and then go back into your problem chunks and iterate the design accordingly.
Better than a normal meeting because: people can spread themselves over a number of areas more efficiently and tackle a big complex flow in manageable chunks.
Scenario 4: Internal conference - idea generation
If you are running e.g. a sales conference, you could ask people to create sessions based on creative ideas they have for hitting targets next year. People who like that idea gravitate to that session. Leaders can wander around, getting a sense of what people are exploring and 'ok-ing' things they want to support very quickly. You can see that this really isn't the non-hierarchical, self-organising pure flow that OST is all about but it a lot better than a traditional approach where you might only be able to submit an idea every quarterly board meeting and doing so requires a 70-slide powerpoint!
There are so many ways to bring that self-organising, free-flowing approach to meetings or parts of meetings. I've listed just a few but I hope you can already think of another four!
Open Space Technology offers a transformative approach to meetings, turning them from mundane obligations into dynamic, creative sessions. By opening up ownership of the agenda to participants, OST unlocks much more of any team's potential.
Owen Harrison recently died - a huge loss to the self-organising community and how indebted to him we are for encoding and emodying this incredible technique.
Now you - have you been to an Open Space Technology event? Or run one? How do you see this philosophy filtering into our every day meetings? |
