'    One either meets or one works'

                                        - Peter Drucker
Arguably the most influential of all management 'gurus', Drucker most definitely had a 'downer' on meetings.

He tended to see them as being ineffectual if they failed to make decisions or their decisions were not/could not be implemented. He also saw them as a very inefficient means of communicating information. At best, in his view, they all too easily distract from the actual doing of the work; at worst, they attract 'meeting junkies' who live from meeting to meeting, consciously or unconsciously avoiding the work.

At the very worst, you have meetings to discuss meetings!

And, of course, meetings usually run to the senior management’s agenda. They all too often ignore the concerns of those lower down the hierarchy and thus usually fail to gain the commitment of those who actually have the job of making any decisions taken work in practice.

Drucker's perceptions will be recognised by many, particularly those who work in larger organisations or the public or voluntary sectors.

However, Drucker's views were formulated prior to the emergence of the radical Open Space 'technology'.

Developed by organisational consultant Harrison Owen and pioneered by the gigantic Boeing Corporation in the USA, the concept works so well that Boeing have been known to shut down entire lines for a half-day session of Open Space - they have found it so valuable!)

                                                                                    Engaging all of the energies of all of the people
Drawing much from the Japanese principles of Kaizen, Open Space involves an open forum meeting of all the stakeholders in an organisation, a department, a process, a community network, a family or any other kind of grouping.

The process of Open Space enables all the concerns of all the stakeholders to be raised in a constructive fashion and commits all the stakeholders to collaborate to attempt to resolve all the issues (as far as realistically possible). Because everyone's concerns are valued, everyone has the chance to participate in their resolution. Because everyone has the opportunity to be involved, the proposed solutions tend to be owned by everybody - or, at least, most people!

Senior Management using Open Space have found the data gathered highly informative and solutions derived from the process much easier to implement.

In addition to being a group problem-solving process, Open Space also acts as a personal development tool since the process enables participants to learn much about themselves and the way they interact with others.

                                                                                                          A word of warning...
While the facilitator has no say - or should have no say! - in the outcomes of an Open Space session, the facilitator's role in framing the session and managing the process is critical. It is a highly-skilled function and, though an experienced facilitator can make it seem deceptively easy, it should only be carried out by people who thoroughly understand the process.

The Open Space concept is rooted in the worldviews of the ORANGE and GREEN vMEMES. Powerful as the process is, it is not always automatically suited to less-culturally sophisticated organisations. It may need some significant adaptation by the facilitator. If framed from a 2nd Tier perspective, then Open Space can engage all the vMEMES present and can even be a key part of a MeshWORK process.

I have facilitated groups of varying sizes - including one as small as 8 for a morning - and co-facilitated a group of nearly 200 over several days. (Some documented Open Space sessions have involved over 1,000 people!)

If you would like to discuss whether Open Space is suitable for your organisation and what you might expect to accomplish from it, please do get in contact.