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Action Planning in Online/Offline OS 2022

MM
Michael M Pannwitz
Fri, Oct 28, 2022 11:12 AM

Dear Tonnie,

in your email of October 23 you wrote:
"We tried to translate the steps from an offline environment to an
online one..."

Looking at the document I noticed that you used "voting" in the Action
Planning part.

Way back, when actively working as a facilitator (more than a decade
ago) I also used "voting".
However, I used the word "weighing" (gewichten, in German).
I was an old hand outfittet with many voting tools in my prior 3 decades
as an OD consultant (took me a long time to work myself out of the OD mode).
Keeping a close eye on everything that took place in the os events we
noticed that "voting" along the line of
"what you think is most important to work out in action plans" often led
to the "odd" behavior that the most important item was not worked on.
After a while and being aware that "voting" is a statistical approach we
felt that the most important aspect would be what took place at the
beginning of an os when posting issues: Heart and meaning, passion and
responsibility.

So we decided to simply have Action Planning in open space mode.
This meant that on the last half day (usually on Day 3 of an open
space), participants met in the circle and posted "projects" they wanted
to work on. Oddly enough, some of the projects posted apparently had no
direct connection to what had happended in the divergent part (the first
two days). (Maybe encouraged by one of my comments in the beginning such
as "Divergence was in the last two days, now the focus is on projects
that I am passionatly interested in and will be responible for")
Since this approach worked beautifully and was always a dynamic and
intensive way of  getting into the action-oriented nature of os events
we decided to put "voting" or "weighing" into the box labeled "one less
thing to do".

In November of 2013 I had the privilege to co-facilitate the Action
Planning phase of the 3-day European Learning Exchange in Utrecht
convened by Frank Little (hi there).

Nobody has done what is called "research" on this and much other strange
stuff that happens in os. And I think thats perfectly ok, knowing that
what works is important and being aware that at least I will never
understand the mysteries of  systems and the force of selforganisation.
Every time we closely watch the prerequisites for having an open space
event including all other experimentally tested aspects of our craft, it
works perfectly.
All the events that did not work that I heard of or was part of, were
not sufficiently close enough to duplicate the effect of the tested
experiment (missing even one of the prerequisites or  trying to get ost
working on a  wicked "business issue" within one day where actually 3
days were required or not having enough of the system in the room... ).

And at this point I usually tell the story of sometimes meeting folks on
the public transportation system in Berlin staring at me and suddenly
bursting out with "open space". When we figured out which open space the
other passenger meant and where it took place and what it was all about,
I would ask what took place after the event. Invariably, folks told me
things that I could in no way connect to the os, not even after looking
at the documentations that I collected in my archives.
Yes, I knew it was the ripple effect, completely beyond any control.
Well, the old admonition "never delude yourself to be in control" (never
delude yourself in understanding complex systems) pops up.

I invite you to try the "Action Space" approach in one of your next
online events.

The script you can find on pages 168 to 175 of the book Meine open space
Praxis

Frank Little might have an English version of the "Action Space" that
was recordet at the European Learning Exchange in Utrecht back in
2013... there were 20 participants from Finland, Germany, Italy,
Netherlands and Poland.
Hi to you all just in case you kept reading up to this point.

Have a great day and lets talk more at the WOSonOS in Berlin next year
mmp

Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin
+49 30 7728000mmpannwitz@posteo.de

Dear Tonnie, in your email of October 23 you wrote: "We tried to translate the steps from an offline environment to an online one..." Looking at the document I noticed that you used "voting" in the Action Planning part. Way back, when actively working as a facilitator (more than a decade ago) I also used "voting". However, I used the word "weighing" (gewichten, in German). I was an old hand outfittet with many voting tools in my prior 3 decades as an OD consultant (took me a long time to work myself out of the OD mode). Keeping a close eye on everything that took place in the os events we noticed that "voting" along the line of "what you think is most important to work out in action plans" often led to the "odd" behavior that the most important item was not worked on. After a while and being aware that "voting" is a statistical approach we felt that the most important aspect would be what took place at the beginning of an os when posting issues: Heart and meaning, passion and responsibility. So we decided to simply have Action Planning in open space mode. This meant that on the last half day (usually on Day 3 of an open space), participants met in the circle and posted "projects" they wanted to work on. Oddly enough, some of the projects posted apparently had no direct connection to what had happended in the divergent part (the first two days). (Maybe encouraged by one of my comments in the beginning such as "Divergence was in the last two days, now the focus is on projects that I am passionatly interested in and will be responible for") Since this approach worked beautifully and was always a dynamic and intensive way of  getting into the action-oriented nature of os events we decided to put "voting" or "weighing" into the box labeled "one less thing to do". In November of 2013 I had the privilege to co-facilitate the Action Planning phase of the 3-day European Learning Exchange in Utrecht convened by Frank Little (hi there). Nobody has done what is called "research" on this and much other strange stuff that happens in os. And I think thats perfectly ok, knowing that what works is important and being aware that at least I will never understand the mysteries of  systems and the force of selforganisation. Every time we closely watch the prerequisites for having an open space event including all other experimentally tested aspects of our craft, it works perfectly. All the events that did not work that I heard of or was part of, were not sufficiently close enough to duplicate the effect of the tested experiment (missing even one of the prerequisites or  trying to get ost working on a  wicked "business issue" within one day where actually 3 days were required or not having enough of the system in the room... ). And at this point I usually tell the story of sometimes meeting folks on the public transportation system in Berlin staring at me and suddenly bursting out with "open space". When we figured out which open space the other passenger meant and where it took place and what it was all about, I would ask what took place after the event. Invariably, folks told me things that I could in no way connect to the os, not even after looking at the documentations that I collected in my archives. Yes, I knew it was the ripple effect, completely beyond any control. Well, the old admonition "never delude yourself to be in control" (never delude yourself in understanding complex systems) pops up. I invite you to try the "Action Space" approach in one of your next online events. The script you can find on pages 168 to 175 of the book Meine open space Praxis > https://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Meine-open-space-Praxis-E-Book > https://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Meine-open-space-Praxis Frank Little might have an English version of the "Action Space" that was recordet at the European Learning Exchange in Utrecht back in 2013... there were 20 participants from Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Poland. Hi to you all just in case you kept reading up to this point. Have a great day and lets talk more at the WOSonOS in Berlin next year mmp Michael M Pannwitz Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin +49 30 7728000mmpannwitz@posteo.de