14. Revealed – HOW Open Space Technology is so effective for self-organising conversations

The unsaid part of how the rules of OST gatherings promote co-operation and participation so smoothly

I have been keen on using Open Space Technology (OST) as a format for meetings, conferences and gatherings for nearly thirty years. This way of creating and holding ‘self-organising multi-threaded emergence dialogues’ for groups of 5 – 2000 was originally devised by Harrison Owen in the 1980s. Owen published his first book Open Space Technology:  A User’s Guide in 1993 (now in its third edition and still available). He had observed that the most energetic and productive parts of a conference were the coffee breaks (when participants could talk to who they wanted about what they were interested in), and set out to create a structure that would imbue the whole event with this engaging spirit. Here he is in 2010 talking about it, wearing his trademark hat.

I was lucky enough to learn about OST with Harrison Owen himself. In the mid 1990s he visited Roffey Park in the English countryside south of London. About 40 of us gathered for a three-day training (quite usual in those days – such a duration might seem extravagant now), with Owen opening up with a wide-ranging presentation about order and chaos and then setting up an Open Space for us to experience. The theme was about leadership, with Owen openly admitting that he was gathering material for a new book (appearing as The Spirit Of Leadership in 1999). And that was it; we learned about OST through doing it. Of course we had many questions, which I remember Owen being reluctant to answer directly. In the end the organisers organised a session in the bar on the second evening where there was a Q&A. There’s a comparison here with Steve de Shazer, one of my heroes/mentors and co-developer of Solution Focused Brief Therapy, who always preferred showing his work to talking about it.

Harrison Owen and I met again in 2001 at the Systemic Management Conference in Vienna. My good friend (and still collaborator) Matthias Varga von Kibed introduced me to Owen and I said that we had in fact met before, though he very likely wouldn’t remember it. His response was as memorable as it was acknowledging:

“You’re a very difficult man to forget!”

I saw him again at the annual World Open Space On Open Space (WOSONOS) in London in 2012. As far as I can see he’s still with us, though more focused on wildlife photography than Open Space. He spends his summers in Camden, Maine on the New England coast of the USA – a superb place to be!

The harbour at Camden, Maine. Beautiful.

Open Space Technology in action

Briefly, OST is a way of bringing people together when issues are complex, pressing, charged and confusing. Rather than facilitators and leaders trying to map out an agenda, a calling question is crafted. An invitation is sent out as widely as possible and those who want to get involved are invited to show up. A (usually large) room is prepared, ideally in a circle. The OST host opens the event by reiterating the calling question and asking people to think of topics connected with this that they are passionate about – they will be able to convene a conversation shortly. Then the host sets out the four rules and one law of Open Space. These are:

• Rule 1: Whenever it starts is the right time

• Rule 2: Whoever shows up are the right people

• Rule 3: Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened

• Rule 4: When it’s over, it’s over

These rules about about the forthcoming conversations. There are clear connections with improvisational theatre and performance here; choose the moment, work with what you have, be brave and not worry about what-ifs, and when the exchange has run its course, close it and move on. However, these four rules are under the one law of open space:

• The Law of Two Feet: Each individual has personal responsibility to give and get best value for their presence. If you find yourself somewhere where you think you are not giving or getting best value, then it’s your responsibility to use your two feet to move to another place where you are giving or getting better value.

This means that the structure around the conversations is fluid. Some people may go to a conversation and stay with it. Other may go to a session, give and get value and then move on to another session. Still others (called ‘bumblebees’ in the trade) may go from one conversation to another, taking news about what’s being discussed elsewhere and cross-pollinating the sessions. Another option is to be a ‘butterfly’ and choose not to go to a conversation but rather hang out looking beautiful (just like a butterfly), talking to passing bumblebees and other butterflies. Whatever is your best value way of contributing, you can do it.

At this point, the host invites those who want to convene a conversation to step forward and write the topic on a piece of paper. They then choose a place and time from the range available (usually post-it notes have been pre-made), step up to the microphone and announce their session: “I’d like to talk about [X}, and I’ll be in the Dornoch Room at 2pm.” Once the whole range of offers has been made, a menu is created on a wall with all the offers and we’re off. That’s it. From now on, the event is self-organising and requires very little intervention from the host. People gather round, decide where to start, make their way in the direction of the sessions and self-organise. There is a lot of free information about the subtleties of how and when to run on Open Space at the OpenSpaceWorld website.

Chris Corrigan, who I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, starts an Open Space event. His online programme Working In Complexity Inside & Out starts tomorrow 13 April 2023.

In the ‘full’ version of an Open Space, the convenor of each session is responsible for getting a report created to share with those who weren’t at the session. (A flip chart poster used to be the default way to do this, these days there are other options like iPads.) Everyone may gather for a closing session and have the chance to say what’s emerged for them. If the Open Space extends over several days (not at all impossible) then there are News sessions and the chance for more conversation topics to emerge.

I used Open Space very soon after I learned it, at a nuclear power station. I was tasked with facilitating a one-day planning session for the annual maintenance shut-down, a complex set of work with many contractors on site interfacing with station staff. For several years I had worked hard with the management to make an agenda of key topics, create mixed groups, tell everyone what to talk about and then get them to do it. It struck me that this was a perfect opportunity for an Open Space. I managed to get the managers to agree (not always the easiest thing) and we got everyone together in the usual golf club function room near the station (the largest space available in the area). After an initial presentation by the manager, I opened the space… and was stunned by how well it all went. A whole bunch of relevant topics appeared, everyone scattered and I saw engineers running to get from one session to another.  This is a great example – if you can do a ‘soft and fluffy’ thing like Open Space with nuclear engineers, you can do it with anybody!

What makes it special?  A ‘paradoxical bind’

I have hosted many Open Spaces over the years, and participated in many more. When I’m participating I always have a feeling of liberation; I can choose what to do, where to go, how to give and get value, with no other constraints. It’s marvellous, and so unlike traditional working or meeting environments with their responsibilities, timetables, ‘oughts’ and ‘shoulds’.  There are always unexpected moments (whether in a convened conversation, at the coffee spot or in a corridor). The idea of both giving/offering value to others (through my expertise, experience, etc) and getting value by following up current interests and focuses gives a very two-way mode for making choices about what to do and when.  I have been wondering recently about quite how this all works, how such a different feel can be achieved with four rules and one law. And I think I’ve found at least part of the answer.

The rules, and in particular the Law of Two Feet, produce a ‘paradoxical bind’. They actively permit (and encourage) every possible individual behaviour in the session. What to go to a session? Yes! Visit several sessions? Yes! Hang out somewhere drinking coffee? Yes! Talk to random people for hours? Yes! Sit looking grumpy and reading a book? Yes (if that’s really your best way to give and vet value right now). Want to go to your room and have a nap? Yes! (I actually did this during Harrison Owen’s training at Roffey Park all those years ago.) If you think that something is best value for you right now, you can (and indeed should) do it. There is no way out; whatever you think you need to do, you do it and it’s part of the process.

The power of binds and double binds was noted by Gregory Bateson (another of my heroes) in the 1950s. With his research colleagues at the Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto he came up with the idea that schizophrenia (not at all well understood in those days) might be produced by dysfunctional communication patterns so that the unfortunate sufferer was ‘damned if they do, damned if they don’t, and there’s no alternative way out’.

Here we have the opposite: a paradoxical bind. Paradoxical interventions used to be a way of working with contradictory situations in therapy. For example, someone who couldn’t say No was told to say no to their spouse. If they did, fine. If they didn’t, they had to say No to the therapist. Either way, they ‘succeed’. They are ‘blessed if they do, blessed if they don’t’. There is no way out of the Law of Two Feet once you’ve accepted it. Everything is allowed, everything is ‘right’, everything is possible.

In an Open Space, everyone is ‘blessed if they do, blessed if they don’t’.

Agreeing to the Law of Two Feet seems like such an easy thing. I have never known anyone to object to it. And yet, it produces a state for the person that is freeing, permissive and thoroughly encouraging. I’ve never seen this written down in this way before. It;s very possible Harrison Owen knew it and didn’t like talking about it. Whatever, it’s an amazing thing to experience and to offer to others.

WARNING: This ‘illumination’ is intended as a talking point for those interested in Open Space Technology. Do NOT mention it when you are setting up or running an Open Space. People don’t need to know how the magic works, they just experience it. Otherwise it becomes all Wizard-Of-Oz befuddled man behind the curtain-esque.

Dealing with ‘space invaders’

I said above that once the space is opened, there is very little extra intervention required from the host. There is one type of event to which the host has to be alert – the ‘space invader’. Harrison Own knew all about this. If someone stops simply making choices for themselves (which is entirely permitted) and starts wanting to make choices for others. The person who stands on a table and shouts “This is a waste of time! We should all do X now” Or “I have the answer! Everyone listen to me!” In this case the host has a job to do, to suggest that the person convene a session about it, or to encourage everyone else to move along to another space, thus restoring the functioning open space. I should say at this point that I have never had this happen or seen it happen. However, I can still recall Harrison telling us about it all those years ago.  

Conclusions

Open Space is such a wonderful development. It engages people around important topics, invites their involvement, gives them space and permission to take a personal route through the event and not be constrained by others but be freed. Everyone can put things forward, everyone has their own choice, everyone can see how interesting/vital each topic is to the rest (and even if nobody else shows up to your topic, you can still do a report on it), time is used in a loose-tight way with topics having enough time but no more.

I think that the way that Open Space encourages positive conversation and rewards those seeking to participate (and side-lines those wishing to block) is fascinating. There is more to be said about this kind of structure, particularly in how communities can work together. Jenny and I are working on a new piece for the European Consortium for Political Research’s In The Loop blog series hosted by Titus Alexander around the need for this and what the inputs might be. Titus is keen to explore how political science can save democracy… a huge topic. Watch this space.

---

Dates and mates

The 2023 World Open Space On Open Space (WOSONOS) will be in Berlin, Germany on 18-21 October 2023. There is no better place for exploring Open Space, how it’s being used around the world and how it’s developing. More details here…

Beach Mitte in Berlin, the venue for WOSONOS 2023.

I will be participating in the fourth BMI Dialogic OD Authors Salon on Monday 24 April 2023, 4pm UK time, online. Our theme is How do we support leaders in Generative Change processes?

Free to join, pre-registration essential. More details and booking here.