Open Space Training

One of the questions I’m often asked is ‘how long does it take to open the space, get the agenda on the wall and open the marketplace’? the assumption seems to be that the more people you have, the longer it takes. It’s marginal really. My answer is almost always – 45 minutes.

One of the advantages of the OST process is that it gets people going quickly. I remember one open space event I participated in that took a very long two and a half hours to open. Apart from not being necessary, it was tedious and the participants became increasingly fractious. Is it any wonder! I think I’d find it really hard to stretch the opening for that long. There was also a really well organised grid on the wall indicating all the available rooms and spaces that the organisers had spent half the night preparing. Again, not necessary. I’m always reminded when I think I can improve on open space by ‘just doing x or y’ that the only ‘improvement’ open space needs is to ‘do one less thing’. This has become a mantra in all of my facilitation work now. It’s the embodiment of ‘trusting the group’ anyway.

If you’re going to be in Melbourne in mid-April and would like to learn about the nuts and bolts of using OST AND understand the philosophy underpinning open space, come along to our training. You can read all about it here.

Hot Links

Thanks to Chris Corrigan for this by Otto Scarmer on the Blind Spot of Leadership

Great design – incredible creativity:

Another great Improv Everywhere performance:

Sadly one of my childhood hero’s has died. I’ve always been a Sci-Fi fan and loved reading just about anything by Arthur C. Clark. Here’s a quote from the great man himself that facilitators could take to heart (via Seth Godin).

Excited

I’m excited! Without doing anything much except being open to possibilities, all sorts of new things are happening.

Here’s some of the things I’m excited about.

1. Geoff and I are about to launch a podcast blog called Winkipod. This is just the BEST NAME EVER – and the reasons why will be revealed when we go live. This is great fun because we’re learning a new skill and have lots of people lined up to create podcasts with. Who would you like to hear in a podcast?

2. Anne and I have started a new business venture called Facilitating with Confidence. We’re offering this in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore for starters. It will include face-to-face training and on-line support.

3. Dave Pollard is visiting. OMG – right here! This will be my first ever blog get-together. I just LOVE being alive right now and the opportunities for collaboration and meeting new people that emerge. What a wonderful opportunity for a rich conversation. I am SO fortunate!

4. I’m going to Cambodia. WooHoo – this has always been a dream of mine and I knew that it would one day come true. I’m working with World Vision helping them design and facilitate a regional forum on disaster preparedness, building resilient communities and the impacts of climate change. And if you don’t believe that the universe listens when you ask, read this post by Patti Digh. I am inspired and challenged by Patti’s amazing writing.

5. I’m on the programming team for the second year in a row for the Applied Improv Conference. This year it will be in Chicago (my very favourite US city). The Improv conferences have inspired and challenged me and introduced me to a whole new world of ideas and people. Some have become good friends.

6. I’m going to this year’s Worldwide Open Space on Open Space in San Francisco where I can hang out with some of the most amazing people in the world – great thinkers, fun people who I’m happy to spend time with and inspiring to boot.

7. I’m taking part in a 2.5 day conversation with others passionate about the role of creativity. Colin Funk and Brian Woodward from the Banff Leadership Lab will be taking part in Conversations that Create in Sydney in May.

8. The Easter break is action packed here at Bells Beach. The Rip Curl Pro is underway with surfers from around the world descending on Torquay. There’s a great buzz around town. It’s also a time to catch up with friends and family – eat food, drink wine and just be.

And I hope I can repay all these amazing people in my life in some small way.

What are you excited about?

Conversations that Create

This is really exciting! Last year I attended the Applied Improv Conference which was hosted by the Banff Leadership Centre, and took part in a pre-conference workshop delivered by Colin Funk and others of the Banff Leadership Lab. It was sensational and the major influence for me to focus more on the role of creativity. Now they are coming to Australia!  It’s going to be creative and fun and thought provoking and challenging and inspirational. Interested? Be quick – it’s limited to 30 people. The dates are May 7 – 9 in Sydney. Click here for more information conversations-that-create.pdf

Improv for Small Business

At a small business networking meeting I introduced the principles of improv theatre. It became clear to me that improv, and other creativity activities, enables us to make the subconscious conscious.

Here are the key points from the workshop:

• Successful businesses are agile and creative

• Improvising means combining your existing skills and knowledge with the resources at hand and an immediate need for something to happen

• When things don’t go to plan we may need to improvise

• Improvisation is a skill anyone can learn and is governed by a series of rules

• Useful improv principles for small business include:

Accept offers: say “Yes! And…”

Be present: attentive, alert, curious

Do something: act, start anywhere

Be average: excel by not trying too hard

Make mistakes: take risks

Let go: be open, not attached, to the outcome

• Using the principles of improv enables you to be more spontaneous

• Being spontaneous enables you to be open to new ideas, creativity and innovation

And what small business wouldn’t want that?

More ‘Yes, and…’ insight

Accepting offers – saying “Yes, and…” is fundamental to improv. Without it there is no action, no progression. When applying this principle in business and organisations, the criticism is often that many ideas are not worth accepting. In other words, (“yes…) it’s OK in improv (“but…) not at work. In trying to shift the mindset from ‘Yes, but…’ to ‘Yes, and…’ I came across this explanation by Robert Lowe in his book Improvisation,Inc.

‘Yes’ is about acknowleding. Letting the other know that they have been heard. It doesn’t presume agreement. ‘And’ is about addition, rather than substitution.

Works for me.

Changing habits

Sir Ken Robinson in this podcast – that ranges from the role of education and creativity, weddings in Las Vegas and creativity with the Singapore Government to what it’s like to be knighted – says that ‘habit is the enemy of creativity’.Here’s the relevant quote from the podcast:

Okay, well if you want to boil it down in two minutes, it’s about two things; it’s about habits and habitats. I mean by habit, the routines that we follow during the course of our daily life, the more we do the same thing everyday, the more we think the same way. So, one of the ways of unleashing your creative capacity is to do different things, stimulate your imagination, do things you wouldn’t normally do. If you never go to an Opera, go to one. If there are some books you have never read, go and read them. If there are people in your building you have never spoken to, go and speak to them. If you go the same way to work everyday, go some other way.

Open your mind to new possibilities and new experiences and do things you haven’t done before, because often, being creative is finding a new medium of expression for yourselves, and the people who achieve most I think have found their medium, they are in their element, and they love the thing they do. So, open yourself out to new experiences and question the things you take for granted, so change habits.

Secondly, it’s habitats. Really the environment we live in, the environments we work in, the way we configure the desks, the buildings, who we relate to, has a huge effect on how we think and how well we think. Redesigning your office space, redesigning the physical relationships between you and other people can have a huge liberating effect on your whole creative capacity. 

I’ve changed my habitat – now to work on those habits.

Inspiration – and story to boot

If the truth be known, I use this blog to capture all those things I find inspirational and that I know I’ll want to use some day. Maybe there’s an easier way but I figure any readers out there might be interested too. I’ve been catching up on a few TED podcasts and this one is a ripper.

This is why I love improv – ‘Frozen Grand Central’

This Improv Everywhere stunt is great fun. While it’s been replicated in dozens of cities throughout the world, it hasn’t yet been done in Melbourne. This would be great at Southern Cross Station at peak hour. Where do I sign up Melbourne improvisers?

And when you’ve finished watching it go here to find out more about how it was done and some agent reports.

Slowing down to see more, be more

I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve said that I’m a generalist – through my work and interests I’m happy to know a little about a lot. This post by William Tozier (hat tip to Dave Pollard) is well worth a read. He argues for a life of noticing, of exploration – of being a generalist. Here’s a little sample (and please, go and read the whole lot)…

The generalist should not be headed for any place where he is “done”. When are you “done” paying attention? When are you “done” talking, considering? When are you “done” learning or seeing? Specialization is easier, simpler, more comfortable not because the world demands it, but because it can be measured, commoditized, evaluated and rewarded. Because it’s a worklife that is obvious, and transparent, and self-explanatory.