How to run effective meetings that get results

Transform Issue #21

Meetings, meetings, and more meetings ...

Are you one of the many who find business meetings a tedious necessity? You know that people need to be involved in decisions that affect them, you want to involve them, and yet ...

The reality often seems to be a cross between a sparring match and an endurance test - and no-one is really having fun.

There is a better way to involve people in important decision making processes. It's been described as achieving the results of an effective business meeting with the energy and enthusiasm of a good coffee break.

Open Space Technology is a meeting process that:

• Saves time - issues that in the past may have taken months to resolve can be sorted out within days

• Invites contribution - all the people who have concerns about the issue can contribute if they choose

• Improves relationships - the people involved talk to each other and have opportunities to get to know each other better and develop trust.

• Encourages action - the people who care are invited to take joint responsibility for their concerns. By the end of an Open Space event, the issues will be documented and prioritized, and working groups formed.

• Guarantees consideration of all the important issues - if the people present, for whom these issues are important, choose to raise them.

• Increases productivity - whether measured in terms of profits or outcomes, productivity depends on a synergy of people, systems and commitment. The Open Space process encourages people to commit to being responsible for what they care about.

• Creates the synergy of 'thinking together' - Open Space engages the energy of individuals with the energy of the group so 'Be Prepared to be Surprised!'

How does it work?

Harrison Owen, who developed Open Space Technology in 1988, describes it as based on the twin energies of passion and responsibility.

Without passion, no-one is interested. Without responsibility, nothing gets done.

Birgitt Williams, a Canadian Open Space Consultant, describes how she worked with a landscape architect, using Open Space to elicit the design specifications for a large tract of public land. The process which usually would have taken up to two years, was completed within two months.

Open Space works best:

• when the issues involved are complex - and most substantial issues are

• many different points of view are represented (and perhaps some conflict)

• no-one claims to have the answer

One of the things I most like about Open Space is that it returns responsibility for an issue where it belongs, to the people who are affected by that issue.

Also, it takes as given that these people possess the collective wisdom to find the answers they need.

The next step

If you would like a confidential exploration of your organisation's current challenges  to determine whether Open Space can be useful to you, ring me on 0400 156 069.

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Transformasia Pty Ltd
ACN 097 139 725
PO Box 1037, Caulfield North, Vic 3161, Australia Mobile: +61 0400 156 069

www.transformasia.com.au