Working with Open Space Technology

Session 1 of the Genuine Contact™ Program

What if there was a pool of experts available to help you as a leader meet complex challenges in a way that current expertise and thinking cannot do? This potential surrounds you in your organization or community, waiting to be accessed. Complex times demand leadership that engages and mobilizes those facing tough challenges to thrive in a changing world. Open Space Technology is one way to do that.

Join us for this 4 day highly experiential workshop to learn how to:

• Facilitate meetings using Open Space Technology when there is an important issue to be addressed, a diversity of people involved, complexity and when decisions need to be made quickly.
• Apply a holistic approach to work with the sponsor to achieve maximum benefit from the meetings.
• Prepare yourself as a facilitator to be in genuine contact with yourself, to hold space for courageous and meaningful conversations to happen and to use practical and simple “how to” skills, tools and knowledge to work with the whole system.

This workshop will interest you if you are a formal or informal leader, consultant, facilitator, community developer or policy maker in any sector. Workshops draw participants from all sectors – from corporate to health care and nonprofit to education and the arts – and this mix adds to the richness of your learning experience.

Benefits

You will leave this experiential, interactive workshop equipped with practical and holistic processes and tools that will enable you to:

• Work with both the essence and the form of Open Space Technology (OST) to design large system meetings (5-1000) that build trust, enhance communication and relationships, inspire creativity and allow participants to discover their passion and take ownership of what matters most to them;
• Facilitate OST meetings that are 4 hours to several days in length;
• Discern when to use Open Space Technology;
• Apply simple and practical tools to work with a sponsor to plan highly successful Open Space Technology meetings by ensuring the meeting has the right theme, with the right constraints ('givens'), for the right length of time;
• Assist the sponsor to reap maximum benefits from the results following the OST meeting;
• Tap into the potential and collective genius of individuals and organizations as a whole;
• Build teams and collaboration while working on important business issues;
• Be conscious of the implications of actions and behaviours of the facilitator for opening or closing space;
• Prepare yourself to facilitate and pay attention to your personal health and balance;
• Explore the OST as a leadership approach and operating system that supports ongoing health and balance;
• Effectively lead transformation and change processes.

Our Approach

Our teaching model is rooted in experience. The facilitation process for the workshop is Whole Person Process Facilitation, which pays attention to the multidimensional human being including learning styles, different intelligences and levels of consciousness. This facilitation methodology creates conditions that maximize the learning of individual participants and also creates the opportunity for the emergence of collective learning.

The methodology incorporates individual reflection, paired and small group in addition to large group plenary work. The process invites participants to make genuine contact with themselves, one other, the collective and the community – building relationships and new ways of working together during the workshop. This allows participants to mentor each other as they apply the learning.

We recommend that participants leave evenings free for reflection and review.

Part 1

Four days that include experiencing an OST meeting, unpacking the essence and form, making genuine contact with self as a facilitator and working with the sponsor before and after the OST meeting to maximize results. There is space within the workshop for active experimentation and deeper discussion based on learning needs. Participants can initiate planning of an OST meeting for the practicum within workshop

Facilitator Practicum

Participants will be encouraged to facilitate an OST meeting during Part 1 and will have access to mentoring from the workshop facilitators and other participants to do so.

Part 2

A 3-hour online follow-up session on January 11th, 2010 to provide an opportunity to share learning, explore questions that arise and discuss future possibilities for application of Open Space Technology.

The workshop includes a workbook to support ongoing learning, and a Ning community space for mentoring with facilitators and course participants. Audio and video CDs are available for purchase as an additional learning tool. All participants have access to support and mentorship following the training through the international network of Genuine Contact™ professionals. For more information go to www.genuinecontact.net.

Facilitator Team

Courage Group International co-owners make up our facilitation team: Michelle Cooper of Integral Visions Consulting Inc (Ancaster, ON), Donna Clark of Emergent Futures Consulting Inc (Halifax, NS) and Marquis Bureau of MBureau International Inc (Notre Dame de la Salette, QC). They are authorized Genuine Contact™ Trainers and Co-Owners who have been working with the Program for a number of years. This collaboration offers participants the opportunity to learn from Genuine Contact Professionals working across Canada and internationally in a variety of sectors including health, government, private sector and education. It also allows us to offer the Genuine Contact workshops both in English and French, providing participants with a unique and customized learning experience.

Completing Working With Open Space Technology fulfils one of four course requirements for participating in the Genuine Contact™ Program Train the Trainer workshop. (Working with Open Space Technology, Whole Person Process Facilitation, Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution and Genuine Contact Organization)

*****

Register online today.

Another valuable option is to bring this workshop into your organization for your staff, managers, leadership team, and/or Board. These private workshops can take place at a location of your choosing. This option allows total attention on your organization's unique needs, and any necessary problem solving is facilitated within the workshop format. Contact Us to find out more.

********************************************************************************************************************

Visit our Upcoming Events for details on when & where the public workshops are being held or contact us for more information.