tory. The invitation includes the theme for the meeting and the time
and place. Second key difference at the Open Space meeting? No
agenda. (You can almost hear the shriek from the STJ population:
“What! No schedule? Surely chaos will follow!”) Right. Construc-
tive chaos.
Instead of a set agenda as people enter the meeting room, the
participants are asked to develop their own, based on the real
interests and needs of the people in attendance. Whenever I’ve
explained this process to STJ “lion” managers, they invariably
blanch and raise a hundred objections. A popular objection is that
the meeting will careen into chaos, with the whiners taking over
and running an all-day bitch session. Despite this universal STJ
concern, it has never happened in my experience or to any of my
colleagues who’ve run these sessions.
A third aspect of Open Space that runs counter to lion man-
agement norms is the circular seating arrangement. As people enter
the room, someone always murmurs, “Looks like we’re going to
be asked to take off our shoes, do some sharing, and then sing
‘Kumbaya.’” Not likely. The circle is an ancient symbol of many
things, one of them being equality. In Open Space, lion leaders are
asked to put aside their authority roles and just participate as
ordinary employees. The role of the outside facilitator is specifi-
cally to make sure that this happens. (Lion leaders who can’t seem
to get the hang of letting go of power are referred to as “space
invaders.” Part of the training for facilitators is learning how to
gracefully remove the kings from their highchairs.)
Open Space is driven by two forces: personal responsibility and
passion. Because attendance is voluntary, none of the participants
can escape the call for each person to take responsibility for his or
her experience. Presumably they came to the meeting because they
had some conviction about the topic: raising profitability, building
a better mousetrap, enhancing team morale, finding a new invest-
ment idea, whatever. If not, they shouldn’t have come.
The day (or days—an Open Space session can go up to threeBrainstorming for the Masses 12314-25 ware 123 1/19/01, 1:13 PM