Unstructuring Health Care
Open Space TechnologyFebruary 20, 2015
Why do change efforts fail?
• Change starts at the top• Change is rolled out • Change is engineered• Focus on a few elements of a complex system (not all)• Changing organizations without adequately dealing with the
human beings (emphasis on head vs. heart)• We must address all the key elements that make up a system
McKinsey and Co; Inconvenient truth about change management/Build a platform of change; not a change program (2014)
What is transformational change?
Fundamental change, altering the very nature of something.
Transformational change is both radical and sustainable.
Something that is transformed can never go back to exactly what it was before.
Robert Gass, Who we are, Social Change Transformation
Staff EngagementCulture of Safety and Trust
Patient/resident Centred CareHealth Reform
Tapping into hearts and minds
Complex Challenges
If you have come here to help me, then you are wasting your time…
but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mind,
then let us work together.
Lila Watson, Australian Aboriginal activist
Wikepedia
Open Space Principles
• Self-organizing• All attendees are encouraged to present or
facilitate a session• The goal is understanding, not necessarily to
"win" or win support by being right• Law of Two Feet
Traditional Unstructured/Open Space
Agenda is pre-set Participants set the agendaExpert driven Driven by the “pitcher” – no
expertPPT driven /Panels Discussion basedPeople around table or behind
Sitting in a circle with no table
All presentations and room spoken for
Encouraged to strike up an impromptu group discussion
Committee planned Participant drivenInformation /Workshop Connection to Action
Sit through the session (at all cost)
Law of 2 feet. Find the right conversation.
Burning Question
A good question has …
• “How can we…”• No solution in the question• Status quo is not an option any more• Big goal that is open enough for different
solutions to emerge• Many elements that influence the problem
WICKED
What questions need to be dealt with – for this conference
to be a success for me?Workshop!
Our Burning Question?
How might we engage frontline staff in change?
• Write your idea/question on a piece of paper and add your name
• Come and pitch it! (1 minute time line)• You will be given a “circle” to meet!
Facilitator Training
• First names only• Step up and step back• Monologues• Circular arguments• Conversations that won’t end
Best facilitators: gentle nudgers who are adaptive in style
Postcard: A way to record at each conversation
But the "magic" is not Open Space Technology, but rather the force that
underlies it -- the power of self organization.
Harrison Owen
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society
that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
Albert Einstein
References
• http://www.openspaceworld.com/index.htm• https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD3S0wlbek0• What is transformation and how it advances
social change. Robert Gass http://www.stproject.org/about-us/who-we-are/
• Avaaz the world in action http://www.avaaz.org/en/