How an Open Space day works

Together with the client, I look for the burning question: one participants want to answer themselves, and that sets the day in motion.

We also agree the givens: what has already been decided, how leadership stands towards it, and where the boundaries lie. That sounds like the opposite of freedom. It is the condition for it. People who know where the boundaries are dare to use the space between them and take initiative themselves.

“Givens or non-negotiables may be worked out to define the space that is open for the participants.”From the proceedings of Open Space on Open Space, Halifax 2005

I also determine the participant group, the logistics, and how the harvest gets used: how are the day's outcomes translated into concrete next steps?

More on why the invitation is the design: the invitation is the design.

The day begins in a large circle, the opening circle. The sponsor, whoever stands behind the question, briefly introduces it. Then I open the space: I explain the process, the four principles and the Law of Mobility, and invite participants to propose topics they want to discuss. Anyone with a question, idea or challenge writes it down and announces it to the group. This creates the marketplace: an agenda made entirely by the participants themselves.

Participants choose which sessions to attend based on their interest and expertise. The Law of Mobility applies: if a session is no longer relevant, move to another. That is the engine of the process. Whoever proposed the session records the outcomes.

The time slots on the board set the rhythm of the day. At the end of a block I sound a gong. That is information rather than an instruction: the slot as announced is over, and whether the conversation continues is for the participants to decide.

The reverse also holds: nobody has to fill a slot. If the work is done after twenty minutes, break up. I encourage it. Participants also move or merge sessions themselves. The room has one hard closing time, and that is the only moment when the clock counts.

When the Open Space runs over several days, each morning starts with the morning announcements and each day ends with the evening news. The group gathers in the circle, and whoever has something to share comes to the centre: new sessions, changes, what happened that day.

At the end of the day, the outcomes of all sessions are shared with the whole group. Depending on the objective, the group prioritises, creates action plans, or determines next steps. The harvest is what the participants themselves created.

What that harvest actually produces varies: what an Open Space actually produces.

The Open Space closes in the same circle, the closing circle: simple and serious, without presentations. Whoever wants to says what mattered and what they intend to do. That is where the first commitments are made. After the day, the client receives a summary of all session outcomes. I often also schedule a follow-up session to sustain the energy and agreements from the day: the same cluster-prioritise-celebrate pattern I have used over ten years of facilitation, across roughly a hundred retrospectives and working sessions.