The people who have to deliver the change rarely got to talk about it

The problem no one asks officially

Transformations rarely stall on strategy. They stall on the hundred practical questions no one asks officially, which circulate in corridors without landing anywhere.

“Senior leadership must often ‘get out of the way’ so that the middle of the organization can engage in real self-organization.”From the proceedings of Open Space on Open Space, Vancouver 2001

An Open Space brings those questions inside. Participants put what occupies them on the board themselves, and the conversations that follow produce agreements instead of rumours. I make sure that happens safely and productively.

For change leaders

• You are leading a transformation programme, merger or major culture change
• You have employees who are being informed and want to contribute
• Stakeholders with different interests need each other
• You know buy-in cannot be communicated

Consultant since 2006

I have worked as a consultant since 2006, the last ten years in agile transformations.

In that role I used Open Space with clients, inside ongoing programmes. Mainly in banking and the public sector, within guilds, tribes and communities of practice. Groups of up to fifty participants.

What these sessions mostly produced was exchange. Concerns that would otherwise have stayed in the corridors, and ideas nobody had written down yet. Sometimes concrete improvement initiatives came out of it. That is a more honest answer than the promise you often read.

Market context

Demand for facilitation in large-scale change is high right now:

• Belgian hospitals and municipalities are in a merger wave. On 1 January 2025, 28 Flemish municipalities merged into 13 new ones (source). Hospitals are consolidating into care networks (source).
• The Netherlands has its highest number of reorganisations in ten years.
• AI transitions everywhere call for new working methods and a different division of roles.

Where in the programme

Timing determines what an Open Space delivers. At a kickoff you collect questions and lower resistance. Mid-programme you correct course with the people who see what is actually happening. At the end you evaluate at programme level rather than team by team. During preparation I weigh with the client which moment gives you most.

A one-off Open Space stays a gathering. Run the form repeatedly within the same programme and something else happens: the second session can look back at what has been tried since the first. In one digital transformation at a large financial institution in Brussels I did this across 2020 and 2021.

That is how repetition yields more than a single day.

What that repeated use actually produced in practice: what an Open Space actually produces.

From harvest to agreement

An Open Space produces a harvest, not a decision. So during preparation I settle with the client who decides after the day, how, and by when. How that plays out in practice: the approach.

If your organisation works with consent-based decision-making, that form is already in place. Sociocracy 3.0 describes that connection itself, in two patterns: Invite Change (invite people into change rather than imposing it) and Open Space for Change (invite everyone to create and run experiments for evolving the organisation).

More on the preparation: the invitation is the design.

Frequently asked questions

How does Open Space help with organisational change?

Open Space Technology helps with organisational change by giving employees and stakeholders the space to ask the questions they have and have the conversations they need. Change does not fail because the strategy is wrong. It fails because people do not feel heard. Open Space addresses this by giving people a voice in the outcome, creating genuine buy-in that does not need to be communicated because the people who shaped it already own it.

When in a change programme should you use Open Space?

Open Space can be valuable at different stages of a change programme: at the start to explore challenges and build buy-in, midway to renew energy and address blockers, or at the end to anchor outcomes. The best timing depends on the specific programme and is determined in consultation with the client.

Is Open Space suitable for mergers?

Yes, Open Space is particularly suited to mergers. A merger by definition brings together diverse stakeholders with different interests, the context Open Space was designed for. By giving people a voice in the issues that concern them, genuine buy-in emerges that makes the merger workable and successful. Belgian hospitals and municipalities are currently navigating merger waves where this format is increasingly used.

What is the difference between Open Space and change management?

Traditional change management typically works with communication plans, stakeholder analyses and structured change frameworks, tools that treat change as something managed top-down. Open Space is different: it gives people the space to ask the questions they have and have the conversations they need. Open Space does not replace change management, but complements it at the crucial moment when genuine buy-in must emerge.

How do I explain the need for an Open Space to leadership, management and participants?

Always start from the question, not the method. To leadership, explain what is at stake if that question stays unanswered, and what you need from them: to name the givens honestly beforehand, to stand behind the invitation as sponsor, and to act afterwards on what the group produces. Management often fears losing control. Show them how much structure there actually is: a fixed time, clear boundaries, a report from every session and commitments in the closing circle. To participants, say above all that their input makes the agenda, that taking part is voluntary, and that the conversations that normally stay in the corridors come to the table here. I am glad to help with those conversations beforehand; they are a large part of the preparation.

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