Participating in change processes

Participating in change processes
Networking, exchange, mutual understanding,
opinion building and commitment signify energy and emotion.
 

Open Space and World Café

You would like to set in motion the entire company,a department or several teams at the same time very quickly, design change, create communication and dialogue? You would like to bring together 30, 300 or 1,300 people for some hours or days and work in an outcome-oriented manner?

We are specialists in planning big group processes. We work with reliable methods like World Café, Open Space or Real Time Strategic Change and future-conferences.
Different opinions are to be brought together and understanding of different positions is to be supported. Key topics are to be brought out and first tendencies, moods and answers are to be collected.
Two especially suitable proceedings are the Open Space method and the World Café. We would like to point out the advantages briefly: Open Space: self-organized problem solving The Open Space method cultivates creativity and time for a coffee break: the setting relies on the self-organization of the participants. In contrast to conventional workshop and conference processes, crosstalking and changing in and out of teams is welcome at any time.
Open Space inputs last between half a day and up to 3 days, an Open Space format is good to get an overview of a problem or work on clearly defined topics. At a duration of one and a half days up to 3 days, insights and personal commitment can grow until the next day.

Exemplary course/process of an Open Space:

  1. Greeting and introduction, explaining the “givens“ (overall conditions, e.g. fields, in which nothing can be changed).
  2. Plan for the day, the four principles and rules in the Open Space
  3. The board of requests is filled: everyone who wants to start a topic writes it on a sheet and presents it.
  4. The marketplace is opened: the participants decide in which topic they want to participate and sign in.
  5. Starting working phase with teams that are constantly documented by the participants.
  6. The documentation sheets are taken by assistants and ideally constantly updated
  7. Presentation: each team presents the 3 most important insights as introduction for the following action planning.
  8. Action planning: introducing further projects and precise details of what is needed: people, time, money etc. Who would like to join an project group after the Open Space, enters his/her name in a corresponding form.
  9. The final round serves as reflection and exchange – special experirnces and impressions, conclusions, problems left.

In the World Café: networking, exchange, mutual understanding and formation of opinion. The participants with different levels of knowledge talk about a certain topic. Different opinions are brought together and understanding of different positions is supported. Key topics are brought out and first tendencies, moods and answers are collected.
Group size: 12 – 1000 , duration: 2 – 4 hours.
The participants repeatedly rearrange themselves at tables for 4 in constantly new combinations talk about different central questions.
While doing that, they visualize the most important results on the tablecloth right from the beginning. Afterwards, each group briefly presents the most important results. A vernissage of tablecloths can end this phase.
The World Café makes a good start or conclusion of workshops or congresses with big heterogeneous groups.

Exemplary course/process of a World Café:

  1. Teaser/impulse, e. g. presentation,film, panel discussion
  2. Round 1, 20 minutes, What applies to you?, What are the common challenges? Changing tables, newly mixed groups – a host stays behind.
  3. Round 2, 20 minutes, 1. Which points of the previous conversations were you interested in and which points surprised you? Which questions arose? Where is reinforcement and intensification needed?
  4. Changing tables, newly mixed groups– a new host stays behind.
  5. Round 3, 20 minutes, returning to the first table, What do we have to rethink and break new ground ? How can we launch into it concretely? What could be our contribution to that?
  6. Round 4, 20 minutes: harvesting: collecting results: Which are important results? Which questions are still open? 1 flip chart per table.

Download_Participation in Change by World Café and Open Space Technology (PDF)