Create a spirit of optimism
When a company is facing change, various questions arise among managers and employees: "Who is affected by these changes and in what way?" "How can we carry out the planning optimally and with broad support?" "Which projects need to be implemented and when?" "How do we get people to participate in these processes?"
In the run-up to a large group moderation, a support team gets together and discusses these and other questions. On this occasion, the team identifies the central issue and discusses questions such as:
- What output should be produced?
- Do we want an exploration of topics and data or do we want projects?
- Who do we invite from the various interest groups?
Answering these questions gets the process rolling and the world no longer looks quite the same during the preparation phase. People who have never had anything to do with each other before start talking, exchanging ideas, discovering new territory, breaking down prejudices, seeing pitfalls and talking about them.
Those who don't benefit go to the next workshop
On day X, all those invited sit there. Many in joyful anticipation, some skeptical. But in the meantime, the support group has learned to trust the process. The joint effort of the last few months has paid off. The participants formulate their concerns, questions and ideas on the central issue on an A3 piece of paper, present this to the whole group and offer a suitable mini-workshop. The first day is thus already largely filled. The participants stand around the pinboards and sign up for the topics that interest them and in which they want to have a say.
An important rule that applies on these two days is the golden law of two feet. This law states that during the workshop, people are constantly voting with their feet. All participants can choose their own discussion group. If a person realizes that they can neither learn nor contribute anything, they use their feet and look for a more productive discussion. It takes some time for the participants to gain confidence that no one is looking at their fingers or feet. With this freedom comes greater enjoyment and commitment.
Documentation according to the open space principle
After each round, the results of the working group dialogs are recorded. This results in a documentation that is read on the morning of the second day and distributed to all participants according to the open-space principle: Subsequently, the topics discussed are deepened and concretized. The marketplace on the pinboard is opened up again for this purpose. The experience of the previous day helps to take a clearer, more concrete and more targeted approach. On this morning, it also becomes clear what really moves the participants, where the energy is flowing and in which direction the whole thing is developing.
The decision-makers are present the whole time: they participate fully in the work in the mini-workshops. The group votes continuously: first "with their feet" and before the last round with a rating. In the final round, the top ten projects are determined and the participants decide on the spot which projects should receive financial support in the short, medium and long term, which need further work and who takes on what responsibilities and where.
Back in everyday life, the support team evaluates the discussion days, reviews the agreements on implementation, coordinates the further progress of the projects and their communication. Over time, all results are transferred to a project organization. The support team only hands over its work when all the tasks agreed in advance have been completed.
How to make large group moderation a success
- Who are the people who are personally affected?
- How urgent is the need for action?
- Are all interest groups involved?
- Is the need for action complex?
- Is participation voluntary?
- Are there no predefined answers to the situation or the question?
- Do the managers trust the employees?
- Do the managers trust an unconventional method that may produce unexpected results?
- Are the managers prepared to follow up on the results and when and how do they intend to do so?
- Have you discussed the size and infrastructure requirements with the facilitators before reserving the room?
- Have you planned enough time for the open space? (One day for a good discussion, two days for results with written report, three days for project market, prioritization and activity lists)
- How should information about the large group process, the Open Space conference, be communicated?
- How will non-participants be informed about the results and the next steps?
- You can find lots of useful information on Open Space facilitation in the Communication Guides' Learning Map No. 1 "Open Space". The Open Space results block with 20 results posters helps with the preparation and implementation of large group moderations.
