OPEN SPACE REPORT FORM
Topic Name OS and it’s Relationship to Coaching
Topic Number 1st Session Convenor Giys Participants Bhav, Dick West, Isac, David Chard, Eugene, Wang, Pavel
Insights, Questions Raised, Possible Actions, Recommendations, etc:
Overlaps and Differences
* Intervention which coaching is as different from Open Space
* Confidentiality, declared, intended, some risk in OS, wonder whether confidentiality is finally an illusion
* Even picture taken at an OS could be a problem for a participant if seen by someone who would take great offense at the participant’s participation
* In OS, there is no predetermined outcome, otherwise it’s not open
Safety and OS in Coaching (Bhavan)
* Coaching is one to one, feel the coach is holding space so the person can work
* Bruce Lee’s image of learning all the technicues, then realized that no one technique worked
* When “in the zone” not following any model, might even ask the coachee what questions I should be asking
* Always conscious of where my boundaries are
David Chard
* Did OS, sponsor (after promising to follow through with activities the group came up with) backed down and refused to send out the action plans
* OS facilititative coaching means getting the structure out of the way, clearning out what doesn’t need to be done
Group
* Confrontational coaching, interrupting an unhelpful behavioral pattern
Coaching
* Start where people are now
* Respect boundaries and build trust
* Go after the coachee’s “rewards” for negative behavior
* Assume every pattern has a positive intent
* Control dramas - Unconscious responses to threats
* Assertive control dramas - Dominator and Interrogater
* Withdrawl control dramas - Aloof (removing self) and Poor Me (victim)
Directive coaching and non-directive coaching
* Helpful to have a structure which brings unconscious behavior to consciousness so the coachee can make a decision
Ontological Coaching - Life and science of Being
* Become aware of language traps/beliefs
* Best to have no view of the outcome
* Help people choose the life they want
Pavel - OS doesn’t work in the conventional way in Russia, now require organizations to request and set it up themselves
In Coaching, helpful to decide what success would look like. Question as to whether you can. The one who commissions the coaching may have a strong idea what result is desired, coach needs to decide how to relate to that, may decide not to take on the client or ignore the instructions of someone who wants to manage too much
* Situaton which a coach was brought in to provide due-diligence so the company could fire the coachee, coachee just blamed everyone, later said he felt listened to, changed, so company retained him
What if a coachee constantly moves from crisis to crisis? The coach points this out as a pattern and asks what the result of this has been/will be. Coach needs to know his positive intention re the coachee.
Importance of debrief
* Define success in your own terms
* Debrief with a peer who wasn’t there can be very useful
University Student Union Story
* OS on whether to close student union to which no one came
* Administration decided to close the student union
* Next day, 20 people show up volunteering to operate the student union, still operating, a success
In OS, we say to keep the space open
In coaching, we stop if no changes are happening
Coach may need to trigger a breakdown for the client (in order to get back in play)
Harrison Owen’s story
*HO opened space, went for a nap
* Client CEO said he shouldn’t have to pay full price because HO wasn’t doing anything
* HO said OK, then just give me 10% of the increase this OS enables
* CEO backed down, would have had to pay millions
Bhav’s story about charging
* PABAY - Pay as your budget allows you
* Or offer corporate rates and let them decide how much they can pay
* HK story from a company program - If facilitator has said his price was less than $2000 per day, the company wouldn’t have considered him competent to work with senior managers
* $15,000 coaching fee... Question as to why so much... Answer, $1000 for the coaching and $14000 for getting your full attention and commitment
