discover the life-changing magic of holding space

Open Space Leadership

photo © 2018 Gerhard Van Deventer/Venture Photography, Cape Town South Africa
Open Space, Hopper, Famous Harold, and Me

Cohort Based Virtual Training

Open Space Leadership 
for Remote Leaders

(special edition)

Course Start

31 August 2020 (planned)

Planned Start

This cohort-based training starts when we've gathered 6 cohort members. We're on target to start 31 August as planned.

Time / Timezone

5pm—8pm Berlin / 11am-2pm NYC (planned)

We will find a suitable time /  timezone for everyone when we charter the cohort.

Duration

  • 3 weeks x 3 live interactive sessions (2-3 hrs each) + bonus sessions
  • Plan to spend 1-3 hours prep time for each session.
  • 1 hour 1-on-1 mentoring call at te end of the course.

In this Course You Will

  • Learn to sponsor and facilitate life-changing Open Space Events (for new and experienced facilitators)
  • Examine and refine your own stance for leadership and coaching using the practice and priniciples of Open Space to cultivate self-organisation and transformation daily

Read more: Special edition bonuses for remote leaders

Prerequisites

  • Have participated in an Open Space event  (virtual or on-location)
  • Planning to sponsor or faciltitate an Open Space Event (see the FAQ for more details).

Price

684 (or €584 with early bird)

 

We can't let price be a barrier to life-changing open space. €684 is priced inline with coporate prices for comparable training in Europe and the USA.  Please see our FAQ and contact us for non-corporate pricing that works for your market.

Calling 6 keen agile leaders, change agents, friends and colleagues who are ready to spark change with Open Space.


“Leadership emerges from those who harness their passion with responsibility. Great ideas, inspired performance, and sustained activity follow.”

(from: Art of Hosting on Open Space)


Open Space fits times of chaos and disruption because these times call for self-organisation. When you cultivate self-organisation by Open Space Leadership you hold the most powerful keys of transformation to create action in times of chaos.

In this workshop you'll learn to sponsor and facilitate Open Space Events simply, powerfully and effectively—both online and in the same room. You'll also examine and deepen your own stance for leadership and coaching using Open Space and the principles of holding space to cultivate self-organisation and transformation every day.

Do you already hold Open Space? This workshop will help you strengthen your stance and refine your practice of holding space that matters.

Open Space is much simpler than you think, and it’s much harder than you imagine.

 

For the next cohort, we've added two powerful bonus questions to answer together during the workshop.

How can we be most effective with Open Space Leadership as Remote Leaders with remote and virtual teams?

How can we hold virtual Open Space as effectively as Open Space in one room?

Sign-up this week and you’ll join the next cohort launching in late-August.

Famous Harold Custard

Have we sparked your curiosity or your passion? Are you eager to explore and learn more?

Ready?

When you signup you're only committing to curiosity.

We'll only ask you to pay if you choose to opt-in for the rest of the worshop after the first full session.

The Workshop Always Includes

  • 6+ hous of online training and group work with Steve or Deb
    (3 "weekly" interactive, remote, sessions 2-3 hours each).
  • Individual preparation work that includes: reading, listening, watching, drawing, card work, and more (you chose the activities that resonate with your mode of learning).
  • 4 or more personal reflections using our Open Space workbook written by Deb.
  • 3 or more pair calls with your workshop partner
  • a 1-on-1 mentoring call before you hold your first open space
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August Bonus

  • Special focus on Remote Open Space Facilitation (in addition to Open Space Facilitation in the same room). We’ve revised over 75% of the course material for virtual Open Space.
  • Each of the 3 workshop sessions for the late-August cohort begin and end with new bonus activities for  effectively holding remote Open Space that matters.
  • 3 additional remote Open Space dojo sessions to practice remote open space facilitation (1.5 hours each) and solve the tricky problems that remote facilitation presents (participation optional).
  • Work with Steve Holyer and an event sponsor to plan and hold a remote Open Space for the community (target date: mid-September or October).

What about safety, trust, and mobility in virtual Open Space? Where's the full passion and the drive of responsibility on-line? We long to hear the remote bumble bees buzzing and see the butterflies gracing the virtual space. That's very hard with the reduced bandwidth of remote Open Space.

That's why we created our August bonus for remote leaders.

Testimonials

I've been in Open Spaces that Steve held. Don't be fooled by the ease with which he seems to hold the space - there is a serious craft behind the apparent simplicity, a kind of craft that in my opinion creates facilitation magic.

- Kirsten Clacey

Community Leader  / Agile Coach / Author
The Remote Facilitator's Pocket Guide
(South Africa)

I facilitated my first Open Space Event last week and it went really well. Several people said that they’ve been at other barcamps but this was different in a positive way… You opened a whole new world to me… I’m happy and confident.

- Dina Sierralta

Facilitator and Change Agent
(Germany)

This live virtual course is an opportunity for deep learning about Open Space Technology (OST). ... This course was wonderful preparation for both a 100-person 1-day open space and a 50-person 3-day open space I facilitated later.

- Mark Kilby

Agile Coach / Community Leader / Author
From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to Deliver
(usa)

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Frequently Asked

— questions and answers —

Have more questions?
Let's talk.

Conversations are best. Please contact us by email, ask for a slack invite, or signup to start the conversation.

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Our Story

We've found the life-changing magic of holding space. We relish it. We keep it at the center of the work we do.

We were chatting one day after a Coaching Cocktails meetup. At the same time, we both realised at the what we were doing with our virtual  coaching meetups. We were holding space. No more. No less.

It's what we do as leaders in our work.

We know that Open Space almost always "works". But in the last several years we've seen many Open Spaces that were just merely "working." We weren’t experiencing the powerful creativity and we didn't feel that spark of passion that comes from knowing that whoever came was the the right people.

We’ve Open Space treated like just an agenda-less meeting.

What were we missing?

You can read  our individual stories below.