Anybody have any experience with this? Was turned on to this book by @drewdeal and have to say I’m a HUGE fan. There’s some ideas based in cultural anthropology and organizational change which I thought was a novel approach, and pretty eye opening. Wondering if anyone else has read/come across this in their travels…
OpenSpace Beta?
jasonlittle
#3
yes, I’ve know Niels for a long time, it’s a great book. If you understand the social aspect of change, and just “know how to work and navigate the system, people and their politics” this book will reinforce that. It’s not a very exciting read, but it’s fascinating.
JayH
#5
I have always been a big fan of inviting people in as opposed to forcing them to, so it’s great to see it quasi codified in text. We spend too much time trying to change people who aren’t interested, why not double down on those that want to change/etc. (I think you said as much in your interview). I also liked the statement about how “there’s no change resisters, there’s just people who are bored with your approach to change and have checked out”, or something like that. Really fascinating.
Jen
#6
Yep, it’s an interesting piece of marketing. Takes very old organisational change techniques and recasts them. For those unfamiliar with the org change space - it’s a really good read. I’m certainly recommending it to others. It does trip itself up a bit with the whole invite people etc and self organisation when it tells you clearly you need to get some-one powerful to clear their diary and invite people. No matter which way we cast it, there is ALWAYS a power imbalance in change work. Some imbalances are just greater than others.
At a recent conference I went to there was an organisational anthropologist from Deloittes I think on stage making a case for why organisations should employ anthropologists. And all of the org change practitioners are in the audience shaking their heads – “they do, they’re called organisational change managers”.
And yes. I know, this is not always the case in organisations – and that MANY MANY organisations have experienced poor change management practice. I promise @jasonlittle, not ramping up on this one 
drewdeal
#7
There is a certification class (woowho) in this in Germany.
I wish there was more traction for this at this point, and my suspicion is that the market for sponsors to do something this different is super small.