Open Space Magic: How Initiatives Emerged and Evolved

FPW Symposium 2025 Blog Series, Part 8

"Who wants to work on making lean accessible to coffee shop managers?"

"I'm passionate about bridging AI and continuous improvement."

"We need to figure out this generational succession crisis."

These were the voices heard on Friday afternoon at the symposium. After two days of identifying challenges through Lean Coffee, learning from O.C. Tanner's journey, and recognizing universal patterns, 110 participants faced a critical transition: how to convert insights into action. The answer came through Open Space Technology, a self-organizing process that transformed individual passion into collective commitment.

What happened next challenges conventional wisdom about how initiatives form and sustain momentum after conferences.

Ways of Working reports out during Open Space Session

The Law of Two Feet in Action

Open Space operates on a simple principle: the Law of Two Feet. If you're not learning or contributing where you are, move to where you can. No assigned groups, no mandatory sessions, no expert-led workshops. Just passion and responsibility.

Harrison Owen, who developed Open Space, calls this "organized chaos." We experienced it as organized energy.

The process began with participants standing to announce topics they cared enough about to lead. No pre-approval, no vetting, just conviction. Within minutes, clusters formed around the room. Some grew as people migrated from initial choices. Others merged when participants recognized overlapping interests. The Marketing & Branding proposal attracted three separate groups who realized they were solving different aspects of the same problem.

This self-selection accomplished something assigned groups never could: ensuring every participant was exactly where they wanted to be, working on what they cared about most.

Purpose-to-Practice: Structure Within Freedom

While Open Space provided freedom, the Purpose-to-Practice (P2P) framework provided structure. Each emerging initiative had to define five elements:

Purpose: Why does this work matter? Not what we'll do, but why it needs doing.

Principles: What rules must we absolutely obey? The non-negotiables that will guide decisions.

Participants: Who must be included? Not who's interested, but who's essential.

Structure: How will we organize? Not organizational charts, but working relationships.

Practices: What will we actually do? Concrete actions, not abstract intentions.

This framework prevented the common conference problem of exciting ideas dying from lack of specificity. You can't schedule a follow-up meeting for "we should do something about AI." You can schedule one for "monthly 60-minute webinars exploring AI-lean integration, starting August 20." The OSU Center for Operational Excellence webinar series is one example of this specificity in action.

The Initiatives That Took Shape

Multiple initiatives crystallized during the symposium and subsequent community meetings, each addressing challenges identified during collaboration sessions. Some were newly formed while others built on work from previous symposiums. Visit the FPW Initiatives page for current information and ways to get involved.

Adjacent Communities grew from Bruce Hamilton's observation about 38 competing methodologies. Purpose: Enable collaboration rather than competition between improvement approaches.

Lean Into AI addressed the universal technology anxiety. Purpose: Bridge the gap between improvement practitioners and AI capabilities.

Next Generation Lean Leadership tackled the demographic cliff. Purpose: Make improvement accessible to frontline workers and underserved communities.

Go & See Database worked on the connection problem. Purpose: Create a simple platform for finding and sharing facility tours.

Ways of Working addressed methodology confusion. Purpose: Help organizations define their own effective approaches.

High Mix Low Volume focused on the reality that many business leaders face. Purpose: Adapt lean for custom, low-volume environments.

LEAN (Lean Education Academic Network) reimagined education in the higher education space. Purpose: Create amazing student learning experiences and resources for educators to provide them.

Several initiatives continued from previous symposiums, including Non-Lean CEOs and work on Lean Statements & Paradoxes. Meanwhile, Marketing & Branding identified need but awaited leadership commitment.

From Formation to Evolution: The Two-Month Test

Most conference initiatives die within weeks. By August, the majority of these had gained momentum. The difference? Three critical factors:

First, genuine ownership. Initiatives weren't assigned by organizers but chosen by participants. Leaders own their initiatives because they care about them, not because someone appointed them.

Second, concrete commitments made publicly. When participants volunteer to contribute in front of their peers, social accountability creates follow-through. When organizations offer to host tours, reputation encourages delivery.

Third, infrastructure for continuity. Monthly Friday community meetings, initiative-specific workstreams, and cross-project updates create rhythm without bureaucracy. Several initiatives also hold their own regular virtual meetings or periodic in-person gatherings, as the Ways of Working group demonstrated in Detroit.

Evolution Through Action

The August update of the monthly Friday community meeting cadence revealed how initiatives evolved through implementation:

Adjacent Communities developed the Continual Improvement Tree framework, a visual model that became a potential organizing structure for the entire FPW ecosystem. An abstract idea became a concrete discussion document.

LEAN attracted dozens of educators within weeks and began developing a Body of Knowledge, Case Study Competition, definition of "amazing student learning experiences," and plans for an annual symposium. Abstract purpose became concrete deliverables.

Ways of Working identified four specific experiments including Michigan Science Center collaboration. Concept became action.

High Mix Low Volume engaged with CPI Card Group using practical tools like mind mapping and ChatGPT. Philosophy became practice.

Lean Into AI launched its webinar series. Anxiety became education.

This evolution from concept to implementation in two months demonstrates that momentum is possible when initiatives emerge from genuine need rather than organizational mandate.

The Infrastructure Making It Possible

Success required more than good intentions. The FPW infrastructure, though lightweight, provides essential support:

Monthly Community Meetings (Second Friday, 11 AM EDT) maintain connection without overwhelming calendars. Each gathering begins with a lightning round of networking to catch up with old colleagues and build new relationships. This is followed by initiative leaders sharing 30-second updates, determining breakout rooms for deeper discussion in the remaining time to move each initiative forward, step-by-step.

Cross-Initiative Visibility through shared Miro boards and Google Drive folders enables natural synergies. For example, LEAN's Body of Knowledge can incorporate High Mix Low Volume's content. Go & See Database can feature Ways of Working experiments.

Flexible Participation allows involvement at multiple levels. Can't lead? Advise. Can't advise? Contribute content. Can't contribute? Share with your network.

Documented Progress through AI-augmented capture ensures institutional memory. This blog series itself demonstrates how documentation becomes activation.

What Makes This Different

Traditional conference follow-up relies on appointed committees, formal charters, and organizational oversight. This creates compliance but not commitment. The FPW approach inverts this:

•    Passion before structure

•    Volunteers before appointments

•    Action before permission

•    Progress before perfection

The result? Measurable advancement that exceeds typical post-conference outcomes. Educators are engaged. Organizations are offering tours. Universities are participating. Webinars are attracting audiences. These are participation indicators that suggest real traction beyond conference enthusiasm.

The Invitation Remains Open

The beauty of Open Space continues beyond the symposium. New participants join monthly meetings, initiatives welcome fresh contributors, and new initiatives can still emerge. The infrastructure exists not to control but to enable.

The Northeast Lean Conference provides in-person working sessions. The next FPW Symposium, planned for May 2026 at Carnegie Mellon, offers another connection point. But you don't need to wait for events. Each initiative needs specific support, and the monthly Zoom creates regular on-ramps for involvement.

The transformation from 110 individual participants to multiple collaborative initiatives in one afternoon proves that structured freedom beats controlled assignment for generating committed action. The evolution from June formation to August implementation demonstrates that conference energy can sustain when it emerges from genuine need rather than organizational agenda.

Next: How this movement infrastructure is transforming isolated improvements into connected transformation across industries and methodologies.

Knowledge Map: Connecting to Your Context

Process Keywords: Open Space Technology, Purpose-to-Practice framework, self-organization, initiative formation, community meetings, cross-initiative collaboration, volunteer leadership, structured freedom, social accountability, sustainable momentum

Context Keywords: conference follow-through, volunteer coordination, methodology integration, generational succession, technology adoption, education transformation, facility tours, workplace culture, post-event engagement, movement building

Application Triggers:

•    Struggling with post-conference initiative follow-through → Purpose-to-Practice framework for concrete commitments

•    Need self-organizing approach for volunteer groups → Law of Two Feet and Open Space principles

•    Building infrastructure for ongoing collaboration → Monthly community meeting model with lightweight coordination

•    Seeking to connect with improvement practitioners → FPW initiative network and monthly virtual gatherings

Related Continual Improvement Themes: Community building, Leadership development, Self-organization, Knowledge transfer, Facilitation methodology

Continue the conversation:

Follow FPW on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/future-people-work/

Join monthly FPW discussions: https://forms.gle/yXPbCXURdfvYtjmn9

Explore current initiatives: https://www.fpwork.org/initiatives

Hashtags: #FutureOfPeopleAtWork #ContinuousImprovement #OpenSpaceTechnology #LeanCommunity #WorkplaceTransformation

This blog was co-created by the 110 participants of the FPW Symposium 2025, augmented with Claude AI to capture and synthesize our collective insights. Part eight of nine documenting our journey toward workplace transformation. It represents ongoing work by the Future of People at Work initiative, a collaboration of Catalysis, Central Coast Lean, GBMP Consulting Group, Imagining Excellence, Lean Enterprise Institute, Shingo Institute, The Ohio State University Center for Operational Excellence, and Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC).

Special thanks to Dave Ostreicher and Rachel Reuter for their editorial contributions to this article.

Join monthly discussions at www.fpwork.org.