Validating skills centered around the Open Organization characteristics
crossposted on the WAO blog and the CAST blog
We Are Open Co-op is working with CAST to offer deep support around Open Working for the Sport England Innovation and Digital Accelerator programme. The programme is designed to help National Governing Bodies (NGBs) across England with digital transformation, so more people from more communities can access and enjoy sport.
For the rest of the year and into 2023, we’re testing the hypothesis that Sport England NGBs will share more openly (in terms of both transparently within their organisation, and externally with other orgs) if we run sessions that provide access points on a spectrum of openness.
This goes from, for example, changing sharing permissions on web-based folders (e.g. Google Drive) through to writing weeknotes on a regular basis. We can capture evidence of success both quantitatively and qualitatively, especially in terms of quotations relating to changed practice and cultural change within NGBs.
Badges for Open Org characteristics
In harmony with our work on Open Recognition, we’ve developed a series of badges based on the Open Org Project’s five characteristics. As an Open Org Ambassador for a number of years, I’ve helped create the definition and principles of openness alongside others in the community. I’m pleased that we can now recognise people who have these characteristics!
We reworked the Open Org Definition to include “I” statements that allow Sport England, and indeed anyone else, to assess themselves in Transparency, Inclusivity, Adaptability, Collaboration and Community.
With multiple “I” statements, people can choose their own adventure. People can choose the statement most relevant to them and then provide evidence to earn the badge. For example, while one person might have published a blog post another might have turned on default sharing, but these activities can earn a badge.
In our workshops and Open Working sessions, we support people looking to earn these badges with activities and advice on how they can do so.
Steps in Open Working
We know that working openly is not a binary thing. We are more or less open depending on our context and situation. However, we also know that working openly has been shown to have benefits for organisations and society as a whole, as well as the individuals who choose to work openly.
Learning to work more openly is a process. There are a variety of themes to understand and find tactics for. We developed the free email course “What We Talk About When We Talk About Open” to serve as an introduction.
We know it takes time to be comfortable working openly, so we’ve created badge pathways to help people take their first steps and then take a few more. The “First Steps in Open Working” pathway recognises people who are able to show that they have demonstrated one of the principles of a characteristic in accordance with the Open Organization Definition. The “Next Steps in Opening Working” recognises when someone is able to demonstrate more than one.
Real world impact
People can share the badges that they’ve earned to demonstrate their commitment to open working. Whether on LinkedIn or Medium, personal blogs or sharing on other social networks, these badges can be used to show how transparency, inclusivity, adaptability, collaboration and community are creating real world impact inside the organisations and communities that are using them.
Ready to earn? Head over to Open Working Badges page on our Learn with WAO platform and get started!