"modified open space"

[Birgitt Bolton]

Hello friends and colleagues,
I am having a huge struggle and hope that we can get some dialogue going
here that will help me out. The topic is "modified open space". Within me,
I have clarity that we either "Open Space" or we do not. For me there is no
such thing as modified Open Space. It can be longer, it can be very short,
yet it needs to be opened with care and honouring of what is
possible.Wonder, creativity, innovation, imagination and emergent
organization happen. Kind of like love---I either am in love or I am not in
love; I surely am not in "modified love" to suit the circumstances. Open
Space like love needs to be kept whole, with its integrity intact. Or it
falls apart. I am wondering if my thinking is shared by this open space
community or if I am on a tangent?? I would love some discussion on this
list about this.

Harrison is clear that anyone with a good head and good heart can do OST. I
agree. He also chose not to copyright or to "certify" those who have been
trained. For good reason. I agree. What I am less clear on is what the
response should be when OST becomes modified OST.

Three examples of the kind of stuff I struggle with on this one.
1. A conference is being planned that will have many corporations
represented. A session in a lunch hour was billed as Open Space. I called
to ask about it and was told it was modified Open Space. These people were
very well intentioned. They just didn't think about what the ramifications
might be for Open Space. I was fearful that hundreds of businesses in our
area would feel that they knew what Open Space was after this conference,
be most unimpressed with it, and not give us the time of day to use Open
Space with them in the future. This has happened before when modified Open
Space was used as an evening "catch all" session at the ODN conference
1996. Senior staff locally who witnessed what they thought was Open Space
then blocked the use of Open Space in their organizations. Not
understanding the great good it could do, and feeling they had witnessed
all there was to it. In the case of this present conference, the organizers
were gracious enough to meet with me and together we are recouping that
lunch time to present a bit about what Open Space is and to show its
benefits. They will ensure that nothing like "modified open space" surfaces
to cause problems for those of us promoting Open Space in the future. I am
grateful to them. Did I have a right to say that there is no such thing as
"modified Open Space" or is that just me with a "bee in my bonnet"?

2. A consultant read OST: a user's guide and did a modified Open Space in a
large city locally. Didn't think that walking the circle, etc. was
important to the process. It would be easier just to get the topics up. She
worked with a diverse group in the health sector that experienced
union/management conflict. Folks showed up. She called it Open Space. It
fell apart quickly with her trying to control the process that quickly got
out of hand. The reverberations persist two years later. Not one of those
organizations will consider the use of Open Space after their experience of
"Open Space" which really wasn't.

3. And another twist on things that doesn't harm the name of Open Space yet
feels not okay to me. A colleague in the US is promoting a new methodology
of hers. "Invent a Session" that speaks about an innovative process to
produce meetings with less pre-planning and effort focusing on passion and
responsibility>action>results. She has been trained in Open Space. Now,
this doesn't harm the reputation of Open Space, yet doesn't feel quite
right to me.

I realize that I can be guilty of black/white thinking and I can be like a
dog with a bone. Until I have the discussion that helps me see things
differently. I appreciate any feedback/discussion you will enter into with
me on this. I ask that we keep the discussion on the listserve as a
community discussion. I realize there is no one way to do Open Space.
Myself, I never do it the same way twice (mostly because I always forget at
least three things). I am not talking about the quality of how we Open
Space--we all have good days and bad days. I am talking about "modifying"
it.

Thanks for considering these thoughts,
Birgitt Bolton (Canada)