"modified open space"

[Richard C. Holloway]

I've enjoyed listening to the concerns, challenges and opportunities raised
by this thread.  When I literally stumbled into "Open Space Technology," I
recognized the spirit and some elements of this methodology--from Bohmian
dialog to Native American rituals to experiential learning processes to
people gathering around the fax machine in the workplace.

Open Space gets a bad rap from people who have experienced something else.
That's too bad--but it would happen regardless of anything any one of us
would do.  It's always more critical to be involved in your own
"becoming-being" than in living life as a reactionary.

I use several elements found in open space and dialog in my learnshops,
playshops and other facilitation/learning processes.  I refuse to call them
by the names "open space" or "dialog" because they are not.  For lack of a
better term, I use "networking-in-the-round" to identify the process of
sitting in a circle and self-organizing/directing the conversation around a
framing topic.  When I am facilitating open space meetings, I stick very
close to the spirit and structural integrity of open space.

I will share with you a challenge to a method that struck home with me.
This came from a Shaman of the Cherokee nation who was disturbed by my use
of the Talking Stick.  He felt that I was denigrating a very spiritual and
sacred ritual--and, as is customary in our mainstream culture in North
America, debasing another Native American custom for mainstream use.

As a person who is keenly aware of my native roots--and saddened by losing
much of that heritage to the dispersion and assimilation efforts of the
federal government--his concern touched me.  Each time I see the Talking
Stick used outside of its' ritual context, I feel disturbed.  I laud Peg
Holman for using a prop to simulate a "microphone" instead--it gets the job
done effectively--and doesn't debase an important culturally-unique ritual.

So as you work with holding the space, and forming the sacred circle in open
space, consider the cultural relevance to the people who participate.  Many
of them are unconscious of their connection to one another and to their
ancestors, and become uncomfortable through the reminders.  However, open
space speaks to their emotions and tacit knowledge when it happens, and is
much more powerful an experience when it is experienced.

walk in peace,

Doc Holloway

--
"What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think
things are." -Epictetus

Thresholds--developing critical skills for living organizations
Richard C. "Doc" Holloway       Olympia, WA    ICQ# 10849650
Please visit our new website, still at <http://www.thresholds.com/>
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