Open Space Training and Facilitation

[Gary Kimble & Metta Zetty]

This is Metta.

Here are a few thoughts and my 2 cents for
FMHAGERTY <FMHAGERTY at aol.com> in response to
his/her query about Open Space training and
"professional" facilitation....

For what it's worth, I've known folks go right into
facilitating Open Space gatherings w/o even having attended
an OS event, much less a formal training session.  They
simply heard about the process, loved it, read up on it,
discovered a deep appreciation of the dynamics of the process,
and went into their first event with a co-facilitator who
had been in Open Space before....

I also know "professional" facilitators in whose ability
to "hold space" I would not have confidence, even if they
went through years of OS training.  (E.g., If control is one
of the facilitator's personal issues, trained or not,
professional or not, I am doubtful about their potential
effectiveness as an OS facilitator.)

I guess my rambling point is that I don't think a certain
type of training or "professional" credentials are the
critical/essential factors, or necessary conditions, for
effectively opening and holding space. In contast, an
appreciation of the value/importance/potential and
inherent dynamics of Open Space process *is*.

To me the essence of effective OS facilitation is a
deep-seated, whole-hearted willingness to "trust the
process, trust the people" -- an innate confidence
in self-organizing potential of living systems.
If you've got that, everything else seems to emerge
and fall into place beautifully.

This is not to say that training is not helpful.
I loved the training I took with Harrison, and I know
that other good/talented folks in this group offer
OS training, as well.  But, to me, formal training or
"professional" expertise is not the issue. What is
crucial are:
        (1) a deep appreciation/understanding of
the fundmental self-organizing dynamics of the
OS process, along with...
        (2) the "inner work" of facilitation
-- discovering what to hold onto, and what to let go of,
both in facilitating the process, and in holding space
"open" within ourselves.....

Good luck in designing your facilitation training.
I'll be looking forward to hearing more from you,
and from other good folks in this circle who have
more experience than I....

As ever,
Metta
_________________________________________________________________

>From: FMHAGERTY <FMHAGERTY at aol.com>
>To: osi at tmn.com <osi at tmn.com>
>Date: Monday, January 05, 1998 12:27 PM
>Subject: training
>
>Hi - I am looking to get some insights from someone about training others
>to plan and facilitate Open Space....
>
>What I would like to discuss is how best to train people that are not
>professional facilitators to use OST.  I have planned and facilitated a
>number of community Open Spaces and now many others want to use it.   The
>organization that I work for (a large Catholic health care system) and
>myself would like to offer some sort of training for people in the non-profit
>sector who are interested.  So .... how best to train?  Also, should we be
>concerned that folks receiving the training are not professional
>facilitators?
>
>Would love some guidance.  Thanks!