Connectivity, trust, etc.

[Chris Kloth]

A few thoughts evoked by recent additions:

Detley:

I also like the phrase "fright-biting" and have certainly seen examples
of it, self trust and self confidence seem related to credibility and
competence from earlier in this thread, the spiral you refer to reminds
me of Piaget's Developmental Spiral from the field of developmental
psychology which, in short, describes how very young children go through
periods of awkward, active experimentation followed by periods of quiet,
comfortable integration of the learning from the experimentation...in
healthy environments this is an ascending spiral, in unhealthy
situations it is a descending spiral.

Larry:

Your observation about trust, lradership, sponsorship and facilitators
resonate for me.  I believe the pre-work is always the key.  Our role at
that stage includes listening for and "testing" for the sincerety of the
sponsors' intentions.  This does not mean only working for people who I
"judge" as "good" (though I do think we have a right and responsibility
to say "no" when our gut says so). What it does mean for me is "warning"
sponsors how the potential of honorable outcomes, despitte their worst
intentions, are quite possible ...kind of an ironic approach...

Birgitt

Your reference to the 4 qualities of the facilitators of Open Space
relate to my sense of creating the conditions of dialogue...they are
quite similar to the elements that David Bohm and others have
identified...when you suggest that sustaining these conditions on an
"open space organization" includes building on the initial trust
building moments from open space events, allowing "that real anger/yuk"
(I love this counter clinical language) to surface over time and
building the capacity of the people/organization to apply the values and
principles they experienced in Open Space

I resist using the language "open space organization" in describing the
intended outcome of using open space technology because I think there is
more than one way to facilitate the creation of these conditions and
because I fear we Americans trivialize powerful ideas and tools by
adopting language that sounds like packaging...I value empowerment as a
way of working with people but hate how the word has been used to "sell"
interventions that were not empowering...I am finding that the same is
occurrring with the use of the term open space....I know I can't control
how others use language or methods...the way I resist my inclination to
"judge" people who, in my own very judgemental view, misuse tools aand
terms, is to try to be a model of what I mean, to clarify my own
language and to engage in dialogue

Chris