Some thoughts about trust/ distrust in open space

[Grewe, Detlev]

First: Please excuse my bad english, I have little opportunity to
practice.
Second: Whereas I have never experienced an open space, I have some
ideas about rising trust in open space environment, derived from the
many descriptions,that  I could read here.

I think, in a high level, trust depends on self-trust and
self-confidence. If you have a strong position on your own, and you know
it, you can risk to trust others as they can not do bad things to you.
And as you can make the experience, that you can risk some public
statement and people listen to you, thinking seriously about your
opinion, straighten your self confidence and your trust in the
environment.

The intro-design of the open space generates the good chance of making
those trust-rising experiences.

On the opposit the climate in companies in some critical situation, in
concurrent relationships etc sets good (bad) chances for the alternate
experience: That you are personally taken down after telling your
opinion. Being ignored is one of the experiences that hurt most and
which happens rather often in our fast running business-world. Having
time and having the awareness of the others is a healing experience
(during open space and other methods) in contrast to the usual
experience of being ignored.

in german we have a word "fright-biting", what means, that people with
low self confidence and the expectation of being hurt (with well
educated and polite looking words) tend to avoid the expected hurting by
biting at first. In that trend we find a down leading spiral of
relationship.
Open space in such a situation can only be the first but very important
step to reverse that spiral by buildt up self confidence and trust in
enabling the experience of own importance, own competence getting the
interest of others. There in the opening starts that upward leading
spiral, and when the follow-up is done correctly, it gives the
opportunity of a self-growing upwards spiral of trust and self
confidence.