Do you ever intervene...

[Larry Peterson]

Bert.

Never intervene!! Whether it is too "slow" for you or too conflicted and
fast. That immediately takes responsibility away from the group and puts it
back in the hands of the facilitator. They likely need the conversations
they are having to get to the point where they can initiate. If your or
others see a need for "process skill development" that can happened as
training later or before. However, it is more likely that the theme and
parameters for action for the Open Space are not compelling. Open Space is
most powerful when there is a real performance challenge and the people
have real power to act on it as framed by the sponsors. If the challenge
and power to act are real, and people have a passion for them, then they
will find the process capabilities.

Larry

Larry Peterson
Associates in Transformation
41 Appleton Ave., Toronto, ON,
Canada, M6E 3A4
Tel:/Fax: 416-653-4829

lpasoc at inforamp.net
http://www.inforamp.net/~lpasoc

-----Original Message-----
From:   Peg Holman [SMTP:pholman at EMAIL.MSN.COM]
Sent:   Tuesday, October 06, 1998 8:00 PM
To:     OSLIST at LISTSERV.IDBSU.EDU
Subject:        Do you ever intervene...

Please give Bert your thoughts on his question.  Thanks,

Peg Holman

-----Original Message-----
From: Bert Elliott <AVELLIOT at bcsc02.gov.bc.ca>
To: OSI at TMN.COM <OSI at TMN.COM>
Date: Tuesday, October 06, 1998 3:30 PM
Subject: Peggy Holeman


To: OSI1    --INTERNET OSI at TMN.COM

Thanks for the invitation to the conference in Nov. but I won't be able to
attend. Nonetheless, I appreciate being part of the mailing list.

I haven't talked with you since I tried Open Space last spring with
wonderful
results. The same group is asking for the process again and there have been
several people interested following that initial success.

What I did notice however, is that the discussion does depend on the
facilitation skills or meeting skills of the convener. As an observer, it
looked to me like the discussions rambled in some cases and in most cases,
the
group would choose to fill the allotted time with other chat if they had
dealt
with the issues before the time was up. Do you ever intervene in these
circumstances. How doyou get them to quit "when its over".

Regards,
Bert Elliott
Program Administrator
Staff Development and Training (952-2334)