Do you ever intervene...

[Birgit Bolton]

Hi Bert and others,
I just wanted to add a comment to the ones Larry has here. I agree with NEVER to intervene. I am not sure what Larry is getting at regarding facilitation training ahead. I'm not sure how this would work or whether it is useful. I do admit that sometimes, especially if there are people from different cultures or greatly varying ages, I suggest to people that when in the discussion groups they pay attention to this by ensuring that everyone in the group gets the time and chance to say something. Even the culture difference between USA and Canada has a difference in this.

As well as being very clear to get the right theme, Larry mentions the parameters--what I call the "givens" for the event--that bounds the space for freedom to act. When this and the theme is not clear, discussions do as you indicated. There is critical work to do on all of this before the OS event.

Warmest regards,
Birgitt Bolton

-----Original Message-----
From:   Larry Peterson [SMTP:lpasoc at INFORAMP.NET]
Sent:   Tuesday, October 06, 1998 8:32 PM
To:     OSLIST at LISTSERV.IDBSU.EDU
Subject:        Re: Do you ever intervene...

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)