Opening Space on the fly

[Florian Fischer]

chris, great !
i love that story.
we have to be open-minded to do open!space.
than open!space happens itself, sometimes
out of the backside of what we are just doing.
thank s for sharing your expirience
florian

Chris Corrigan schrieb:

> These recent posts about quick Open Spaces are right in line with what I
> had to do today.
>
> I was working with a small First Nation who is currently in a land
> dispute during which they have blocked a road.  They've been branded
> "millitants" and basically made out to be public enemy number one.  We
> offered them Open Space if they wanted to try a new way out and they
> invited us out to the First Nation today to talk about the process with
> their "Lands and Title Committee," the Chief and some members of the
> Council.
>
> I thought they wanted a presentation on Open Space and some process
> facilitation around what they wanted to do with OS in the context of the
> community. After me doing an hour of hopes and fears and explaining how
> OS works we discovered that there had been a communications mix up.   It
> turned out that they wanted to do an Open Space right then and there,
> with the nine people on the committee, on how to work better together.
>
> Of course, we were already sitting in a circle (thank you Birgitt -- is
> there ANY other way to facilitate ANYTHING?!), so that wasn't a
> problem.  And as a well prepared facilitator, I always travel with a
> supply of markers, tape and post it notes, so we had the raw materials.
> It took exactly thirty seconds to come up with the theme (How can we
> work together more effectively as a committee?) and i then proceeded to
> open the space.
>
> Opening was a breeze, as I had already spent 20 minutes explaining the
> principles and the law and how OS works.  Five issues came forward,
> which were slotted into two half-hour time slots. Two of the groups
> consisted of one person madly writing away and the other three
> discussions were spirited, respectful and lacking in any of the conflict
> which they had been warning me about.  In the end they designed ways of
> dealing with conflict on their committee, how to establish proper
> authorities in the community for their direct action, criteria for
> appointing people to various committees (whoever comes is the right
> people, as it turns out), and how to balance long term goals like
> fighting for their land rights against short term needs like putting in
> speed bumps.  All this in an hour.
>
> Of course it wasn't REALLY deep stuff, but it was a lot deeper than what
> we were doing.  Everyone acknowledged the difference in quality during
> the closing circle, for which I used a rock gathered from outside the
> building -- they literally meditated upon the future of their territory.
>
> All of this is to say that it's possible to do short ones, and it's
> possible to do small ones, and it's possible to do both with no warning,
> preparation or prior understanding.
>
> I know: duh...
>
> By the way, they have decided to use OS with their entire community to
> acheive this balance between short term and long term goals, and they
> want to also do one with their non-Aboriginal neighbors, government
> officials and the police who have been on the other side of the
> barricades to try to find ways of getting out of the unresourceful place
> everyone is in.
>
> I could use some detailed advice on that one...
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>
> --
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> 108-1035 Pacific Street
> Vancouver BC
> V6E 4G7
>
> Phone: 604.683.3080
> Fax: 604.683.3036