Opening Space on the fly

[Chris Corrigan]

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

>From  Thu Jun  8 09:46:35 2000
Message-Id: <THU.8.JUN.2000.094635.0200.>
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 09:46:35 +0200
Reply-To: florianfischer at ff-wey.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Florian Fischer <florianfischer at ff-wey.com>
Subject: Re: Opening Space on the fly
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
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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