Givens

[Larry Peterson]

Birgitt did us all a real service in articulating and clarifying the role of
"givens" in creating the conditions for an Open Space event and in ongoing
processes in organizations.  I work with every client for Open Space (or any
other whole system intervention for that matter) to clarify what the sponsor
takes as "given" and not on the table.  This tells more about the sponsor
than it does about what is really "given".  Post-modernists talk about the
"Myth of the Givens".  To some extent it is true that much is possible.
However, if the CEO, board or sponsoring organization will prevent some
things from happening out of the Open Space given their level of
understanding and consciousness, it is better for the folks to know up-front
than to have the rug pulled out after.

The hardest part of the work is clarifying the theme and givens, and the
freedom or parameters for action following the event.  Some
multi-stakeholder clients in large organizations have taken 4-5 days of
meeting time to clarify a theme and givens, because they were not clear what
they were trying to do.  The sponsors' intention is a critical part of
focusing a space that can be powerful during and after the gathering,
particularly in ongoing organizations.

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

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