when a client hires Open Space Technology,is this what she gets?
David Koehler
Nsdmk at aol.com
Thu Sep 14 08:17:55 PDT 2000
In a message dated 9/13/00 3:18:43 PM Central Daylight Time,
corcom at interchange.ubc.ca writes:
<< I make the effort to tell people that I
have been trained by Birgitt and Harrison so that folks understand that
I'm not just fooling around with this stuff! >>
Chris:
I agree that this is a nice way to communicate authenticity. It also gives
one a feeling that we are all connected as in family. I much prefer this
approach to "certification," because I'm not sure that would be any more
effective.
Thanks,
Dave Koehler
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>From Thu Sep 14 17:15:52 2000
Message-Id: <THU.14.SEP.2000.171552.0400.>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 17:15:52 -0400
Reply-To: birgitt at mindspring.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Birgitt Williams <birgitt at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Client Curveball No. 321 -- how would you do it?
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.0.20000908180240.00c47d20 at pop.mindspring.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Hi Chris,
my inclination would be not to do this in Open Space Technology. For me,
the ethical issues are huge, in capital letters, and simply advising people
clearly about the theme and advising of the law of two feet just doesn't do
it. In one sense, advising of theme and law of two feet is like getting
their permission for "whatever happens" if they show up, feeling that they
are informed. I do not believe that by doing this, true informed consent is
given.
In my experience in working with victims of violence for a long time in my
life, there are layers below layers below layers of pain. The human spirit
and psyche are very protective and go through the layers at their own pace.
I know many people in their 40's and 50's who are just now strong enough to
deal with something that happened in their youth.
OST is powerful. And we know it. And we have a huge ethical responsibility.
We also know that it is difficult to communicate ahead of time how powerful
the meeting is. One does not know the power until one is in it. Negative
fall out of creating a situation for people to face deeper layers before
they are naturally ready may not occur during the meeting. Nor even in the
closing circle. It might all look like a stunning success. In my work with
youth in our street youth program in the 80's there were a number of group
meetings trying to get at the deeper layers of what was up with the
youth --we saw the youth 3 months later and 6 months later due to drug
overdoses, slashed wrists and other suicide attempts. It wasn't pretty. The
common denominator was the meetings that one of the agencies was holding.
Well intended. They thought they were successful. We raised a public outcry
and got them shut down.It wasn't open space technology. Your question
stirred all of this up. How will you tell them in the invitation that they
might be blown wide open and that they might not get put back together?
I again state the perception that I have of safe space--we cannot guarantee
that the space we create with OST is safe space. What is safe for one is not
safe for another.
I wish you well, whatever your choices. If you go ahead with this OST, I
would encourage you to work carefully with your sponsor group prior to and
after the event. The meeting might be a success in the short term. To assist
success in the long term takes skillful means in honouring the precious
humans involved with all of the pain that they brought into the meeting and
all of the grief that the meeting might stir up.
Birgitt
Birgitt Williams
Make Genuine Contact!
Dalar Associates: organizational
effectiveness consultants
Striving for Success? Ready to exceed
your expectations?
Contact us for consulting services, training,
conference and meeting facilitation,
and keynote speaking.
www.openspacetechnology.com <http://www.openspacetechnology.com>
At 12:21 PM 9/8/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Now they are in the process of planning for youth services, and they
>have contacted me to use OS. The idea is to hold a couple of OS
>meetings in the province to bring youth (13-19 or thereabouts) together
>to get from them a sense of their needs in the victim services field.
>We still need to identify who will be invited and why and what they will
>be asked about, but a tricky question has come up, and I'm suffering
>from a bout of either/or paralysis.
>So? Whaddya think?
>
>Chris
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>From Thu Sep 14 17:15:54 2000
Message-Id: <THU.14.SEP.2000.171554.0400.>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 17:15:54 -0400
Reply-To: birgitt at mindspring.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Birgitt Williams <birgitt at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: OST Training -- question and APPRECIATION
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.0.20000908073423.00c55ab0 at pop.mindspring.com>
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Harrison,
when I learned "do it" from you, it meant just that. Take action. "clarify
it" is just as you describe and "open space it" also just as you said here.
"do it" gets done. "clarify it" often becomes "do it" or "don't do it" and
sometimes becomes "open space it". "open space it" leads to "do it" or
"clarify it" and we already have looked at where each of those go...and
go....and grow....
My friend Monica (who I think is on this list) looked at all this in a
training session and said that we were missing the fourth category that she
experiences in most organizations "bury it". At the time, I asked her
permission to quote her. The quote is precious, as is she.
And Susan, thank you for your kind words.
Birgitt
Birgitt Williams
Make Genuine Contact!
Dalar Associates: organizational
effectiveness consultants
Striving for Success? Ready to exceed
your expectations?
Contact us for consulting services, training,
conference and meeting facilitation,
and keynote speaking.
www.openspacetechnology.com <http://www.openspacetechnology.com>
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of
Harrison Owen
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 7:43 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: OST Training -- question and APPRECIATION
At 08:14 PM 9/7/00 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 09/07/2000 4:49:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
>birgitt at mindspring.com writes:
>
><< b)make good use of Harrison's division of "do
> it", "clarify it", and "open space it" as a way of creating an organic
flow
> of what comes up. >>
>
>??? Help! Not sure what this refers to... Please explain.
**********************************************
As the original perpetrator I suppose I should come clean --
"Do it" -- Do an Open Space
"Clarify it" -- provide time and occasion for the folks involved to reflect
on what has happened, might happen, and should happen next. Outside of
offering an opportunity to move to action, this is also a moment for
personal reflection. I have found that in the heat of the moment (Open
Space) people are so involved, and things happen so quickly that very
likely the participants aren't really aware of what they have done.
"Open Space it" -- Upon reflection, folks will find that there are some
issues that are now clear and ready for action (or the action has already
begun). But there are other concerns/issues that, even with the best will
in the world, remain in the shadows. Nothing to do here but Open Space
again -- but now around those particular "hard nuts."
Obviously this represents an iterative process, and if followed along
offers the possibility of organic growth in an Open Space
environment. Nothing fancy, but it just keeps the space open and moving.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-469-9269
fax 301-983-9314
Summer Phone 207-763-3261
Summer Address
189 Beaucaire Ave.
Camden, ME 04843
website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh
Open Space Institute website www.openspaceworld.org
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