shoemaker's children

Birgitt Williams birgitt at mindspring.com
Tue Jan 9 09:43:38 PST 2001


Dear colleagues on the list,
I sometimes feel like we on the os-list are like shoemaker's children. In
this case, consultants/facilitators who work with other organizations to
develop best practices using OST but in my experience we don't apply what we
know to ourselves.

It might be a useful exercise to sort out what our "givens" are for this
list and then post them, including noting what the purpose of the list is.
This is the work that I would do in working with an organization to assist
the organization in their clarity, in moving in the same direction, in
expectation management, and in checking assumptions.

I have been on the list almost since the beginning. We have never had a
discussion about what the purpose of the list is, nor what the givens are.
As a result, there are many perceptions, many expectations, many
assumptions. I would love to see us agree on a purpose and "givens".

A "given" that could be clearly communicated at the time of subscription
could be --that attachments are prohibited. This would be better than
reacting to everyone who breaks this unspoken "rule". I have been on the
receiving end of that in the past and it didn't feel good.

Another "given" could be that the "law of two feet" applies. Could be
exercised via the "delete" button.

Another "given" could be the four principles of OST.

Another "given" could be the posting of items by PASSION AND RESPONSIBILITY.
I remember the first time I spoke of my training sessions on the list. I
have great passion for them and am responsible in how I will participate in
whatever emerges from those postings. I received a private e-mail saying
that I should not speak of my trainings on the list. I promptly continued. I
believe in the teachings of OST--and I choose to follow my passion. I assume
that others can always hit the delete button.

A current "given" appears to be that everything is archived. Whoever made
that decision and when and how the decision was made remains a mystery to me
to this day. For years, I posted many messages of very personal feelings and
journeying with OST, feeling I was sharing of myself within a safe community
for me. At the time, there were no archives. Then to my horror, I discovered
that everything was now archived and that anyone could go back through the
archives. It was never a "given" at the time that the list was anything but
a good conversation, one with another. I accept this "given", having
realized I had been far too naive, and I am now careful about what I post. I
can't go back and undo what I have said in the past but I sure would have
liked knowing what the "given" was. Yup, I felt violated. Okay, okay--so I
was naive about the internet and many other things.

At one time, the purpose appeared to be the development of a community
around OST. I'm not sure about that one. Sometimes, the purpose seems to be
information sharing. Sometimes the purpose seems to be conversation and idea
stimulation. Maybe the latter examples are about community. What is
community, as we seem to be working with it?

So, that is my beginning on looking at possible "givens" and taking them out
of the realm of assumptions. For me, if we could get together on the purpose
of the list and the "givens", it would be a kinder way to welcome newcomers
and would assist with expectation management.

Birgitt Williams

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