Moving Open Space without closing it . . .

Harrison Owen owenhh at mindspring.com
Thu Oct 4 15:18:09 PDT 2001


At 02:21 PM 10/4/01 +0100, Artur wrote:

>Are the pinciples the main reason why OST works (I mean, are they
>real "principles") as it it stated in the chapter on OST of Senge's "The
>Dance of Change" (to mention only that)?
>
>Or the foundation of OST is elsewhere? Maybe the Circle, the Boletim
>Board, the Market place; a Theme for which people care (and when we
>say that there is no pre-defined Agenda, but we don't mention there is a
>Theme, things look VERY different from what they are); the combination
>of plenary sessions and breakout ones; the suspension of quotidian rules
>(that to be suspended must be replaced by some others, one must not
>take "with total seriousness"), and the Law (from which many other
>things are derived)?
>
>I have facilitated 4 OST events until now (I will talk about that to the list
>later). Three were done "by the book". In the last one, I decided to apply
>your principle "less is more!". And, apart from the Theme and the Buletin
>Board) , I had only two signs: the law and "be prepared to de surprised".
>I have mentioned the 4 principles as "some other points you eventually
>would like to pay attention -- two that are about time (...) and the other two
>I don't know very well what they are about, but He (you) always mentions
>them (...)". It worked exactly like the others (better than one of the others
>but that as a different explanation...).

It is certainly quite possible to Open Space and never mention either the 4
Principles or The Two Footed Law -- and it will work quite well. The
reason, I think, is that both are simply an acknowledgment of what was
going to happen anyhow. Thus, the Principles emerged NOT as prescriptions
of expected behavior, but rather as simple observations of what seemed to
be going on. The Right people showed up, work was focused in the Now with
little regard for what might have been or should have been -- It always
started when it was the right time -- and of course, it was definitely over
when it was over. The only value in announcing the principles (or perhaps a
value) is that doing so takes all the guilt out. And misplaced guilt is a
waste of time and energy. As for The Law of Two Feet, I think this is
really critical to effectively operating in Open Space (any self-organizing
system) --- but again, folks will do it anyhow. Unfortunately they don't
use their two feet -- they just let their minds and hearts wander when they
are no longer interested. All the Law says if follow your passion
(interest) but responsibly.


>Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-469-9269
fax 301-983-9314
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh

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