Moving Open Space without closing it . . .

Joelle Lyons Everett JLEShelton at aol.com
Sat Oct 6 17:26:57 PDT 2001


Artur, Harrison, Erich and others--

I'm enjoying this conversation.  I agree that the "Law of Two Feet" is most
important--even though people may exercise that law in other meetings, either
by leaving a meeting, or being late, or by being physically but not
emotionally or spiritually present.

But somehow, when you make it a "Law" that this behavior is expected and each
participant has the responsibility to be sure he is in a place intentionally,
it changes the dynamics of the meeting.  My guess is that a huge amount of
energy which might be used in rebellion, or leaked away by disinterest, is
available for participating in the discussions.

In one of my early OS conferences, I observed a group of elementary-school
teachers, trained for years to be in class on time, gleefully becoming
bumblebees.  And a very important discussion, not posted on the board,
happened when one session finished ahead of schedule and participants got
some refreshments, picked up a couple of butterflies, and dived into a topic
no one had ever had the courage to speak out loud before.

Whether you speak of laws or principles or even if you call them "rules" (not
my first choice either), there is a lot of power in temporarily suspending
"business as usual" and suggesting a new set of standard operating
procedures.  And because they are more natural to the human animal than the
hierarchical behavior we've gotten used to, people catch on pretty quickly.

My 2 cents worth.

Joelle

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