ITS OVER WHEN THE BOSS SPEAKS...

Thu Apr 25 04:27:30 PDT 2002

Dear All,
Dear Brendan, Harrison, Ralph, Kerry, Denis, Larry, Judi, thanks for
sharing your experience and insights.Thank you for all the
contributions, showing me different aspects of "closing" the
OST-event.

Sometimes my understanding is the following:

At the end of a OST event I do not close the space. I close the
OST-Space including my temporarily installed function as facilitator,
in the sense that the OST pattern seizes to exist - transferring its
energies, visions and insights into the ongoing "Everyday Space" of
the persons, organizations, regional networks ... insofar these both
Spaces/world are  well coupled.

OST 'works' and can open space inmidst of an ambiente where space is
not so open by focussing in its principles, its rule, its 2 special
animals etc. thus reduzing the force of everyday convictions,
everyday comunicative 'well-behaving patterns', which are fortifying
our everyday's acceptance of not-selforganisation/-control.

I learned to interprete our everyday Egos/Identities as part of
social trance systems. The main function os social trance = reduce
complexity. The psycho-socio-political fight = what reduction?
Beeing in everydays trance we need a minimum of energy, because we
stay put on one of our special auto-pilot's program. Its a pattern of
habits, closed, no place for dialogue, not for creative and critical
thinking. But it is very economic.

Trances (=reductions of full identity and internal external
perception) are spontaneous with certain people but mostly they are
induced
(I learned a lot about trance-work from Felicitas Goodman, Kaye
Hoffman, pais e maes do Candomblé de Bahia and ultimately again from
mozambican curandeiros)

Ritual-systems and Objects/Symbols/Space Organization...-trigger &
define the form,  the force and the impact-area of the trance.

'Opening' and 'closing' are the most important rituals. Opening
defines the coupling of INPUTS to the OST. Since people come in with
THEIR concerns, questions, ...OST's coupling with the everyday
reality is  methodologically 'garantueed' and strong.
Closing defines de coupling of the OUTPUTS of the OST: there where
the implementation (of change) can use an existing self-organizing
system, it will be implemented; the rest is a question of
convergence, follow up and integration of the event in an ongoing
development/change process.

Opening and closing of rituals can have a more or less "schöne" (is
it nice, blessing, in beauty?) "Gestalt".

Opening is inhaling, gives orientation and structure, Closing is
exhaling, gives final identity and dissolves/distroys structure.

Symmetry is part ot the schöne gestalt. The one who opens the ritual
(OST facilitator) should clearly close ist, to free himself and the
others from the functional trance (role) in which s/he was mutually
defined/fixed during the event.
This frees everybody for re-definition ot themselves (for going into
other trances) an it is part of my professional contract- ("from here
to here I took responsibility for...") and psycho-hygiene
(e.g.getting rid of what is not mine).

Context-defining stakeholders (especially the 'owner-of-the-place' +
the 'sponsor of the event' + ??) should co-create the opening ritual
and it gives a fine gestalt, if the same people close their part of
the ritual.

So for me the answer ist no either/or answer: I close my part, the
sponsor closes his/her part, and who ever has not yet closed his/her
part, will do ...

So sometimes I speak in the final circle, sometimes I do not. But I
allways mark, that IT, which defined my function, IS OVER,
when I notice: it is (about to be) over. At least a moment of
re-focalizing the attention of the present people, reminding them of
the situation, when I (the facilitator) defined and opened the
OST-ritual (and my role) and producing a clear moment of
interpunctation in an ongoing process.

The very specific social body created with the people attending the
OST must die. To give space for other social bodies. So I usually
prefer that the end of the event and the end of the final circle go
hand in hand. And this specific circle will never be the same again.

It is not the OST-circle, but the seats, the participants use to
"conclude their organisational formalities" or they create a new
circle. Or "concluding their organizational formalities" is so much
part of the closing process of the OST-event...

Closing the opened doors
(e.g. to that temporary 'counter-trance-room' which had been
facilitated by me applying OST but had been materialized by all)
seems of growing imporance to me.

And if it is just my gesture of going out of one room and entering
another one through a door which I close.

Bernhard

On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 13:05:19 +0800, BrendanMcKeague wrote:
"
"hence the question - let them close their space, facilitator closes
"out self and 'formal open space' process and then they conclude
"their organisational formalities, still in the circle....?

-----
wb-trainconsult at gmx.net 25.04.2002 at 09:41:30 (GMT/UT + 02:00)
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----
Bernd Weber
Organization Development Consultant

"DEVELOP YOUR CAPACITIES - MATERIALIZE YOUR VISION"

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