from OS Institute (US) board

[Chris Corrigan]

Hi Kerry:

kerry napuk wrote:

> Dear List
>
> When I introduce the Process to groups, I say there have been more
> than 40,000 events in over 50 countries.  I don't know if there is
> any evidence for this statement, but it makes people feel better to
> know there is a proven approach.
>

I too often point people to other similar experiences with OST, and
occasionally I have put out a call to the OSLIST for stories relating
specifically to the sector or group I am dealing with.  See below for
more on this.

>
> It may be easier to suggest OST in North America, but the UK is a
> different story.  Many European countries are very hierarchial and
> not use to bottom-up inputs from self-organizing events.  So, we have
> a credibility issue and an open database helps deal with this.
>

I have used OST in very hierarchical environments where bottom up
leadership was not on.  Ironically this includes Aboriginal communities
and organizations where the power dynamics have created heavy top down
styles.  OST has been a struggle there more than anywhere for me, but at
some point someone has recognized it for what it is and asked to use it.
So there is hope.

To me this isn't a credibility issue of OST per se, but maybe a cultural
issue about leadership.  If the culture of an organization isn't attuned
to "bottom-up" leadership, then any process that acknowledges leadership
in everyone is going to have a hard time working.  I don't always use
OST, and especially where the organization is not "ready" for it.


>
> We use OST in 85% of our events, because it works.   We won't change
> our preference, although I resent implications these ideas are
> "corporate."  I have stayed out of the corporate world for decades,
> because I do not like corporate values.
>

By corporate I was responding to the whole "Master" labeling thing.  That
to me sounds like a ladder to climb.  I start out as an initiate and end
up as a Grand Master, and what does that mean?  How will that affect my
practice of OST if I am keeping an eye on getting to the magic number of
50 or 100 so I can achieve that designation?  Joelle captured my feelings
on this as well.

I worry about the labeling for two reasons:

1) it creates an exclusive club of those of us who have done many many
OST meetings and that makes it harder for "newbies" to get work if the
designations become widely recognized.  Would rather hire a "Grand
Master" or and "Initiate"?  And who's to say that my mastery is any more
effective that the practice of someone doing their first OST meeting?

2) If I refuse to participate in the "Master" scheme, and the scheme does
become public and widely used to gauge OST facilitators, does my
credibility suffer?  Do people look at me and think "Not a Master...not
interested..."?

3) It implies that OST is a proprietary process and that someone
therefore has the ability to hand out labels based on experience.  After
all, what is to stop me from calling myself a Grand Master, even if I
haven't done 100 events?  Who will ensure that this scheme has
credibility?  I don;t like the slip slope of implications that all this
raises.

As I have said, my dream is for OST to be as widely used and understood
as brainstorming.  We forgot who invented brainstorming, but every knows
that it is a basic process for working with groups.  And the fact that
this is so commonly used hasn't stopped me from getting work from people
who want me to facilitate brainstorming sessions.


>
> My suggestions were just that, suggestions.  I am perfectly capable
> of "paddling my own canoe" and will continue to do so.  I still feel
> we could help ourselves around the world even if we knew how many
> countries had experience of OST.
>

That is a different thing from the labeling scheme.  Just knowing where
OST has been used is interesting, and Micheal P provided a cool list.
For me though, it is still about stories, and it is more important to
know HOW OST was used, and how effective it was.  That seems to be what
clients want.  Just knowing that it has been used in 40 countries world
wide doesn't impress my clients.  Knowing that it is commonly used for
Board/staff retreats and (here are the kinds of results we get...) seems
much more important.  For that info it is just as easy to put a small
inquiry to this list rather than manage a database.  But if someone has
the passion to put together a database and keep it up, power to you!

Thanks for the suggestions Kerry.  I recognize that they are being made
in the spirit of benefiting all of us.

Chris
--

CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

RR 1 E-3
1172 Miller Road
Bowen Island, BC
Canada, V0N 1G0

phone (604) 947-9236

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