Open Space -- The Credible incredible - Thank you for this rich and dynamic dialogue......

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear Birgitt, dear Harrison,
my feeling and stance on this matter is to my mind, quite simple:
if the client wants an open space event and sticks to this notion
after I have talked to him, thats what will happen I either take it
or leave it....nobody knowing what will happen beyond;
if the client wants an intervention to transform his organisation and
I am crazy enough to believe that this is actually possible, so be it
.... nobody knowing what will happen beyond;
I definetely do not want to worry about what will happen to an
organisation that has chosen to let open space technology come into
its life...all I do is to make sure that the client knows that there
could be some surprises in store for him and his organisation with no
assurance that neither I nor he has an inkling of what that might
actually mean.
This is to me another way of thinking in the direction of not being
attached to outcome and not attempting to exercise control.
Right, an ost meeting is an event that is about change. Change in my
experience is a fickle thing, not planable, not influenceable (if
there  is such a word) and certainly beyond control. To what degree
there will be loss or conflict and how the organisation will handle
it is unpredictable, fact is some of that might happen or will
happen. Whether I as facilitator have influence on these developments
is unclear to me....what I suspect is that my worry about it has
primarily to do with my own anxieties...letting go of them is perhaps
one of the kinder things I can offer my clients.
One thing I know for sure is that this discussion will continue...in
the meantime I will continue to work with open space technology
humbly recognizing its potential.
Hugs and love
michael



--Original Message Text---
From: Birgitt Williams
Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2002 11:00:32 -0500

0 DocumentEmail

Harrison wrote:

 I'm not quite clear what you are asking here, but to the extent that
I understand, my thought would be that the real thing is to be clear
who the client is, and further that the client can change in time.
For example, when i start conversation with a group -- my contact
person (the CEO-- whatever) is my client, but should we do an Open
Space, my client becomes the whole group. My mission quite simply is
to create the space in which that group can experience and realize
its full potential. Should it turn out that my "original client" (the
CEO) is the major road block, and he/she acts that out by becoming a
Nasty Space Invader, I see no alternative but to protect the space in
whatever way I can. After all I have indicated to the group that the
space will be open, and should it close down suddenly through the
actions of a single person, my integrity is at stake.



Harrison,

For me, the sponsor (senior staff person involved) is the one who
 opens space  in the organization for the facilitator to come in and
lead in an  Open Space Technology meeting . I have infinite respect
for this senior staff person, for the risk they take in allowing us
as facilitators to come in to their organizations. They are the ones
who have to deal with all of the pieces, however good they may be,
once the facilitator has packed his or her bag and gone home.  I
agree that my job as the facilitator of the Open Space Technology
meeting is to get the space open and to keep it open no matter who
the space invader is at the time.



I also carry out my work so that I am not setting the organization up
to have space closed down by the  client  on Monday morning back at
work. I cannot prevent the space being closed down come Monday
morning, but because I am aware that Open Space Technology is a very
powerful intervention in an organization and I see it as my job to do
my best to create with the  client  a nutrient terrain within which
the Open Space Technology meeting has its best chance of creating and
then sustaining a more life nurturing, open and participative work
environment.



I have experienced too often, a wonderful closing circle for the
meeting, and then deep grief work setting in Monday morning not
because the meeting was a failure, but because it was such a
wonderful success. It reminds me often of how afraid humans still are
of the great inner light in them, afraid that they can be so
successful.



 Going back to the work from the early eighties on second order
change/transformative change&there is a decline crisis (grief work)
before the new is reframed. I believe that many facilitators of OST
see the grief work/decline crisis taking place leading up to the OST
meeting and that the OST meeting is about reframing for the new
followed by moving steadily along a path with the new. It has been my
experience that decline crisis/grief work is often high leading up to
an OST meeting and immediately following an  OST meeting.



The OST meeting itself is an event that is about change. With change,
however wonderful, there is always loss. And the companion of change
is also conflict. I don t see this arising so much during the OST
meeting as I do after the OST meeting. Prior to the meeting, the
participants and CEO often believe this is just another meeting. When
the results unfold, if the space is truly kept open in the ongoing
organization, it turns out that just about everything is open for
change including detailed items like how performance reviews are
done. Prior to the meeting, the CEO often had no idea that this is
what he/she was opening the space for.



I have wrestled with this all long and hard in terms of ethical
considerations. If I know that something has this power and long term
results whether there is follow up from the meeting or not, nothing
stays the same----I make every endeavor to assist the client to
understand that he/she is really the one opening space in the
organization and what this could mean.



Again for me, this comes down to whether we work with OST as an event
that has a start and finish and no ongoing responsibility or as an
intervention that has with it the responsibility of enabling a more
informed consent by the client that this is more than simply a
meeting. As you yourself say, the good news is that OST works and the
bad news is that OST works.



Birgitt










Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1
12209 Berlin, Germany
FON +49 - 30-772 8000     FAX +49 - 30-773 92 464
Fax2mail: 49-30-263 917 301 521
www.michaelMpannwitz.de

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