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

[Harrison Owen]

>At 11:41 PM 3/9/2002 +0100, michael wrote:
>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.
>
>Michaels's experience and practice is very much my own. I feel it to be
>essential to make sure that the client fully understands the potential
>up-sides and down-sides of doing an Open Space -- and when it comes to the
>downsides, I often tell the story related previously (the 50 person
>company that went kaput). Doing this can be problematically when it comes
>to "making the sale," which is precisely why I never try and "sell" Open
>Space. When it comes to risk, and the assumption of risk, I find myself
>driven to the conclusion that only true risk is NOT opening space in which
>people may realize their full (or at least fuller) potential. Beyond that
>the Four Principles seem to kick in -- particularly, "Whatever happens is
>the only thing that could have." and When it is over, it is over." This
>may appear heartless, but I do not experience it that way. Rather, I
>perceive this to be a simple recognition of the limits of my own abilities
>and powers. There is no way that I know of to guarantee that Monday
>Morning will arrive without a return to the deadening reality of Business
>as Usual -- or worse -- that some nasty form of reflexive retribution does
>not take place. But if either should occur, I know that at the very least
>the people involved now know that there is an alternative. They do not
>have to be that miserable. And should they choose their misery, that is
>their choice. And in the unpleasant eventuality of Nasty Retribution
>breaking out -- I find myself profoundly saddened, but strangely comforted
>by a knowledge that the people effected have an option -- The law of Two
>Feet. Organizations that persist in the notion that their function is to
>control the lives and destinies of those employed can receive a very
>potent wake up call when their good people leave. Sometimes, that is the
>only way to get their attention.
>
>Harrison
>
>
>Harrison Owen
>
>
>7808 River Falls Drive
>Potomac, MD 20854 USA
>phone 301-365-2093
>Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
>Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
>Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh
>
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>
>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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Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh

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