"empowerment" is a disempowering concept

[Koos de Heer]

At 11:30 12-5-2002 -0800, Kenoli Oleari wrote:

>>Why are givens particularly important in processes like open space?
>
>Because it is about empowerment.  This is a sensitive business.
>People generally are disempowered by institutions.  When this is a
>daily recurrence, built in assumptions hold and expectations are low.
>When we invited people into a paradigm shift, it is important to be
>true to the new foundation we are offering.  if there are to be
>limitations place on this foundation, this is critical.  This is
>especially true if the assumptions in the system are changed.  If the
>new assumptions are not made clear, there will be a tendency to act
>on old assumptions.

Yes, and this is exactly why I have a problem with the concept of
empowerment when used in relation to Open Space. I will try to explain why.

There are two things that are important about the concept of empowerment.
1. "Empowerment" is a movement from a state of non-power to a state of
power, or if you prefer from a state of little power to a state of more power.
2. "To empower" is a transitive verb, meaning it is something one person or
entity does to another person or entity. "To hear" is a transitive verb (as
in: I hear you) and "to sleep" is intransitive (as in I sleep; it is not
possible to say I sleep you).

So what I am saying is that the concept of empowerment has to do with one
person or entity giving power to another person or entity. As in: the
management of this company empowers the employees. This sounds nice, but it
is awful. And it is not what we do when we Open Space for these people. At
least not in my system. Giving power assumes that there is something to be
given (which means it can also be withheld) and there is an entity that has
the ability to do the giving (or the withholding). I question these
assumptions.

What we do when we Open Space is invite people into a paradigm shift. This
paradigm shift also concerns power. Open Space means the end of power and
control as we knew it. Open Space invites people to experience the power
they already have. There is no such thing as control. There are just people
who think they are in control and others who accept that thinking. This
deadly embrace of wrong thinking (which, by the way, can be very
comfortable) is what we invite people to throw out the window.

Talking of empowerment is staying in the old power paradigm. If we want to
honor the paradigm shift we are making, we do not talk about empowerment.
We do not give the power to the people, because we know it is already there.

OK, OK, I am sorry if I come on too strong. I would love any feedback on
this, honestly :-)

Best wishes,
Koos


Koos de Heer
Auryn management advies BV
Utrecht, the Netherlands
mailto:koosdhr at auryn.nl
http://www.auryn.nl/

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