A Partial Diary of the Collective Buddha

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Dear Kenoli,
Birgitt found out that the number of "givens" people felt were active
in their organisation increased as you go from top to bottom in the
organization. People way down in the hirarchy feel that there are
many more givens than people in the layers above. Eventually, putting
all the "perceived" givens on the table reduced the entire number of
perhaps 35 to about a dozen or so (I cant quite recall the numbers
but you get the tendency).
Another thing that struck me on several occasions is that the givens
seem to decrease in number over a course of an open space...that is
the givens perceived as limiting, the other type of "givens" that are
not of the limiting variety (we love new ideas, we experiment, we
work together, etc.) seem to be increasing in number.
As far as I can tell, all that has nothing to do with what I do as
facilitator.
Either of the two statements which you quote as examples of "givens":
"We will only take your outcomes as recommendations" or "Your
outcomes will be adopted into policy" would lead to some discussion
between the sponsor and me during the planning phase. If they stick
to either one of them I am not available to facilitate an open space
for them. In practice, this has not happened so far. That is, the
discussion in the planning phase has always led to a shift in the
underlying assumption inherent in those statements. The shift has
always been away from the predominantly "your vs we" (holding on to
control or giving away control) stance towards more of an
understanding that here we have an open question and people showing
up are going to work on finding out how to get ahead with the
challenge, problem and are not about making recommendations that
might or might not be adopted.
>
>I don't know what Birgitt found out.  She brought some focus for me
>on givens, but perhaps I have added my own perspective here.  It is
>always true at a basic level that we all "create" our realities.  I
>guess what I mean is that putting forth givens is putting forth the
>"realities" from the perception of the sponsor, e.g. "We will only
>take your outcomes as recommendations," or, "Your outcomes will be
>adopted into policy."  This way the participants know what they are
>being invited into.  Of course, they can do whatever they want with
>that, including put it through their own filters, ignore it, deceive
>themselves, etc.
>
>>Why are givens particularly important in processes like open space?

I do not invite people into a paradigm shift, all I do is provide
ost. Now within that all kinds of stuff can happen, life changing
things....regardless of old or new assumptions. I imagine present
assumptions are the most powerful in that process.

>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.



>>Is that really so, that there is "nothing worse than to hold out a
>>promise then take it away"? I can think of a whole bunch of things
>>that are worse in my perception. What about people taking off in open
>>space on a "promise", working on their passions and planning action
>>and then being told it was all just a game, what will happen next?
>
>I think this is an example of what I meant by holding our a promise
>and then taking it away.
>
>>Will they all drop dead and go into a stupor or what?

Me, too, I also doubt that. In fact, I have the experience that after
such an experience people will continue to stick to their passions
and take responsibility for theri action. Something that perhaps was
reinforced in their open space experience. In other words, regardless
of how I worry about people being terribly disappointed because a
promise (or their perception of a promise) was broken, they go on
(this is what I think is in some part meant by "open space always
works").

>I doubt it.
>
>>What about our
>>experience that open space always works?

The things you are saying below are not part of my practice or
experience.
(By the way, is "Whatever happens is what was supposed to happen" the
same as "Whatever happens is the only thing that could have" ??)
True, I have goals. As facilitator, I work with the sponsor on
clarifying who from his perception should be present to make some
headway on the open question confronting him/the organisation. Also,
I dont bother to figure out to what degree the system is ready,
especially not as regards my perceptions or goals.


>I don't know if this is my experience.  What Harrison says is in
>practice is true "Whatever happens is what was supposed to happen."
>But this is affected at every step of the way.  We set ourselves up
>with certain goals.  We try to set up the conditions so those goals
>are met.  "Givens" are part of this.  We refine our goals as we go
>along.  We think about who needs to be present to accomplish those
>goals.  We refine that.  In the end, we act and the results are
>governed by Harrison's statement.  We also observe the extent to
>which our goals were accomplished, to what degree the system was
>ready for that, to what extent we did our part of the work, to what
>extent we discovered a more appropriate set of goals through the
>process etc.

No, Kenoli, I got it wrong. My question really was meant to be: Why
is being deceived worse than being disappointed? And who is to tell?
In which ways does deception or disappointment contribute to the
creation of energy and action?

>>Why is being disappointed worse than being deceived?
>>And who is to tell?
>
>I must have mispoken.  I meant to say that being deceived is worse
>than being disappointed.
>
>>Why so much worry?

Well, its less worry, I think, than work.
And one thing that I have learned is that if I work hard and harder
the getting-me-to-smile sentence I once heard from Harrison Owen pops
up "Why do you work so hard?"
Everytime it throws me back on my control, control, control paradigm
still alive and kicking within me.

>I'm not worrying, are you?


Greetings form midnight Berlin
michael



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

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