"empowerment" is a disempowering concept

[kenoli Oleari]

In response to Koos, below:

This all gets into how we use words and how we perceive reality.  We
all know (I think) that the Open Space process is not about "doing
anything to" (in the transitive sense you refer to), except, perhaps,
providing a context which supports certain inherent energies or
dynamics in a group.  In a higher sense, this is at the heart of all
of the kind of work we call "transformative".  It is not about any
specific process or lack of process, or structure or lack of
structure, but more about what it has the capacity to support,
invoke, or just get out of the way of.

In the sense I used the words in my previous email, "empowerment"
really has more to do with removing conditions that disempower.  You
can also argue that you can never do anything to disempower anyone,
but you can also argue that none of us can really do anything to or
for anyone else.  Yet choices we make do present different
opportunities and choices to people and to ourselves.  A truly free
being is not going to be constrained by anything or anyone, even
death.  Yet we are generally dealing with people who perceive
themselves to be in a state of less than full personal freedom.  In
this state people do perceive external factors as influencing them.
Thus our existing institutions seem to do things that disempower
people.   And other tools like Open Space seem to do things like
"empower."

It is similarly true that we can argue that we we can't do anything
to cause a paradigm shift.  But we can do things which provide
external conditions for people that have a better chance of
supporting the wisdom and power that is already in the system, the
wisdom and power that generally allows itself to be suppressed by its
perception of the limitations the system presents.  And this is a
significant shift from most everyday realities and creates a rich
possibility for deep change to take place.

I think it is in this sense that we talk about empowering or
empowerment:  setting up conditions that don't provide any apparent
barriers to the surfacing and exercise of the wisdom and power which
is always there.  Getting out of the way.  I think we also talk about
setting up conditions like those described in the list I sent in a
previous email that set up possibilities for certain kinds of group
experience, which can also be transformative, both to individuals and
to institutions.

I think we're on the same page., although I seem to be saying things
that are causing a push back.  I wonder what is behind this.

Kenoli

>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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--
Kenoli Oleari, Horizons of Change, http://www.horizonsofchange.com
1801 Fairview Street, Berkeley, CA  94703   Voice Phone: 510-601-8217,
Fax: 510-595-8369, Email: kenoli at igc.org (or click on: mailto://kenoli@igc.org)

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