OST and conflicts

Tue Dec 16 13:13:49 PST 2003

Conflicts! I love them - well sort of. Truthfully, it is a love/hate
relationship. I love them because when I see conflict, I know something
useful is happening. In fact, anytime I run into a group/organization
without conflict, I am pretty sure it is dead, or close to it. Show me
an organization without conflict, and I will show you one where nobody
cares. Conflict happens, in my experience, when passions get in the way
of each other. Of course we could try and get rid of the passion, but
then it is unlikely that anything useful would get done. And there is
another way - just create enough room so that the (presently conflicted)
passions can pass by each other. That is called Opening Space.

In the situation you described you noted, "Although my intervention went
very well (the subgroup decided to discuss the issue with the entire
group, which agreed, and we went on with a mediation process in the
circle where I helped the group clarify issues around clans and
developing solutions to prevent/heal the negative side effects of
natural grouping within the larger group), I felt like we had stepped
out of the OS process, burnt a lot of energy, and lost some of the
creative power of the OS process."

Doing what you did (intervening) is a pretty natural response, after all
it is what most of us were trained to do. And - so far as I can see, the
results of this activity are usually as you describe (burnt energy, lost
power). If there were no alternatives, I would guess this price must be
accepted. But, as suggested above, there is an alternative. Just open
some more space. Easy to say - but what if . . .

Sure things could get out of control, really get messy. But the amazing
thing to me is that in almost 20 years of working in Open Space I have
never been with a group which was unable to effectively deal with
whatever level of conflict they encountered. And not only deal with it,
but grow and mature -- all without intervention of any obvious sort.  No
conflict resolution, no stress reduction, no nothing. The group just did
it all by themselves.

Granted, the experience can be pretty much of a "White Knuckle"
experience - not unlike coming down an icy mountain road at speeds you
shouldn't even think about. But after all, the comfort of the
facilitator is not a primary concern to anybody but the facilitator.
Which is one of the reasons why personal preparation for the
facilitator, prior to Opening Space, is no small consideration.  Also
there is more than ample compensation for the facilitator. I have been
privileged to have been part of a number of such experiences, and I can
say without any qualification that nothing in my life demanded so much
and fulfilled me so completely. If the group grew with the experience, I
just soared. I must also confess that in the moment, I was not at all
sure that I really wanted to take the trip, indeed I could think of any
number of things I would rather do. But at the end of the day(s) - and
they were long ones, I learned more about the potential of Harrison Owen
than I probably had any right to know. And also I think I came closer to
fulfilling that potential than I had any right to expect. If you want a
brief account of such a moment, you might check out my story from Rome
with 50 Palestinians and Israelis.
http://openspaceworld.com/opening_space_for_peace.htm

Harrison

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Dominique Proudhon
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 12:57 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: OST and conflicts

OK, Harrison, I won't wait long then. Here is a question:
Sometimes, conflicts do arise during subgroup discussions in an OS
event. It is certainly not a problem per se, since, in my experience,
they often reveal areas of greater creative potential. Still, a question
remains: how to best handle them in order to prevent escalation and
allow the group to own and discuss the issues in a solution oriented
manner? I had a case once where I felt obligated to intervene because
the conversation was feeding on blame and getting increasingly
aggressive. A subgroup came to discuss the issue of  "clans" excluding
others and disrupting the overall group effectiveness. Although my
intervention went very well (the subgroup decided to discuss the issue
with the entire group, which agreed, and we went on with a mediation
process in the circle where I helped the group clarify issues around
clans and developing solutions to prevent/heal the negative side effects
of natural grouping within the larger group), I felt like we had stepped
out of the OS process, burnt a lot of energy, and lost some of the
creative power of the OS process. No regrets though, since what was most
alive at that time in the team was the conflict and they needed some way
to cope with it productively. It was not OS for a time, since I became
actively involved in the process. Even if I love doing mediation, I
would much rather see people solve their conflicts by themselves.  Is
there any way to do all of it in "OS mode"? Can OS function when
communication patterns in a group lead to blaming, finger pointing and
retaliating? I am curious to hear about other practitioners' experience
with this. Also, what happens if you're the only facilitator and you
have two or more conflicts at a time in different subgroups? You shoot
them all :-) ?
To resonate with Agneta Setterwall's post, I believe that communication
processes such as the Non Violent Communication (NVC) can be great
complementary tools to OS. They significantly improve people's capacity
to communicate from their own needs and expectations, rather than from
blaming others for what they do not get in the relation. I believe
running an OS event with subgroups talking NVC would be a kick! (have to
try out that one). Any experience with "communication training/practice"
in preparation for an OS event out there? Or what about having NVC
practitioners to participate in subgroups as needed?

All the best to all.
Dominique.

 Dominique Proudhon
Group Facilitation
Problem solving
Conflict resolution
Dampierre
38470 Notre Dame de l'Osier
France
(33) 4 76 36 71 34
(33) 6 78 91 48 77

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Harrison Owen
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 2:05 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: New member

Dominique wrote:

". I now would like to share this approach with others in France and
starting a French Open Space Institute (web site in preparation for
sometime next year). Of course, I have plenty of questions around OST,
but I'll wait: This post is already long enough, you guys are busy, and
I need to read more of the documentation to make sure I am not asking
questions that have already been answered 20 times. "

Don't wait too long. Never met a question I didn't like, even an old
one. Actually, most particularly The Old Ones. They give everybody a
chance to revisit old familiar places - and usually discover that what
we took to be "established wisdom" was actually just the tip of an
iceberg. Also good luck with OSI/France. As you can see already from
this LIST, folks will be more than helpful. And on the journey, you
might want to make contact with Christopher Schoch. Mdlschoch at aol.com
Christopher lives in Paris and was responsible for Executive Development
(or something like that) for Accor Hotels. We did an Open Space together
around the time of massive merger for that corporation. You can read the
story, if you want, in Tales from Open Space.
http://openspaceworld.com/tales.htm

Good Luck!

Harrison

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Dominique Proudhon
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 2:58 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: New member

Good day all,

I joined the OSlist a few days ago and have been lurking for a while. I
am very impressed with the quality of the exchanges on this list and
find myself drawn to participate. Several threads called my attention;
in particular the one questioning the list itself (what are we doing?
Aren't we loosing our spirit, Should we split?) -I find these
conversations very healthy. And also the one about Civil Conversation,
which resonates with an old questioning of mine around ways to implement
real participative democracy - I am dreaming of initiating some real
debate around the question "what world do we chose to build for
tomorrow?". I believe we humans are caught up in our own contradictions:
after centuries of evolving faster and faster technically, and having
more transformative power than ever, we are now facing the essential
question of  Meaning: How do we participate in the world and to what
end? What is our responsibility in regard to what is happening in our
world? Especially all the "not so nice" little things like irreversible
destruction of earth resources, loss of entire species, wars and weapon
builders, starving, and all that noisy ongoing disconnected stupidity on
our tv and radio shows that take people away from being.  I believe that
for the first time, we, at least in "developed" countries, have won the
freedom to look beyond simply working for survival, to ask ourselves:
how do I want to also make this place a little better?

Anyway. I'll stop here for today. My goal was actually to introduce
myself:
I am French and leave in Grenoble. After a PhD in molecular/cellular
biology and 6 years of research. I decided to do something else with my
life and moved to human resources development. I actually did that
career move in the US: I lived 10 years in North Carolina. I wanted to
understand why people so often get into conflicts because of "films"
they make in their heads that have little to do with reality. I wanted
to find ways to work on re-establishing lost connections, especially in
the workplace, where they could serve common projects and goals. I
trained with Will Schutz, originator of the Human Element, became a
mediator, trained in various psychometric tools and got to work with
various groups. Two years ago, just before I came back to France, I
bought a book that called my attention: Open Space Technology, a user's
guide. I read it in the plane. It was one of those "ha ha": I found
something I was looking for. A piece of extreme simplicity that called
on very ecological principles to set the stage for real connection
between people and for meaning to happen. On top of that, this approach
was shared openly without any bind, just as a gift to humanity, which
seduced me even more...  I decided to try it as soon as I would get the
opportunity, here, in France. Starting a new business as a group
facilitator/team consultant has not been easy thing. Things are slow
going and I often get discouraged. But I finally got the opportunity to
run two different open space events for two different clients in the
last year (30 people and 36 people). Both very energizing experiences
and both around the question "How could we improve the way we function
as a team?": I loved the first moments of surprise in people's eyes, and
then the sudden rush to bring up issues as they understood that the
event was theirs. Several persons approached me at the end telling me
how much this work had moved them from a negative reactive position to
an engaged position and telling me about a number of places they would
see such work as useful. Thanks to Harrison, they got a gift they
deserved. Felt quite good to serve in such a meaningful way. I'll
continue. I now would like to share this approach with others in France
and starting a French Open Space Institute (web site in preparation for
sometime next year). Of course, I have plenty of questions around OST,
but I'll wait: This post is already long enough, you guys are busy, and
I need to read more of the documentation to make sure I am not asking
questions that have already been answered 20 times.

All the best to each of you,
Dominique

Note: I am a guy, for those who would wonder.

Dominique Proudhon
Group Facilitation
Problem solving
Conflict resolution
Dampierre
38470 Notre Dame de l'Osier
(33) 4 76 36 71 34
(33) 6 78 91 48 77

* * ==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * *
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * *
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * *
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20031216/9d6a14b5/attachment-0016.htm>