another (successful) OS and sooo many questions (not short; probably qualifies as "long")

[Toni Petrinovich]

And it is also good to remember that the best teacher is one who allows his/her students to surpass him/her; the best doctor is the one who listens to the patient and uses his/her bedside manner to create a sense of well-being so the patient can heal; the best parent is one who listens and doesn't promote decrees, etc.  The average American is lost in the doing of it all.  The saying, "You are a human being; not a human doing" is most appropriate.  Being the catalyst for change by being the human BEING that holds the space to bring it about is the best application of human being you can be.

Blessings,
Toni Sar'h
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Harrison Owen 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 3:51 PM
  Subject: Re: another (successful) OS and sooo many questions (not short; probably qualifies as "long")


  At 10:08 AM 3/17/2003 +0300, Raffi Aftandelian wrote:

    My questions:

    1. What do I do about my conflictedness about OS?
    Inside I am still quite mixed about OS. I saw again that "it
    worked". Yet I am not quite convinced. This was the first time I was
    paid appropriately for doing an OS (before I did it for free or
    almost-free). So I felt greater responsibility. It's this combination
    of enchantment with and skepticism towards OS that lives with me.

    Enchantment because on a head level it seems too simple and yet works
    so well. Skepticism because it's hard to believe that something that
    requires so little facilitator intervention (and skill) is so powerful. Also, I am
    not still convinced that it brings results. I am such a perfectionist,
    I really wonder if I'll ever be convinced that it brings "results". Or
    that I'll ever know what "results" looks like.

    Also, I carry tremendous guilt. I got paid for sitting around. Was I
    tired at the end of the day? Yes. I was "on". My role reminds me of
    the emperor who wears no clothes (I recall your story, Harrison, about
    the OS where the company's CEO or a consultant said that with OS you'd
    developed the greatest OD scam ever: the workers formulate the
    questions, answer them themselves, the consultant does nothing and
    gets paid for it). A part of me feels like a fraud. Has anybody else
    ever felt like this during OS?

  So -- I guess I am just not getting my mind around this one! What don't you understand about "It works."??? We could go through the self-organization thing -- but that is only a theoretical description which makes sense to me -- but that doesn't make it right, nor does it change the commonly experienced reality that inviting people to join a circle of concern, creating a bulletin board, opening a market place, and getting out of the way -- WORKS!  As for feeling guilty -- I guess I miss that one too. The only guilt I can imagine would be if I were to charge a whole mess of money for something truly complicated, requiring major effort (on my part) -- which did nothing more than the people can do all by themselves.  Bottom line? People anywhere and everywhere can do it all by themselves. It takes only a good head and a good heart. Sure -- training is nice and, I think, useful. But i don't think it improves the quality of Open Space so much as it increases our capacity to function in Open Space, and to help others to do the same. 

  So maybe you should just accept and enjoy the accolades and thanks -- declare victory -- and go home. You deserve it! Obviously you did a fantastic job -- doing nothing. 

  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 http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

  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/20030318/89933e0c/attachment-0017.htm>