What would you do?

Sun Feb 29 15:02:06 PST 2004

it's all good, therese.  i was responding primarily to your mentioning
that folks do this without having ever heard of ost.  that's true, but
they often do it with smaller groups and don't see the potential for
it's same use with bigger groups and bigger questions.  it's all os...
i'm not quibbling about a definition, for sure.

if i want to know if somehting is os, i don't look at time, or numbers
or scope of question.  i look for circle, marketplace, bulletin board,
pulsation, passion closely linked to responsibilty, people able and
challendged to do for themselves, importance of question, voluntary
self-selection, availability of information and results, these sorts of
things.  once upon a time i led a senior team retreat through a fairly
structured series of working sessions.  they generated all kinds of
paper and i went back to the office space and posted it all over the
main conference room (legally).  we did a decidely not very open (chief
plus twelve direct reports) meeting... but then we did bulletin board
and the place buzzed a bit.  people took in the new info.  yum.  but was
it or wasn't it???? ...doesn't matter to me... was what we could do....
AND I knew where i was going with it.  they next year they did 70 in a
decidedly more open meeting.

i think the original question was about how to do ost in a large group
(180 i think) in a way that shows them that this could be a viable way
to operate in everyday organization.  mostly it's impossible, i think.
and yet some will see it and make all the connections and understand it
immediately.  mostly, i thnk, when people see something done for a group
of 18 they will think it's a trick for groups of 18 and not see that it
also works with 180 and 1800.  it takes some story-ing, or a second,
third, fourth experience to stretch their view of the possible.

anyway, it's all os to me (if i find some fo the stuff mentioned earlier
and an awareness of what more could be).  and ost to me... is all about
invitation.  interactive and conscious say important things, but to me,
it all comes down to doing and being inviting.  i thnk  those leaders
who practice doing os invitations will learn to be more inviting.  i
thnk those who already 'be' inviting are generally relieved to find out
that their is a way to 'do' that is wholly consistent with who they
already are.  mostly, i thnk that the alignment of the doing and being
IS the integrity and spirit that we appreciate about working in os.

so the easy, ongoing bit is about opening a space, making a market,
where invitations can continually be posted and noted and meetings can
happen and results be posted.  the UK story in Tales from OS gives some
great rules for ongoing os, but mostly i say anyone can post an
invitation, as long as they also come back and post the notes.  passion
and responsibility.  writ everyday.

my four adn a half cents.

thanks, michaelh

Therese Fitzpatrick wrote:

> A few years ago, I was a sub-contracted facilitator for a three day
> annual
> meeting of a trade group.  I did not design the event.  I was just
> hired to
> facilitate some break out sessions.
>
> In a ninety minute segment on the morning of the last day, the design
> included a 90 minute OS.  The lead facilitator,who also designed the
> event
> and hired me, spoke about HO for a minute, explained the
> principles,the law
> of two feet and butterflies and bumble bees.  I think she even told the
> coffee break story.  Then she opened the marketplace.  People went where
> they wanted to go.  Now that was using OS Technology, right?
>
> I may be misunderstanding something here if this was not using OS
> Technology.  Is it only OS Technology if it is a larger and more powerful
> event?
>
>
>> From: Michael Herman <mherman at globalchicago.net>
>> Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>> Subject: Re: What would you do?
>> Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 15:28:14 -0600
>>
>> yes, this is true, therese.  AND many of these sessions are ONLY 90
>> minutes because the organizers have not heard about ost and don't know
>> that it's possible to do this for a couple of days or in an ongoing,
>> easy way.  openspace is everywhere.  awareness of power and possibility
>> is somewhat more scarce.  <grin>
>>
>> the trick, and the query (i think) are about doing a 90 minute meeting
>> in such a way that people can see more clearly  that it IS possible to
>> have a much longer meeting, much larger meeting, and more open meeting
>> and still be very productive. more productive really, because it means
>> we can take more directly and wholly the really long, large, open
>> questions that we now face in orgs and communities.
>>
>> michaelh
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Therese Fitzpatrick wrote:
>>
>>> It is fascinating to me that you wonderful OS experts, living deep
>>> in the
>>> heart of OS world, do not seem to be aware that a ninty minute open
>>> space
>>> like the one Peggy Holman convened at Bowling Green happens constantly.
>>>
>>> People build in 90 minute open spaces into larger events all the time.
>>> People who have no idea that there is such a thing as an open space
>>> practitioner or training to be an open space practitioner hear about
>>> the
>>> concept and they start running with it.   The genie of OS is out of the
>>> bottle and it has scattered around the world as a kind of
>>> phosphorescent
>>> pollen, taking root in all kinds of places that an OS expert
>>> practitioner
>>> might never imagine.  If I understand OS, OS was here all along, right?
>>>
>>> I saw ninety minute OS moments for many years before I encountered OS
>>> days
>>> and OS events.  It was years before I had the slightest awareness that
>>> there
>>> was such a thing as open space training.  There are countless people
>>> in the
>>> world who think they understand OS and use it all the time for ninty
>>> minute
>>> 'things'.
>>>
>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>> Take off on a romantic weekend or a family adventure to these great
>>> U.S.
>>> locations. http://special.msn.com/local/hotdestinations.armx
>>>
>>> *
>>> *
>>> ==========================================================
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>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Michael Herman
>> Michael Herman Associates
>> 300 West North Avenue #1105
>> Chicago IL 60610 USA
>> (312) 280-7838
>>
>> http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
>> http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
>> http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space
>>
>> ...inviting organization into movement
>>
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>> *
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>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Take off on a romantic weekend or a family adventure to these great U.S.
> locations. http://special.msn.com/local/hotdestinations.armx
>
> *
> *
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--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
(312) 280-7838

http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space

...inviting organization into movement

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