point of non-intervention

[Phil Culhane]

Hi Raffi,

True, space is always open, and many people spend their entire lives with a virtual
curtain closed tightly in front of their eyes. One of the challenges of the opening
circle is to offer participants the opportunity to peek through the curtain to see what
lies beyond. In that way, you are not so much creating the openness as inviting those
gathered to experience it.

I've always seen my job as being to arouse their curiosity, explain the framework, and
then mostly stand back. As Harrison, I will "help things along" in as non-directional a
way as possible. OS is a new way of working for most folks, so offering a post-it with a
time on it to someone who appears confused can seem useful. One of the tenets of OS is,
of course, "Be prepared to be surprised". The first part of that "Be prepared" reminds me
of Baden Powell and the Boy Scouts, and I try to "be prepared" with an extra row of
breakout rooms, one per timeslot, hidden beneath a sheet of paper. If things are looking
extremely crowded, I'll open up the extra room and therefore extra meeting slots. I see
it as partially my job to ensure that adequate open space exists. Particularly in Canada
in January, it isn't all that easy to find adequate open space on a moment's notice -
participants huddled outside in -25C weather might not be as "open" as they need to be!

After the topics are posted and the group goes to the board to set schedules, I typically
move to taking care of the space - removing used coffee cups, plates, etc., tidying up
paper, anything not directly involved with the group and what they are trying to sort
out. The facilitator appears busy, so they self-solve their issues. Unlike Harrison, I
suppose I'm still too curious to leave! I love watching groups in action, so
repositioning the chairs in the circle and discretely maintaining the cleanliness of the
space allows me to stay present without running the group.

Best wishes,
Phil

On Jul 19, Harrison Owen <hhowen at comcast.net> wrote:
> I suspect that you will get as many answers as there are folks on this list ... but I
always feel that my job (overtly) is done when the group has posted all of its issues and
is engaged in market place negotiations. At that point I know I need some air (or a nap)
and the people will get on just fine. Prior to that, I do keep my eye on the wall -- and
if post-is are not in evidence on a issue paper, I suggest that even though Open space is
wonderful there is still a need for a time/space meeting point. with very large groups
(500+) it is helpful to have some helpers standing by the wall. They should do as little
as possible, but two functions can be helpful: 1) post-its 2) Suggest that people spread
out their postings instead of arranging them vertically. If the papers are too close and
too tall -- the wall gets very chummy and short people have a very hard time when it
comes to signing up.
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>
>   From: Raffi Aftandelian
>
>   To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>
>   Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 9:34 AM
>
>   Subject: point of non-intervention
>
>
>
>
>
>   Thanks to the folks who congratulated me for my "first time." Yes, Harrison, it
indeed is going from bad to worse. And I only have myself to blame!
>
>
>
>   Oh well. Here I am with another question:
>
>   When I attended the OS facilitator training with Birgitt, we were asked to frame for
ourselves what we understood the essence of OS to be. The answer I came up with then
immediately (which is no longer adequate for me) is "profound non-intervention." I don't
think here I need to expand on why I thought that was OST's essence.
>
>
>
>   What I realize, though, is that it's not entirely clear to me at what point that "non-
intervention" (I'm not sure I would call it that at this point; holding space and time
might be closer to what the facilitator does; even that isn't quite exact in my book)
begins. Is there consensus on that?
>
>
>
>   Another way of framing the question is "at what point can one consider that the
facilitator has "opened" the space? I put this word in quotes because I realize more and
more that there are times when indeed there is no need for a facilitator to even "open"
space. There is no need for a "facilitator". That self-facilitated open space already
exists (and has existed) for millenia.
>
>
>
>   -Does the "opening" end at the explanation of how we will work? Thus, the facilitator
can just leave the room then (before the topics are announced and put up)?
>
>
>
>   -Does the "opening" end when the facilitator sees that all topics have been put up
and then he/she can leave the room?
>
>
>
>   A secondary (but maybe not that secondary) question is does the facilitator have any
role in the Marketplace? If someone forgets to put a post-it on a topic, can the
facilitator remind the participant about this? Do you follow the process of putting up
topics?
>
>
>
>   Or it just varies?
>
>
>
>   I have come to understand that once I have given the explanation, that's it. I have
no place to interfere in any way. If someone forgets a post-it, it's not my place to do
anything. Or if all the sessions have been taken with topics and there is a desire to
announce more sessions, it is not my place to create, for example, a third concurrent
session. Since this is OS, I imagine it is up to the group to imagine and come up with
the possibility of a third session.
>
>
>
>   Raffi
>
>   * * ==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe,
change your options, view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists
and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>
>
>
> *
>
> *
>
> ==========================================================
>
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>
> ------------------------------
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
>
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>
>

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

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist