givens

Larry Peterson larry at spiritedorg.com
Thu Nov 25 14:52:12 PST 2004


Jeff:  I think you are on to something.

"Container" or "Givens" or things that are not intended to be on the
table by the sponsor of an event are both social constructions and
acknowledgement of "something" that is there.  If I sit on a chair, that
is gone, I will fall on my ass (or some other part of my anatomy) - I
take that as given.   If there is a business plan that requires board
approval for change - that is usually taken as a "given".  It does not
mean that it cannot be changed, but it is there now - just like Human
Rights Codes and others thing are likely there.  Of course, in Canada,
these things may be a little less open for immediate negotiation as they
are in the US.  I don't think George saw anything in Iraq that should be
taken a given, other than his socially constructed vision for its
future.

I think it also relates to levels of awareness.  At one level there are
no givens, every moment comes into being with the opportunity for
novelty.  However, most rocks don't decide to decompose in a few days
-- granite takes a little longer.  Some of my clients, from their
perspective, have some real givens that they construct.  I think naming
and reducing the number of them is helpful as part of planning to open
space or deciding whether or not to open space in this situation with
this client.  Helping them consciously reduce the number of givens is
useful learning, I think.  Will open space work if that is not done -
yes.

However, I am seeing the consequences over this two week period.  One
client I'm working with now on a series of 14 OS has had some real
variability in how she has set the context - how clearly she has told
people what this part of the government is wanting to do, to engage them
in and the fact that it will not commit resources to the
self-organization it wants to seed in the community.   The quality and
energy of the events have been worse when she was not clear or
passionate (she got a cold).  People were more combatitive when she was
not honest with them from the beginning about the situation.  The OST
has worked every time to engage people and energy around the theme.  The
issues emerge in the convergence and next steps when the context is not
clearly and honestly set by the sponsor.

Larry

Larry Peterson
Associates in Transformation
Toronto, ON, Canada
416.653.4829

larry at spiritedorg.com
www.spiritedorg.com

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