short term or long term orientation (was: OST second time around)

[Marei Kiele]

Dear Peter ~ PeeJee,

when I first encountered OST I got to know it as a one-time-event. And I immediately fell in love with it ~ and am since. And at the same time I felt something was still missing for me as my personal interest was also very much into middle or long-term processes. 

I know different people on this list who work long-term and who combine OST with other kinds of facilitation, so I know there are different ways to do this beautifully.

For me working with OST got whole when I learned about the work of Birgitt Williams and the Genuine Contact (tm) program. Birgitt works with OST for many many years and delevopped a deep interest in how an organization can be accompanied developping into a conscious open space organization (coso) ~ working with the principles and the energy and the healing power of OST every day. 

Maybe her work is of interest to you, too (and for others, of course). You can find more at www.dalarinternational.com - and at the website for Genuine Contact Facilitators: www.genuinecontact.net (where I still havn't included myself although I completed the training this year and am a GC trainer now... Oh ~ so many things still to do :)  )

Warmly,
Marei (from Bielefeld, Germany)




 "PeeJee Bee" <mailto:pjbuys at gmail.com> schrieb:
> Dear Kerry and others on this discussion 'second time around'
> 
> You raise some very important issues there!
> This is indeed something I was wondering about, it is about the claims the
> Open Space Technology makes about its pertinence to change.
> 
> I am fully convinced that Open Space is a marvelous tool to stimulate
> individual creativity; spontaneous collaboration (for the duration of the
> Open Space event); and an expression of trust in people by the client (in
> other words the ones who bought / decided for the Open Space event).
> 
> However Kerry uses a crucial word and that is the word 'process'. Many if
> not most Open Spaces are only very short blips (events) in typically much
> longer processes of change. But the Open Space does not really address that
> issue nor does it really offer (as far as I know) options on how to proceed
> beyond the time-bound Open Space event.
> 
> I am not a professional facilitator of short term events, in the sense that
> I only live of assignments for such one time events. Rather I work as a
> facilitator of long term processes in a specific sector (since 8 years the
> water sector). When dealing with long term processes of change, as a
> facilitator, one is obliged (I feel) to think beyond one time events and
> rather constantly look for options and 'most appropriate' facilitation
> methods and tools for specific phases or steps in such processes. That means
> that one time Open Space may seem adequate, another time it can be one of
> the many other methods, tools, instruments that are at the disposal of a
> facilitator. 
> 
> In the example mentioned by Kerry, I would typically have to think (together
> with people involved in the process) on how to best facilitate commitment
> and follow up to reach the objectives set in the process.
> 
> At times, I must admit, I feel 'professional facilitators' of one-off events
> (like an Open Space event) think fairly lightly about what will happen next
> and what kind of facilitation may be appropriate. It is not in their terms
> of reference, so why bother. Do I see this correctly?
> 
> Food for thought, look forward to the food you offer ;-)
> 
> Peter (from Milano)

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