Is trust a part of open space?

[Therese Fitzpatrick]

I agree with you, Larry, that it may be counterproductive to talk
about trust as one opens space.

And, yet, I have a growing inner guidance that people in general need
to be talking about trust more and more openly.

I also believe that OS is not one single thing with one single
approach.  If I believe that talking about trust is something I should
do, I embody the principles by doing so.  If the law of two feet is
guiding me to talk about trust in my role as facilitator. . . .

Thanks for this rich conversation.


On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 15:32:55 -0500, Larry Peterson <larry at spiritedorg.com> wrote:
> I agree with Michael that you do not need to talk explicitly about
> "trust" when opening the space -- in fact it may be counterproductive.
> I never do.
>
> I agree with Bea that Trust is Trust, in OS or not:
>
> -The sponsor or client has to trust the facilitator to open a space that
> relates to the focus/theme/directions she has established.  This is part
> of the reason for good preparation and planning.
>
> -When the sponsor/client makes their opening remarks, they need to
> engender the trust of the participants that they will follow thru with
> their commitments to what will happen during and after the OST event.
> That's why I get them to state some of them explicitly -- like you have
> freedom to act and the resources will be provided, or you have freedom
> to make proposals and the decision will be made by such and such a time,
> or you have freedom to do what ever you want but we have no resources to
> support you.  Being straight with the folks gathered increases their
> trust
>
> -The facilitator builds trust in the process by the way they open space
> -- through their confidence, words and spirit.  I believe this affects
> how quickly people put up topics and how much energy emerges at the
> beginning. (However, if there is lack of trust in the sponsor it will
> show anyway.)
>
> --The facilitator shows trust by not intervening once the space is open,
> by taking that nap or fiddling with the reporting system.  Every time
> someone asks for an intervention and the facilitator says -- in OST I
> trust you to figure out how to do it.
>
> Some Thoughts to add
>
> Larry
>
> Larry Peterson
> Associates in Transformation
> Toronto, ON, Canada
> 416.653.4829
>
> larry at spiritedorg.com
> www.spiritedorg.com
>
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--
Warmly,
Therese Fitzpatric

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>From  Tue Feb  1 21:36:25 2005
Message-Id: <TUE.1.FEB.2005.213625.0800.>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 21:36:25 -0800
Reply-To: chris at chriscorrigan.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com>
Subject: Photos from an Open Space in a traditional west coast Big House
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hi folks...last weekend, I facilitated an open space meeting at the
big house in Fort Rupert, up near the northerly tip of Vancouver
Island, Canada.  The building is 40 high inside with four huge carved
house poles, 12 feet around.  There is a big fire burning in the
middle and the room was full of the smell of smoke and cedar.

I thought you might enjoy some photos of our meeting in this amazing
place here.  Normally cameras aren't allowed in the big house, but an
exception was made for this gathering so that the word could get out.

The photos are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31354844@N00/sets/103725/

This was the first of five Aboriginal youth gatherings we are doing
around British Columbia to support and catalyze Aboriginal youth
leadership in communities.  You can see in these photos that there are
Elders and leaders present in these sessions.  They are central to
this process as they are able to both provide guidance and learn what
these amazing young people are prepared to do to take responsibility
for the future of their communities.

Cheers,

Chris

--
-------------------------
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com

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