A question about OS listserv

Sun Jan 9 18:24:24 PST 2005

Thanks for asking these marvelous questions.  And my warm regards to
you, Juanita, whom I finally got to meet at the (US) National Dialogue
and Deliberation Conference in October.  I LOVED experiencing World Cafe
through your kind and thoughtful facilitation.

Here are my answers to add to this rich mix of questions and answers:

What has enabled the Open Space listserv to flourish?

I am thrilled to say that it reflects the principles and law of Open
Space and I suspect that our individual understanding of these
principles and law help us to thrive on this list and help this list to
thrive.  And the fact that we all share this same knowledge and repeat
it may indeed help us collectively hold space for this list.  No
moderator (one of the most fabulous parts of this list) - all is welcome
because one can always exercise the Law of Two Feet (played out here as
the Law of Delete).  Passion bounded by responsibility.  Again, Open
Space has named these things and we all hold these things and many of us
live our lives in these ways.  So this community, as diverse as it may
be, does hold a common language, as it were.

Speaking of that (in any tongue), any language is welcome.  Periodically
someone pops in with a message in non-English and answers spring forth.

Any level is welcome.  From 'gee this is my first help me breathe' to
folks who have done many and diverse Open Spaces, all asking for wisdom
from the group / all offering wisdom to the group.

It's free, with open membership.

It offers instant gratification.  Voices in the dark, wee hours of the
night get heard by one or some of us somewhere in the world.

It's loving.  Really in the truest sense: folks are generous with ideas,
materials, support.  People demonstrate open hearts and minds.

It doesn't break a lot (rare that it has technical problems).

It helps one connect to one's tribe...

I don't suspect that anyone feels that it's their 'job' to keep the
community going - so that it's up to everyone and has ebbs and flows,
breathes in and out with whatever anyone wants to put into it.

In what ways has the listserv helped the Open Space community of
practice to evolve?

New ideas are written out clearly - experiments are shared - so it's
easy (with a deep breath sometimes) to try (for example) different forms
of convergence, or action planning through reopening space towards the
end of an event, or doing OS with people who are more oral (who have
greater challenges reading), or documenting OSs in different ways, and
so on.

Folks generate new ways to gather information, ask new questions, share
new information (OS and Appreciative Inquiry, researching the impact of
OS on organizations, and so on).

Folks get a bit of a sense for each other, so perhaps that helps when
some folks want to collaborate with others they've not worked with
before - still, they have a sense for style, approach, values they may
share (or which may nicely contrast with each other).

As we're as experienced as our 'on-the-ground' experience *plus* our
shared stories, an OS practitioner of any level or with any specific
experience can say to a potential client not 'gee, I've never done OS in
that industry/setting/culture/etc.' but instead own the collective
experience of the group and say 'yes OS has been done in that
industry/setting/culture/etc.' and therefore be invited into a new
experience but with client faith and a while tribe of people sharing
wisdom if/as needed for that particular
instance/variation/approach/situation.  So individual practitioners
evolve and share stories and learnings with each other, thus evolving
the whole OS community of practice.

As a means of communication it's also a means for sharing materials,
lesson plans, designs and more.

Any question can be asked into cyberspace and answers just come floating
in in delightful ways.

In what ways has it affected you and your own practice to evolve?

I've found (and been found by) event partners, gotten (and given)
materials translated into different languages, announced my workshops,
met new people who share the same heart, learned about different
cultural approaches, wondered out loud, asked, answered and in answering
have learned more, built a library of materials and resources to share
with others, become a specialist and a member of a world community of
professionals, friends, homestay hosts (!), play partners and more.  I
am an independent and like Peggy and others mentioned, feel I have the
power and support of an international consulting group behind me.  I can
refer people to clients if I cannot do a job and know that those clients
are in great hands.  I've been able to teach learners of OS and
potential clients of OS about this method through the words and pictures
of others so that the 'voice' is global and diverse and speaks to
everyone.

What wishes do you have for the list's future?

I would love to see more people sharing their toughest OSs, largest,
smallest, strangest, most surprising, what you tried that didn't work
and what you learned for next time - I LOVE when you all do that and I
learn so much.  I promise to do better at sharing my own stories in the
near future - I promise you the story of my toughest OS ever (so far),
by the way.  Coming soon to a computer monitor near you...

I look forward to it continuing to be loving, changing, rich, diverse,
open, shifting.

I hope the people who get the Digest form have an easier time of it
(seems as if it's awkward at sporadic times for some of you on Digest
with lengths of combined messages or switching in or out of Digest, from
your periodic emails...)

I hope the archive is a bit easier to navigate in future (such as links
changing color after you explore them and go back to the list of links)
- I build a lot of papers out of our combined words to share with you on
my website and elsewhere and it's a challenge during the research phase
of these papers.

I hope it lives and breathes as nicely as it is and has been doing with
co-created community.

I hope those of you who listen and do not post feel just fine doing so -
any communication has the partnership of voicing and witnessing and both
are precious.  I also love it when I see a new voice and hear familiar
folks pop back in when they've been gone for awhile.

I love the poetry 'contests' (hmm...non-competitive name possible?
'flurries'?)

I love all the ways that we continuously hold the principles and law to
heart even as we read and write or emails to each other.

I love the trust that folks share their thoughts with an unseen
community of and with faith toss out butterflies of thought into
cyberspace without having to own them.

- - -
I love that you're so patient with my long messages - or maybe you have
already used the Law of Delete !

Take care, all, and thanks for asking, Juanita and Peggy.  Cheers to all
from rainy Berkeley, California,

Lisa
________________________________

L i s a   H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g  S p a c e
2325 Oregon
Berkeley, California
94705-1106   USA
+01 510 548-8449
 <mailto:lisaheft at openingspace.net> lisaheft at openingspace.net
 <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net

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