Fw: Deep power differentials in OST

Chris Corrigan chris.corrigan at gmail.com
Wed Jul 13 13:54:20 PDT 2005


These are great responses and I thank you all for them. My own inclination 
seems in line with much that has been said. For me, I would be taking care 
of a lot of these issues up front in the preparation of the event. 

Still, though, I'd love some grounded experience from our Indian colleagues 
especially about OST in a multi-caste event, and the experiences that people 
have had within that setting.

As a way of grounding this enquiry, I recall a story from when I was at 
university. Our school had an exchange program with a university in Chang 
Mai, in the northern Thailand and our Native Stuidies department had a 
collaboartive relationship with people working with the northern Thai hill 
tribe communities. One year, our two Thai exchange students were from polar 
opposite origins. One student was a hill tribes person and the other was a 
minor relative of the Thai royal family. Ordinarily in encounters within 
Thailand, there would be an serious expectation of deference on the part of 
the hill tribes person, placing his hands together and performing the 
traditional Thai greeting called a "wai" while being close to prostrate on 
the ground. 

Being in Canada however changed him and the cultural context seemed not 
appropriate for whatever reason. He stopped wai-ing altogether, and this 
caused a tremendous issue between these two students. The royal relative 
came to complain to the department chair that the other Thai student was not 
showing the proper respect and should be made to wai. He was informed that 
there was no way that we could enforce his request for discipline at the 
University, nor within Canadian society. The complaintant took close to a 
year to get used to this whole idea, and it never really sat well with him. 
The hill tribes student carried on as if he had been informally hanging 
around with the Royal family for his whole life. 

It wasn't open space obviously, but it was a lot more open space than either 
of these guys was used to. Once they understood the boundaries, they had to 
check with themselves what was okay and what wasn't. In the case of the 
royal student, he used the law of two feet and left the next year. 

So I'm wondering about examples like this specifically in OST. Any stories 
out there?

Chris

On 7/13/05, Chris Kloth <chris at got2change.com> wrote:
> 
> In general my sense of this question is congruent with Harrison's recent
> post.
> 
> 
> In addition, it seems to me there are three times on the road to and
> through open space when we (opener/holder of space, consultant,
> facilitator...) do, can and should explicitly or implicitly address
> power differentials.
> 
> 
> First, when someone asks me to do an open space, or when I pursue that
> option with a client, I want to be very clear about what underlying
> values, beliefs and principles make the process appropriate for a
> situation and for the aspirations of the people sponsoring and attending
> the event. We are laying the foundation for addressing power
> differentials when we make sure that the sponsor understands that the
> power of the process is, in part, rooted in the value of all
> participants and the potential for people (from the top, middle, bottom,
> inside, outside, etc.) to contribute in valuable ways. When we notice
> resistance during this stage we need to learn about it and find out if
> and how we will work that through. How the question or topic to
> explored is framed also gives us a chance to build this into the process
> before it happens.
> 
> 
> Second, while I love Harrison's native American images of the process of
> walking the circle and entering the circle as we open the space, I also
> think of this process as an invocation. In that context, I find that
> the words I use in this process are chosen to link their theme
> (content), aspirations and roles to the explicit and implicit values,
> beliefs and principles of open space...which means that power and
> empowerment are themes but not instructions. Each of the principles and
> the law include an implicit message about power. I try to cycle through
> the mind, body and spirit (the theme/work, the people, the aspirations)
> at least three times before opening the market and one more time as
> people leave to go to the first session.
> 
> 
> By the way, my experience (limited to the US) is that when power
> differentials were an issue for participants it showed up as a topic or
> as part of several topics in the market place.
> 
> 
> Finally, Funda's observation about a wink, smile, invitation, joke, etc.
> gets at an aspect of what we mean by "holding the space." It seems to
> me that when we walk around, listen, observe, sense what is going on we
> are in a position to choose and resist verbal, non-verbal and other
> energetic behavior to support, not advocate, the efforts of people to
> speak and act in powerful new ways.
> 
> 
> Chris Kloth
> 
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-- 

CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

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

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