Principles, Process, and People

[Chris Corrigan]

Sticking to the manual is a good idea.  I don't just walk into the
circle and point at the tools and say "go."  Foregoing the ritual of
riciting the principles and the law happens if I've set the stage
properly, so it's "in the air."  I have noticed people NOTICING the
principles and the law on their own, especially the law.  They'll come
over to me and talk about how nice it is to be free to wander between
groups.

I love the ritual of opening space, and in the vast majority of cases,
I follow pretty much the same basic script as I did the first time I
did it, and that was cribbed out of the old user's guide.  So yes...it
is useful both for the facilitator and the group.  And if it's your
first time, SAYING the law and the principles out loud helps you to
believe that these things are actually true!  That's a hard fact to
follow if you've never seen them in action, and one of the reasons I
think many facilitators stumble upon OST and give it short shrfit the
first time they do it.  If you as a facilitator can't model the belief
in true self-organization and the power of the people to do their
work, it's unlikely that anyone in the group will.  So go whole hog
with your opening, don't modify it from the basic script too much, but
mostly BE the enthusiasm you FEEL for the process.

That's what Lisa Heft teaches me!  :-)

Chris


On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:00:24 +0100, Lucas Gonzalez <lgs0a at yahoo.es> wrote:
> --- Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I think that's right Juan.  Just for fun I've done a handful of Open
> > Space Tech meetings without talking about the principles and the law.
> > It works fine.
>
> Could it be that speaking out the principles and the law helps the
> facilitator the first times?
>
> Have you found that you don't speak them out in certain situations
> (where you "feel" that the group is ready enough not to need them)
> while you'd rather stick to the manual on other ocasions (where you
> "feel" it might be better to remind them - the group or the sponsor)?
>
> In my first time I think I'll stick to the manual.
>
> Lucas
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Renovamos el Correo Yahoo!: ¡250 MB GRATIS!
> Nuevos servicios, más seguridad
> http://correo.yahoo.es
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>


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

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

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist