What have we learned?

[Cheryl Honey]

You can learn more about Spirited Work at www.spiritedwork.org
Peggy invited me and it became my refuge and a connecting place where I was
rejuvenated. The upcoming session is April 15-17. If you are yearning to be
among kindred spirits in a nature setting I extend an invitation to you to
join us during the season of the Healer. This is a space that has inspired
many to live in the boldness and daring of what emerged from their
experiences here. It is a living open space experience.
Cheryl

-----Original Message-----
From: Peggy Holman <peggy at opencirclecompany.com>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Date: Sunday, March 20, 2005 11:59 AM
Subject: Re: What have we learned?


>Harrison,
>
>Thanks for the question asked in such a loving, powerful way.
>
>Where to begin?  Open Space changed my life.  So many, many lessons.  And
>after 11 years of working with it, I still feel I am just at the beginning
>of my learning.
>
>Here is a bit of a retrospective of learnings.
>
>The miracle of my first Open Space was to see that it somehow enabled the
>needs of the individual and the collective to be met.  That's when I fell
in
>love with it.
>
>I think my very first practical realization was that as a facilitator, I
>wasn't responsible for other people's experiences.  What a revelation!  I
>could do my best to create the conditions for the work to be done.  Beyond
>that, it was up to the people in the room.
>
>Over the next several years, I found myself talking about my lessons from
>Open Space.  Some of them come through your words, Harrison, others through
>the experience itself:
>
>Focus on essence -- the form of OS is so elegantly simple that it is a
clear
>message that what is most important is the core content of whatever the
>subject is.  I remember very clearly a conversation with Chris Kloth at
>OSonOS IV in Washington, D.C.  He told me that where other change
>communities he was a part of spent most of their time focused on questions
>and arguments about process, the OS community was always asking about
>essence, purpose, the core meaning of whatever it was we were discussing.
>Kerry shared recently a comment from a participant: "one day in open space
>was the equivalent of two years of hearings." I think this is because when
>all you've got to pay attention to is the essence of what's important,
well,
>it sure makes it easier to let all the nonsense fall by the wayside and
>focus on getting something done!
>
>Simplicity of design -- you gifted me/us with a very profound design
>question: what is one less thing to do? (and I would add implicit in the
>question: and have this be whole and complete?)  While I sometimes joke
that
>you came to this by being a master of laziness, I think continually doing
>less ensures the focus remains on what is most important.  Whether OS or
>just life, I find this insight of remarkable power.  Anytime a group is
>struggling, with how to do something, this question cuts through the mess.
>During my Total Quality days, there was a saying: "remedy first, then deal
>with the root cause."  My definition of remedies were they always added
more
>steps -- made things more complicated.  When the root cause was handled,
>100% of the time, it resulted in less steps -- a simpler process.  And it
>always required looking at the essence, the purpose as the starting point.
>
>Invitation/Inclusion -- you talk about invite whoever cares about the
>subject and welcome the stranger -- whoever comes.  It is such a huge gift
>to accept the rightness of whomever and whatever shows up.  It is also at
>times a deeply courageous act of of faith.  Through the years I have seen
>people healed by the experience of being welcomed, with all of their
quirks,
>of feeling heard.  I have also seen it as a challenging test of people
>uncomfortable with those who are different.  The rewards for those who
>usually exclude others and for those who are often excluded are powerful.
>People discover compassion in themselves.  Outcasts experience something
>often unfamiliar: support.  I remember years ago at OSonOS in Monterey
>(1998?), an intense day 2 opening circle where there was this conflicted
>discussion of "in group" and "outsiders".  Finally, this woman, I don't
know
>her name and I never saw her again, got up and walked, or perhaps she flew,
>around the circle, inside and out.  Her words were something about
belonging
>coming from within ourselves.  It shifted everything.
>
>Generosity of Spirit -- you gave OS away, no trademark, copyright,
>certification or other hurdles.  You said there is one responsibility -- to
>give back what you've learned.  I look at the extraordinary community that
>we've created -- one that shares its stories, its fears, triumphs,
>insecurities, and questions.  I follow several learning communities.  This
>one is my home.  It is in part because of the incredible ethic of sharing
we
>gift to each other.
>
>Abundance -- there is always enough for what is important.  When I've
>underestimated the number of break out sessions for an event, I often joke
>that time and space are infinitely expandable and people figure out where
>and when to meet.  This is a reminder to me of just how incredibly creative
>we are as a species when something is important to us.  People find
>remarkable solutions.
>
>These were my first deep lessons from living with Open Space.  I think
>somewhere about this time, I began to realize that self-organization and
>spirit -- the two ways I talked about OS -- described the same phenomenon
in
>different language.
>
>And then Spirited Work began.  While I already understood Open Space was
way
>more than a good meeting method, this quarterly foray into living in Open
>Space opened a new and deeper journey of understanding.   It was Anne
>Stadler who helped me understand that the Law of Two Feet is about taking
>responsibility for what you love.  I now believe this is the essence of
Open
>Space.  It is the power of this one idea -- to take responsibility for what
>you love -- that creates the remarkable invitation to listen to our
internal
>voice and act on its message.  Now I understand the dynamics behind what I
>originally loved about OS: when people take responsibility for what they
>love, they discover that others love the same things.  Thus, the needs of
>the individual and the collective are met.
>
>At Spirited Work, watching Anne Stadler showing up wherever there was
>disonance or conflict, I learned to welcome disturbances.  I came to
>understand that they are indicators that something new wants to emerge.
And
>it was watching the patterns of behavior at Spirited Work, the complex,
>unpredictable human behavior as people experimented with living with spirit
>in the material world that I have come to understand what Open Space
>governance looks like, what it means to make difficult decisions in Open
>Space (way beyond consensus), the role of silence in individual and
>collective learning.
>
>I now understand the dynamics of  emergence when consciously embraced.
>Emergence is spirit in action -- where people discover that what is most
>personal is also universal.  When this happens, what we in the OS community
>call Convergence naturally occurs.  People move into coherent individual
and
>collective action.  This has shaped how I see my work today -- to grow the
>capacity for emergence through caring for ourselves, others and the whole
in
>service to meaningful purpose.  What I see today is that Open Space
provides
>the essential conditions for emergence without the destructive force that
>comes when the disturbances that signal something wanting to emerge are
>resisted.  It happens by asking an attractive question that matters (the
>theme), inviting all who care to take responsibility for what they love,
and
>by putting them in a circle to begin and end each day to reflect together.
>This pattern enables people to step into what they fear with some glimmer
of
>hope that something useful will happen.  And, miraculously, time and again,
>it does.
>
>
>Doing the international Practice of Peace conference -- an experience
>planned in OS mostly by people from the Spirited Work community -- brought
>new lessons. We took the leap that we would have sufficient participation
to
>fund inviting 10 OS practitioners from conflict areas from around the
world.
>We not only accomplished that but created an experience that many, many
>participants described as life changing.  They describe some variant of
>feeling their own capacity to make a difference.  I got a deeply embodied
>experience of what Anne Stadler named the Radiant Network -- that innate
>knowing that we are all connected, that we are held in some mystical way.
>When my heart is open, I feel the connection.  When not, the connection is
>still there, it is just hard to believe it exists.  My lesson from PoP is
>that what is on the other side of emergence is the coherence of the Radiant
>Network.  The most powerful OS events bring people to where they feel a
>sense of collective consciousness.  They touch that place of deep, personal
>meaning that connects them to others and they have at least a glimmer of
>their connection to the whole.
>
>
>Today, I wonder about how the people I have worked with have been touched
by
>their time in Open Space.  How have they been changed by the experience?
>What has been the effect when OS is used over and over in a community or
>organization?  How have people and collectives been changed by the
>experience?  That's what I hope we learn through the research questions
that
>Larry, Chris and I put out.
>http://www.openspaceworld.org/network/wiki.cgi?OpenSpaceResearch
>
>I believe that we are growing people's capacity to deal with what they
fear,
>what they resist by offering them a path to emergence that runs through
>powerful, attractive questions.  What are their stories?
>
>
>Harrison, for all that you are and all that you have done, I thank you.
>Finding you and your work was a turning point in my life.
>
>Love,
>Peggy
>
>
>________________________________
>Peggy Holman
>The Open Circle Company
>15347 SE 49th Place
>Bellevue, WA  98006
>(425) 746-6274
>
>www.opencirclecompany.com
>
>
>P.S.  It is curious to me that not one of us responded to Billie and
>Barbara's request.  Wonder what that says about our community?
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at comcast.net>
>To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 3:39 PM
>Subject: [OSLIST] What have we learned?
>
>
>> In 1985 the first Open Space happened in Monterey California. This year
>> (in
>> case you haven't noticed) is 2005. In short OS has been around for 20
>> years
>> (not counting the 14,000,000,000 years previously). So what have we
>> learned?
>>
>>
>> This is not an idle question. A recent publication of the American
>> journal,
>> JABS - otherwise known as the "Journal of Applied Behavioral Science"
>> offered a "special issue" dealing with Large Group Interventions. All the
>> usual suspects appeared, but somehow Open Space was among the missing.
One
>> of the editors, Barbara Bunker, who is definitely an acquaintance, and I
>> would consider a friend - told me that they had advertised for "papers" -
>> including the "OS Network" - and nothing showed up. Frankly, I don't
>> recall
>> seeing anything, but my eyesight is getting pretty cloudy. Anyhow, I feel
>> inspired to ask a question - What have we learned?
>>
>> This is not about making a special edition of JABS. And for sure it is
not
>> about "sour grapes" because we were not really present in JABS. It is all
>> about a genuine question - What have we learned????
>>
>> My hope would be to inspire/goad/embarrass/encourage each one of you to
>> reflect of the past 20 years (or at least that part of the 20 years in
>> which
>> you participated in the OS community) - and offer up your understanding
of
>> what you, personally, have learned - about Open Space, yourself in Open
>> Space, about organizations in Open Space. And of course anything else you
>> choose to share.
>>
>> I would hope that we would hear from more than the usual suspects. This
is
>> a
>> call to all you Lurkers! Last time I checked there were some 440 folks on
>> OSLIST. Not everybody has been heard from! Now would be a good time to
>> break
>> the silence!!!
>>
>> And although it is doubtless Politically Incorrect - I suggest a rule for
>> our discussion. Pretend this is a closing circle, and we are passing the
>> Talking Stick. Take a moment, maybe even a LONG moment (days/weeks) to
>> reflect on what you have learned, and then talk as long as you want. And
>> not
>> just the "good stuff" - the pain and disillusionment as well, if that is
>> your story. You have the stick! And please NO COMENTARY! I suggest that
we
>> just let this roll without response - just like a Closing Circle.
>>
>> In August we will gather for OSONOS in Halifax. That gathering will be a
>> lot
>> of things - but one of the things it WILL be is a celebration of 20 years
>> in
>> Open Space. I can think of no greater birthday present from everybody to
>> everybody than a reasoned, articulate description of what we have learned
>> in
>> the 20 years on the journey.
>>
>> Harrison
>>
>> Ps Assuming we have really learned something and manage to give that
>> learning expression, there is no doubt in my mind that a copy of our
>> Collected Works would be fun to read. ho
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Harrison Owen
>> 7808 River Falls Drive
>> Potomac, Maryland   20845
>> Phone 301-365-2093
>>
>> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
>> <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
>>
>> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
>> Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
>> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit:
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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