Keepin' Busy

[Michael Herman]

this is a gorgeously clear little gem, birgitt.  have posted most of
it in the weblog with a link to your site.  hope that's okay. 
http://www.openspaceworld.org/news

many thanks, michael



On 1/12/06, Birgitt Williams <birgitt at dalarinternational.com> wrote:
> Possibly, there is no occasion to even do a sales pitch, much less give
> up on one. And possibly there is no occasion to push a client to the
> wall in terms of intentions and degrees of freedom.
>
> The client opens the space in the organization for the facilitator to
> then do his/her thing with facilitating an OST meeting. Sometimes the
> space that the client chooses to open is quite big, sometimes it is very
> small. The key in the prep work and working with the givens is whether
> the space is stated truly, is authentic. I have never found an
> organization that couldn't open a little space for some conversation.
> For example, in the military, it was not about the whole military, it
> was only about a master plan for the landscape of the military college,
> however it was truly open space for the OST meeting to take place. One
> of the givens, stated by the Brigadier General who was also the
> commandant was 'democracy ends on Thursday at 5pm'. He didn't pretend
> that the space was more open than it was. It was very specific to get a
> specific job done. And it got done well. Follow up even years later is
> that the whole plan was financed and has been implemented.
>
> Blessings,
> Birgitt
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Harrison Owen
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 11:11 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Keepin' Busy
>
> Hey Folks -- I wasn't just giving a report of current activities (I am
> alive
> and breathing). I was also hoping to spark a little conversation about
> such
> things as -- when do you give up on the sales pitch and push the client
> to
> the wall in terms of intentions and degrees of freedom? And what are our
> obligations to the client and the participants? And to our selves?
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland 20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
> archivesVisit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Harrison
> Owen
> Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 10:22 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Keepin' Busy
>
> I guess I fibbed a wee bit. Yes I am working on a book (or the book is
> working on me) - and there are a few other things coming down as well. I
> have also been working with a really neat organization which is seeking
> to
> open some space in a very critical area. And they are more than a little
> worried about really opening space. We have been going on and on until I
> felt constrained to send the following message. I share it here because
> I
> thought it might be of interest. As I was writing this about 5 this
> morning
> I thought fondly of Lisa and her speech about "only the highly
> evolved..."
> But I didn't think that would work in this case. Needless to say I have
> scrubbed all the identifying details.
>
>  Dear XXXX -- I am glad that you still think Open Space is the way to go
> --
> but I must confess that I am having some reservations. These
> reservations
> have nothing to do with the capacity of Open Space enable this group, or
> indeed any group, to engage in meaningful conversation and come to
> useful
> conclusions. The issue for me is two fold -- First, Do the sponsors feel
> sufficiently trusting and supportive to let the process run? There will
> be
> moments of high tension, and experience has shown that the people
> themselves
> can and will handle it all by themselves. The bottom line is that I just
> let
> it go. Once underway, we are gone, and there is no place for
> intervention,
> mid-course correction, the conference management committee doing a
> re-design. It is all up to the people.
>
> My second area of concern is whether or not what I might call "competing
> interests" create conditions that are, to some real extent, antithetical
> to
> real Open Space. I am thinking particularly of the Press. I clearly
> understand the need for press coverage -- just to get the word out. The
> problem is that deep conversations can rarely be reduced to sound-bites.
> Even worse, deep conversations which are only partially concluded are
> even
> less susceptible to being sound-bites. I think it is quite possible that
> we
> will reach the end of the first day in Open Space and there is nothing
> to
> report -- or at least nothing that anybody wants to report. It is
> equally
> possible that we will reach the end of the conference in the same
> condition.
> Several thousand years (well almost) of understandings,
> misunderstandings,
> ignorance, misperceptions, to say nothing of mis-trust and anger will
> not be
> resolved in three days. We can make a good effort, and things may well
> move
> along much further than we have any right to expect -- but expectations
> of
> any sort can be very problematical. The hard lesson of Open Space (and I
> think life as well) is that firm attachment to specific outcomes is
> usually
> disastrous. When you don't get what you expected the temptation is to
> think
> that you achieved nothing at all. And if the expectation is that by the
> end
> we will have a neatly tied up body of conclusions combined with action
> plans, all of which may be "briefed" to the Press, I think that is quite
> unlikely. Possible for sure -- but unlikely. And should any of this
> occur
> (or actually NOT Occur) the press will leave frustrated and might well
> report total failure. The fact that subtle, but important movement took
> place in the building of relationships, the definitions of issues and
> opportunities for future conversations (but not immediate resolution)
> will
> escape them because they were not part of the conversations. That would
> not
> be, I would judge, a desirable outcome.
>
> An even worse scenario would be if we were to drive the whole conference
> towards a final, definitive document with neat conclusions,
> recommendations
> and actions. That would effectively shut the space down, and the only
> way to
> assure such an outcome would be to have all of the conclusions,
> recommendations and actions defined in advance. Obviously there are
> multiple
> international conferences that do just that. Such conferences have the
> advantage of meeting expectations and maintaining the semblance of
> control.
> But that is not open space (or Open Space).
>
> The crux of the matter, I think, is that everybody (certainly the
> organizing
> body) must be willing to exist in that wonderful Great Cloud of
> Unknowing.
> Something for sure will happen, but there is absolutely no way to
> predict or
> assure what that "something" might be. Personally, I have always found
> that
> the "something" we didn't expect was so much better than what was
> predicted
> as to make everything worth while. But you can never tell in advance.
>
> I have written at such length because I think it is absolutely critical
> that
> all the responsible parties are totally clear about what we are getting
> into
> -- which paradoxically is that we really don't have a clue, and
> certainly no
> guarantees. Hope, desires for sure -- but we will not know what is
> achieved
> until it has happened, and even then we may not be too sure.
>
> Personally, I also want to make sure that nobody mistakes me for a
> salesman
> or even an advocate for Open Space. I am delighted to share my
> experience
> and pleased to offer my services, but the choice on how to proceed is
> not
> mine to make. Truth to tell, I guess I am an advocate, not for Open
> Space
> Technology -- but rather for the people and their capacity to make sense
> out
> of the confusing and progress out of difficulty. But you can never tell
> how
> it will all work out.
>
> Harrison
>
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland   20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
> <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
>
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
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> Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
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>
>
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--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Ave #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
Phone: 312-280-7838
mherman at globalchicago.net
skype: globalchicago

http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.globalchicago.net/wiki
http://www.openspaceworld.org

Executive Facilitation ...getting
the most important things done in
the easiest possible ways.

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