AW: Circles and open space

Tue Aug 28 02:14:00 PDT 2007

Ah, Wendy, your message strikes a string in my heart. I find myself having
this huge resistance to other methods and the amount of left brain work it
takes from the facilitator, e.g. in World Café, to find out the right
questions, even if it’s together with the sponsor. What a responsibility!
Plus a resistance to standing there with a stop watch and time the time for
conversations for everybody
 There is a knowing inside me that OST can do
the job in all circumstances - if we take enough time to get ready, and to
formulate the theme the way the organization feels it needs to be stated.
Something inside me refuses to “go complicated”, knowing and living with OST
for almost 20 years now. AND this can be really difficult when somebody
isn’t ready, but wants to work with me because they have heard good things
about an OS-event I have facilitated
 Perhaps I need to learn to say no to
such an organisation.

These are the main questions I am pondering these days. Perhaps I will find
a way to bring good examples on my website which can help deal with some of
the fears.

Thank you - Catherine

Catherine Pfaehler Senn

lic.oec.HSG

Open Space Begleitung

Kellersriedweg 8

CH - 2503 Biel

+41-(0)32 - 365 68 41

c.pfaehler at bluewin.ch

  _____  

Von: Wendy Farmer-O'Neil [mailto:wendy at xe.net] 
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 23. August 2007 08:36
Betreff: Circles and open space

Thank you all for this wonderful conversation. What is arising for me as I
sit with your questions and comments, is that underlying all of our
passionate choices is the intention of opening more space wherever we are.
I know that is always my intention and I trust and have faith that it is
yours also.  

Sometimes this opening of space looks like world café or appreciative
inquiry, because that’s the widest, edgiest space that the sponsor can
conceive of.  Sometimes it’s a progression of ever more open processes until
the group trusts me and itself enough to leap into OST (I’m always humbled
and blown away by leaders who move through huge fear and/or organizational
resistance and say “Go for it!”).  And sometimes it means holding the open
space event in my heart and keeping that space open for months or years
until the sponsoring group wants OST.  All of the time, however, I am
fostering a deeper understanding and familiarity with OS principles and
practices and demonstrating the benefits.  

And I have had plenty of resistance to the circle.  I work a lot with social
service agencies and when they walk into a room set up in a circle, they
don’t look surprised, they roll their eyes and say, “Oh no! Not another
process!  What are you going to do to us?”  And at the end of the day they
thank me for NOT doing anything to them.  ARGGGHHHH!   Hence the reason for
my conviction that OS is one of the only truly ethical processes around—it
doesn’t steal power from people.  It’s not about me, the Grand
Facilitator!!! Thank God/dess/Spirit/your word here!

So, thank you Kaliya, for sharing how you have grown and fostered open space
practice in your community—I resonate with your pragmatism.  Your approach
is not something I had considered before and it has helped me to stretch my
thinking.  You obviously had a determination to introduce your community to
the benefits of OS and you made the principles and practices work for you
rather than becoming a servant to the technicalities of the process itself.
It’s really invigorating to encounter someone who has chosen to make
positive use out of circumstances that most of us view as a challenge.  As
Harrison keeps reminding us—it always works—and your experience widens the
horizon of what that means. 

And isn’t one definition of mastery: knowing when to break the rules? ;-)

The question I’ll be sitting with now is:  If the artist’s/host’s presence
is embodying the essence of OS, what is the minimum of form required for it
to still work? 

Cheers,

Wendy

Wendy Farmer-O'Neil

Prospera Communications & Consulting Services

250.713.2351/1.800.713.2351

weblog: www.wordgravity.blogspot.com

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