"rules" and self-organization

Fri Jun 1 12:47:57 PDT 2007

Hardly a “novice” -- Sounds to me like you went right to the core! The
stories you tell are touching, very touching. And they touch on a point that
has fascinated me for years – the apparent cultural neutrality of Open
Space. As near as I can determine, OS “works” anywhere. I have looked long
and hard for some indication that this apparent universality is only
apparent, feeling that if we could find some genuine exception we might
learn a great deal about Open Space and possibly also the cultural
environment in which it failed to function. But every time I thought I had a
real live one – a total flop – it turned out on closer questioning that the
difficulty had nothing to do with Open Space. Sometimes folks were trying
what they called, “a little bit of Open Space,” or same thing with different
words, “modified Open Space.” Normal translation was that it really wasn’t
open. In other situations it turned out that Open Space worked just as
advertised – but some folks didn’t like the results. 

So thank you for your stories, and Welcome to OSLIST!  -- Even if you didn’t
make my day with an indisputable tale of failure.

Harrison 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

Open Space Training  <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com

Open Space Institute  <http://www.openspaceworld.org/>
www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website  <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com 

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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
NigelSeys-Phillips
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 9:39 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: "rules" and self-organization

Dear Helen,

I am a total novice at this but a brief comment 
..

Among my first few Open Space events were:

1)     An NGO in Cambodia where children previously working on the city
trash dump are being lovingly cared for and educated – children from
12-18yrs old

2)     A group of 200 street children in Mongolia whose most important issue
(at the end of a two day OS event) was being allowed to have ID cards – and
which event has I believe made a huge difference to their lives as the
findings have been adopted by the Government and has resulted in much closer
communication between the wonderful people who work with the children –
children from 8-20yrs old

3)     A group of young people in Singapore – from 18-35yrs old 

These three events were part of a wider series working to identify “How we
create a better future”

4)     An international organization working on how best to communicate
across geographical boundaries – senior experienced executives

5)     A leading hi-tech equipment manufacturer bringing their people
together for a common goal – managers and team leaders from across the
business

We had no chairs for the first three
but we had a circle
and nobody could
have had the slightest clue about what would happen

We had a room with chairs and a circle for the others
and they had received
a reasonably well-written invitation 

My conclusion (possibly naïve) – it just flat out works! - despite these
totally disparate levels of experience. That’s the link!

And it works even if there is a lunatic foreign person walking round in
circles speaking a language they have no idea about (translated ably I must
say by my supporters for the events) in an environment they have absolutely
no experience of at all
I can only imagine what the street children were
thinking!!

May not help – but I remain totally in awe of the power of OS to deliver
results and just wish I had understood this years, and years, ago.

All the best – and yes, it’s hot here!!

Nigel

Nigel Seys-Phillips

Fulcrum Business Management Solutions

30 Mount Elizabeth

#04-34 Highpoint

Singapore 228519

Tel: +65 9639 2510

E-mail: nigel at fulcrum.com.sg

www.fulcrum.com.sg

  _____  

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Helen
Bishop
Sent: Wednesday, 30 May 2007 10:15 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: "rules" and self-organization

I think it would be interesting to find out if there's a link between age
and range of experiences, and the way people would react to the room with
chairs in a circle and a theme on the wall.  I'm guessing that young adults
would react differently from people in their middle years, and from people
nearing the end of a career.  Part of the story, I think, links to the
experiences of people in the room, and how they acquired those experiences.
Facilitator/storytellers also embody things in terms of gender,
race/ethnicity, language(s) used, age, abilities, class, all those
interesting things that relate to the worldview of the people who respond to
an invitation.  Previous experiences with processes like Open Space would
matter, too.

Helen Bishop
Etowah, NC USA

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