FW: Is whatever information present the right information??
Harrison Owen
hhowen at verizon.net
Fri Mar 16 04:47:43 PDT 2007
From: ingrid ebeling ebus [mailto:ie at institut-ebus.de]
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 6:03 AM
To: hhowen at verizon.net
Subject: Re: Is whatever information present the right information??
Well Harrison, I was thinking of an Expert Story and pushed the wrong - may
be not - button.
Here it is: I was asked to facilitate an Open Space about "Money", it was
meant about "Alternative Money"- two years ago. One Expert, a famous
professor, many books etc. was asked to join in. After a while I heard they
had engaged all together twelve experts, well known professors, banking
directors etc.
Since I saw no chance to change it, I made as facilitator a contract with
each of them:
1. each expert will bring in ten theses, maximum seven minutes
2. when I will open the Space they will be just part of the community
They struggled but accepted after all, this was in advance.
I started with vision work; the experts have been part of it and enjoyed it,
they survived giving their short input of ten theses – which was very hard
for them - and we got a wonderful patchwork theory.
After that I opened the space, the community created a rich agenda. But when
I opened the marked one person began to fight, “he just came for the expert
professor xy, etc
..”, more people fell in. I stepped back and let it go.
What happened, they organized a presentation of that professor for those who
were interested (80%) and found out all together how to deal with parallel
offers. Some of them took place. All together they accepted their agenda
and we had a wonderful three days Open Space on alternative money.
That it was, Harrison, what you could not see. I am not sure whether it is
an answer to Búi, but it is a story anyway.
Ingrid
EBUS Institut für Entwicklungsberatung und Supervision
Ingrid Ebeling • Am Alten Gehäge 6 • D - 30 657 Hannover
Tel.: +49-511-336 03 30 • Fax: +49-511-336 03 47
e-mail: ie at institut-ebus.de • <http://www.institut-ebus.de/>
http://www.institut-ebus.de
Am 15.03.2007 um 22:32 schrieb Harrison Owen:
Ingrid – Always nice to see you “here” but somehow the message didn’t get
through. At least not to me.
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 Ingrid
Ebeling
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 4:50 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Is whatever information present the right information??
EBUS Institut für Entwicklungsberatung und Supervision
Ingrid Ebeling • Am Alten Gehäge 6 • D - 30 657 Hannover
Tel.: +49-511-336 03 30 • Fax: +49-511-336 03 47
e-mail: ie at institut-ebus.de • <http://www.institut-ebus.de>
http://www.institut-ebus.de
Am 15.03.2007 um 21:22 schrieb Bui K. Petersen:
I actually I couldn't agree with you more. And very well worded as well. I
also agree with your comment on experts.
I guess my main concern is with short OST (one day or less), I don't expect
that the people I will be working will be able to do anything longer than
that. In the cases where "people do need some more help", it unlikely that
they can reach the people with more information the same day. Especially if
they are meeting on the weekend as I expect will be the case in my
situation. But going back to my question, I realize that even if you were
able to ensure the attendance of some "expert(s)", you can never be sure
what kind of "expert" is needed, and even then why would some "expert"
attend something for a whole day just for the possibility that they may
provide some "expertise" for as little as 2 minutes. Unless, of course, they
are otherwise interested and would be one of the "whoever comes".
But anyway, you said it so eloquently which hopefully will help me explain
this to others
Thanks,
Búi
Harrison Owen wrote:
Ah – The Expert Syndrome! And experts can be helpful if you clearly
understand the question for which they have the answer. But more often than
not I find that people are foggy about the question. So when it comes to the
“right” people – particularly in a community setting – the ones with the
question, a question they really care about are the right ones for a start.
And then strange things can happen, particularly if the people discover that
the answer to their question lies right in the middle of their own
experience, contacts, and energy. At that point, they turn out to be The
Expert. And that is called empowerment. And who knows, the people may well
come up with a solution (answer) that nobody every thought of before.
Experts, on the other hand, tend to provide answers to questions they know
about – and if you don’t fit into their box, you just don’t fit. Of course
if the people do need some more help, there are such things as phones and
internet.
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>
mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Bui K. Petersen
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 7:11 PM
To: <mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Is whatever information present the right information??
Thanks to everyone on this list, I am learning more and more about OST. But
every couple of weeks I get a new question.
"Whoever comes is the right people" totally makes sense. But what about the
information needed? We have all been at "conventional" meetings where
nothing was accomplished due to lack of proper information. How do we deal
with that in Open Space? Obviously the invitations is critical but we can't
really be sure that the people with expertise will show up unless we pay
them. Can we?
When we are working with groups or communities with few resources, how can
we make sure that the right information (legal, technical etc.) is in the
room?
Looking forward to everyone's wonderful and enlightened responses.
Thanks,
Búi
--
Búi K. Petersen, Cert. ConRes.
mediator and facilitator
--------------------------------
c.solutions
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Phone: 604.724.4954
Web: <http://www.buildconsensus.ca> www.buildconsensus.ca
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mediator and facilitator
--------------------------------
c.solutions
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Phone: 604.724.4954
Web: <http://www.buildconsensus.ca> www.buildconsensus.ca
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