Thoughts on a Town Crier

Mon Jan 14 06:12:07 PST 2008

Interesting example of how we show up, even in small things, communicates
big time values and believes. 

Even a Town crier to me is the continuation of the "culture of dependency "
Open Space is wanting us and helping us get away from. It's nourishing the
old mental model that the participants can't do it by themselves but the
people that know (authorities including the facilitator) can do it best. It
sustains the thinking that participants need a mom to remind them.  So they
will not only be dependant on time but will continue in this frame of mind
on many other aspects of the meeting.

I let people self manage around time - other than having a schedule posted
on a flip chart like Harrison had in his first edition of his Users' Guide.
Participants tell me later on that they like having no one - no form of boss
even a nice facilitator - telling them what to do. It really sends a clear
message we are encouraging self-organization and more importantly, that we
value them we value trust and show it by actually trusting them. 

It also makes room for the leadership to emerge from the group:  the small
and big task of reminding colleagues it's time to start is an opportunity
for someone to take a special step in the group they belong to. It's also an
occasion to add to the quality of their relationships.  Doing it for
participants, takes away from them, those opportunities for learning and
being.

It's been working for over 10 years for me. Harrison said about OST: it's
not the techniques of OST that are hard to learn, it's letting go.

Diane

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Peggy
Holman
Sent: 13 janvier 2008 12:23
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Thoughts on a Town Crier

Has anyone noticed more milling about before people move into sessions over
the last few years?  I'd been noticing enough of a trend this way that I
always intend to explicitly tell people that there won't be anyone telling
them when to move, that it is up to them to follow their own rhythms and
interests.  I haven't quite internalized this yet, so I usually forget.
Anyway, I think I may have figured out what is going on.

I just did an OS for a friend for a group of about 50.  He uses OS a lot but
wanted to be able to really participate in this one.   He told me that he
was a little surprised when the first round of breakout sessions was
starting that I didn't tell people it was time to get started.  He came to
me when the first round after lunch were scheduled to start and asked me
wasn't I going to ring a bell and let people know?  I basically told him
that I never did that.  The participants were adults and could figure it out
for themselves.  He was floored and a little upset.  He said he always lets
people know.  And then it dawned on me:  there are more and more people who
have experienced OS.  Perhaps there are many practitioners doing what Jon
does - telling people when it is time to start the next session.  I realized
that since most of these folks came at Jon's invitation, they were probably
enculturated to responding to a bell.  

So I took what seemed a middle ground to me and rang a bell, saying, "It's
1:30 and all's well."  I figured a town crier was a minimalist thing to do
-- providing information without attachment to how people used it.

I then spoke more with Jon because I wanted to understand his perspective.
He said that to him, what is posted, like the session start times, are part
of the commons and when he is holding the space, that is part of his
contract with the group, to give them the information.  He doesn't care what
they do once they hear it.  So, it strikes me that Town Crier is a good
description of what he does.

Given the trend I mentioned, I suspect Jon isn't the only one doing
something like this.  I'd love to hear other thoughts on providing
information that marks the passage of time.

from sunny (for a change) Seattle,

Peggy

________________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
(425) 746-6274 

www.opencirclecompany.com

For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to: 
www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook 

"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt,
is to become 
the fire".
  -- Drew Dellinger

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