Going underground as facilitator - Follow-up

Thu Jul 17 17:43:24 PDT 2008

Marc – Marvelous! Having spent no small amount of time in West Africa
(Liberia) I know exactly what you are talking about. 

Harrison

Harrison Owen

189 Beaucaire Ave

Camden, ME 04843

207-763-3261 (Summer)

301-365-2093 (Winter)

Website www.openspaceworld.com 

Personal Website www.ho-image.com 

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From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Marc
Steinlin (I-P-K)
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 7:28 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Going underground as facilitator - Follow-up

Earlier on I had taken from this list that your (and my!) favourite question
to an OS facilitator is: "What do we actually pay you for?" - I find it
hilarious and I always share it with people when talking about OS, it's
always a scream!

Usually I then refer to my memories living in West Africa. We mostly had a
night watchman in our garden (in many ways the reason was also to give
another person a job). They were always there, sitting under a tree, brewing
tea and they were great to have a chat with - they knew everything that
happened in the neighbourhood!

But they never actually did something. And that was the point: you have a
night watchmen BECAUSE YOU WANT THEM NOT HAVING ANYTHING TO DO and you have
the great desire that they never ever will need to do anything - that was
precisely the reason why you have (and paid!) them! They are "holding the
night" - and your space to sleep free from worries. And you assume that
their mere presence creates this safe space.

That's always how I understood - and explained - my role and the space that
I hold as a facilitator. People (who have experienced African night
watchmen) always understood...

Thanks again!

-marc

IngeniousPeoplesKnowledge

Marc Steinlin

marc.steinlin at i-p-k.ch

Skype: marcsteinlin

PO Box 27494

Rhine Road

Sea Point

8050 Cape Town

Republic of South Africa

Mobile: +27 (76) 222 81 12

Zweierstrasse 50

CH-8004 Zürich

Switzerland

Mobile: +41 (78) 850 42 32

http://www.i-p-k.ch

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‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’ Margaret Mead

On 17 Jul 2008, at 00:35 , Pat Black wrote:

I have spent the last couple of days thinking about your question "What does
it mean to hold space?" and can the group hold it and any group?  My
thoughts on what I do when I hold the space is to just be present with what
ever goes on.  I don't judge or manage it in any way.  I am a witness to it
and that is what holding space is for me. I listen and I see, I feel it and
experience it.  But I don't judge it and I receive whatever is happening
with the same comfort and acceptance.   I totally trust Open Space and the
power it has to incubate vision so I am also the poster child for that.
When things get rugged and they do at times in most groups that have come to
wrestle with conflict and passionate opinions I am often asked to manage the
conflict in some way.   I stand as the one person in the gathering of people
who always has their eye on Open Space and my trust in it never waivers.  I
am the person that can be relied on to say this process called Open Space
will provide whatever is needed for the issue to get sorted out and at the
depth the group has the capacity for at that moment.  I have experienced as
the facilitator and as a participant at Open Space events that the
facilitator in gives permission for people to stay engaged in whatever has
got them rattled if they feel passionate about it even when they feel scared
or threatened in some way.  I do feel that people often are able to get on
the other side of an issue when they stick with it through the wretched hard
place.  So to answer the question about is the facilitator necessary with
any or all groups I would say no.  The facilitator is not required with any
group ever but I believe that there should be one present at every event.  I
just believe that sometimes when you are in the thick of it with a group and
feel so passionate about an issue that it feels like breathe and the
engagement with others feels like they are stealing your breathe that it is
helpful to have someone there that is never inside that soup.  Someone who
by their presence reminds us that the soup we find ourselves in is just one
soup and not the entire universe.  Someone who by their presence reminds us
that if we travel a little further we will find ourselves in a new space
that is not just more comfortable but better, more open.  That can happen
with or without a facilitator but when it is hot sometimes we disengage
before we get there if there isn't a facilitator.

Thanks for the thoughtful questions.

Pat Black

On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 1:13 PM, Marc Steinlin (I-P-K)
<marc.steinlin at i-p-k.ch> wrote:

Dear all,

I had asked you for your feedback and input almost 2 months ago on "going
underground" as a facilitator and I have received much valuable input from
many among you.

In the meantime, the event took place and it was great. We were about 90
persons from the KM4Dev (Knowledge Management for Development) community
gathered for our annual meeting in Lisbon. After having experimented with OS
last year already, we this time decided to run the whole meeting over 2 days
entirely in OS. We had a lot of enthusiasm and committed people, interesting
discussions, countless sessions. Reporting was done online on a wiki
(http://www.km4dev.org/wiki/index.php/Open_Space_Discussion_Reports) - so we
didn't have to provide computers in the back of the room; most of the
participants had their notebooks with them and we just announced the wiki
URL - this worked excellent.

What also worked great was: having no facilitator to hold space. I opened
the OS but during the nomination of topics declared that I would now convert
into a normal participant; I quickly returned to the facilitator role for
just one sentence to open the market place and they we took off. Evening
news were done by other people - a group, one doing a closing circle, some
doing some announcements, and a professional theatre artist did some funny
performance games with the entire group.

I reopened the OS next morning to recollect some more topics, but from there
onwards, I again dived back into the crowd and entirely forgot about the
process. The second evening was pretty much "participatory managed" like the
first. It just worked great!

This leaves me with the questions:

What means "holding space"? What is the function, if demonstrably one can do
without?

Or is it really that the group as a whole can hold space (which seemed to be
the case)? Any group?

Why do we really need any facilitator throughout the event?

And consequently under which conditions can we dispense with it?

What is the risk? Can this go totally wrong?

Again many thanks to those who contributed to the previous discussion!

Best regards,

-marc

IngeniousPeoplesKnowledge

Marc Steinlin

marc.steinlin at i-p-k.ch

Skype: marcsteinlin

PO Box 27494

Rhine Road

Sea Point

8050 Cape Town

Republic of South Africa

Mobile: +27 (76) 222 81 12

Zweierstrasse 50

CH-8004 Zürich

Switzerland

Mobile: +41 (78) 850 42 32

http://www.i-p-k.ch

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'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' Margaret Mead

On 25 May 2008, at 14:46 , Marc Steinlin (I-P-K) wrote:

Dear all, many thanks for your feedback! I will take up your ideas and
inputs with my colleagues.

I can take some ideas with me: initially I was more thinking of having each
of us facilitating a part of the OS - "serial" facilitation. But on the
basis of your comments, I feel like maybe rather going for "parallel"
facilitation. I don't know exactly what that means, but have a feeling
emerging in my guts - I'm positive we will know how to do it.

Thanks for the words of caution, in particular to you Michael. I have made
similar experiences in other contexts with regard to confused roles,
projections and so on and if we are aware of this possibility, I'm sure we -
well, as you say maybe not avoid it, but will be able to deal with it when
it's there. But I'm not really afraid of this, I have a lot of confidence in
my friends' and my own experience.

What makes things easier is that nobody would consider me as their leader. I
will - together with others - facilitate the event, and for some it will be
their first full-fledged OS experience, but nobody would think I might be
something like their "leader" beyond facilitating this day. The nice thing
about this group of people is, that it is very open and open-minded
community - in fact I feel that the open space philosophy is very close to
the thinking of this group.

I also like very much the idea of adopting OS as a system of continuous
operation, which has come through some of your responses. I am currently
thinking about how to run my own little organisation in a micro-macro-OS
way: micro because at this stage we are just 3 of us, macro because I would
like to start somehow getting into the OS way and opening space, but not
really closing it anymore - eg. having a constantly evolving market place of
topics that we are conversing about, and to somehow apply the principles as
our normal mode of operation. Don't know whether this (will) make any
sense...

-marc

IngeniousPeoplesKnowledge

Marc Steinlin

marc.steinlin at i-p-k.ch

Skype: marcsteinlin

PO Box 27494

Rhine Road

Sea Point

8050 Cape Town

Republic of South Africa

Mobile: +27 (76) 222 81 12

Zweierstrasse 50

CH-8004 Zürich

Switzerland

Mobile: +41 (78) 850 42 32

http://www.i-p-k.ch

P Help save paper - do you really need to print this email ?

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' Margaret Mead

On 21 May 2008, at 17:31 , Ted Ernst wrote:

I echo the voices saying that this is not only possible, it can be a
good thing for the organization.  I've tried this alone and also with
a partner.  I felt much better with  a partner.  With four of you, I
would think you could all 4 be involved in breakouts without any
trouble losing the space-holding that you're all doing.  Can't wait to
hear how it goes!
peace,
ted

On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 9:58 AM, Michael Herman
<michael at michaelherman.com> wrote:

i'm encouraged by and encouraging of this, mark.  thanks for sharing the

question.

this, to me, is the next step of the "facilitator" learning to disappear.

it seems to me that we'll ultimately have more and more open space

if/when/as people/leaders learn to do this from within, not abandoning their

position as leader, but refining a pulsation between directing or actively

guiding, on the one hand, and inviting and hosting on the other.

i think your sense of several being able to share the role, or support each

other in it, is helpful as well.  but i would encourage a faster pulsation

than daily.  consider a second law:  the law of two roles.  or maybe the law

of two minds.  one mind inviting, hosting, holding and the other mind still

nominally in charge, at the top, as director.  somatically, this can be

understood as pelvis (literally holding a space for everything stacked on

top) and brain (seeing, visioning, choosing and directing).  the whole thing

mediated by heart in the middle.  so you can find your way between the two

roles you've identified by following heart, same as navigating learning and

contributing as participant using law of two feet.  so the practice is to

refine your pulsation between the two, until they look and feel like the

same "being".

two cautions, or mileposts really, on the way...

first, while you're pulsing back and forth, i find it's easy to get lost.

yes, sometimes that means getting caught up in conversation, letting

attention focus locally and forgetting about the larger space, maybe

forgetting to ring the bells for evening news, for instance.  it's helpful

to have partners to remind you, or to ring them for you.  in the same way,

it is also possible to accidentally not be fully present in a breakout

session, to be not fully local, and in that state, be offering views of the

world that nobody else sees or can understand, cuz they don't have this

larger view of space.  the caution isn't about not sharing, but about

recognizing that it's possible to do, possible to try to be in a breakout

session but bringing experiences that are totally foreign to those who are

apparently your colleagues and partners in the group.  this not an

unfamiliar situation for leaders who regularly have more information, a

wider view, that those in the "trenches" in an organizaiton.

the second caution or noting here is less obvious, or peculiar to straddling

the facilitation/participation divide in open space.  i don't think fr.

brian will mind if i tell a story about osonos in oz to illustrate.  he was

facilitator and host, but also a member of the community.  he ran a great

event, facilitated the whole thing "by the book".  there was somebody there,

however, who had not had firsthand experience with our approach.  she also

knew that brian was a priest.  when she had a difficult time with how things

were going in open space, and discomforts do naturally arise for

participants at various and random moments, her experience with "priest"

allowed her to dump responsibility for difficulties on "how the facilitator

is", what he's doing, how he's run things, etc.  all of that story she was

making was nonesense and after a long talk, she understood that her

difficulty came from what he wasn't and didn't do.  it was the openess of

the space, the press of responsibility and reality that was making her

squirm.  so it was the combination of *her* newness in open space and her

(in this case rather thin) connection to brian that allowed her to make up a

story that was getting in her way.  so if you have colleagues new to this

experience and you are still known as some sort of 'leader' or just some

sort of guy to these folks, they might be confused by what is open space,

what is you, what is you as leader and what you as facilitator, and so on.

in the end, this is just a noticing that such confusion is possible.  there

is nothing to "do" about it, other than know it's there and possible.  if

you notice it along the way in your meeting, and maybe it'll be there or

maybe it won't, then all the clarity you will bring to the process from the

very beginning, is all you will or can or should bring to that moment.  just

be as clean in both roles as you can, and as clear about what is you and

what is reality of org/world, and it's all still open space, or not.

good luck!  i hope you'll find this is a great and fun practice, and come

back and tell some of the internal story of how it goes for you...

m

On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 8:07 AM, Jack Martin Leith

<jack at jackmartinleith.com> wrote:

Harrison, those are some of the wisest words I've ever read. Thank you!

Jack

2008/5/21 Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>:

Marc – I have done what you are proposing (actively participate in a

gathering I facilitate) on multiple occasions and have never encountered any

problems, and I rather think you will have a similar experience. I would

never suggest that you try such a thing if it were your first experience

facilitating an Open Space, but that is obviously not the case.

The art of Holding Space is of course critical and because it is so

different from what most people have come to understand "facilitation" to

mean – it is just too easy for the first time facilitator to get sucked into

the action and forget to mind the store. But with experience, at least in my

experience, you can keep that old intuitive sense alive and functioning even

when actively engaged in a conversation of passionate concern to you. As I

think about it, this is probably where we all hope to end up anyhow. At some

level every conversation is an Open Space, and the more open the space, the

better the conversation. And a really great conversation has a powerful

(passionate) focus while still being open to everything else that is going

on in the environment.

Approaching the same thoughts from a slightly different point of view, I

find that when a group really begins to groove/cook/work – space holding is

a community activity. In fact, enabling a group to reach a point where it

will effectively "hold its own space," might well be the Holy Grail of OST.

So anyhow, I would think that rather than a problem, you have a real

opportunity to enhance your own capacity as facilitator by moving into that

marvelously "zeny" place where you are simultaneously attached and

non-attached – passionately concerned about an issue and always free to move

beyond. And if you want to share this opportunity with your colleagues

(different people opening space every day) that would work for me, or at

least it always has.

Have fun!

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

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-----Original Message-----

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Marc

Steinlin (I-P-K)

Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 1:18 AM

To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU

Subject: Going underground as facilitator

Dear OS list members,

I have been following this list for almost two years now and have enjoyed

many of your conversations, learnings, ideas and inspirational thoughts!

Many thanks for all that valuable insight and encouragement!

I myself over the last 2 years have organised/ facilitated approx. 20 OS

all over the world (from Switzerland to South Africa, from Indonesia to

Ethiopia), some as large as 70 participants (unfortunately I never had the

opportunity for a larger group - would love to try that!), some as small as

5 persons - and I (as well as the participants!) enjoy it greatly each time!

We, the KM4Dev (a global community of practice on Knowledge Management

for Development; http://www.km4dev.org) have decided to run this year's

annual meeting over 2.5 days entirely as an OS. We are about four persons

who have already facilitated OS and are preparing the facilitation of the

event.

However, all of the four of us are also greatly interested in the topics

which will be discussed, it's certain that we also want to propose topics

for groups to work on. Therefore my question:

Is it possible, that a facilitator opens the Open Space, but once the

market place starts, she/ he will transform into a regular participant and

mingle with the rest? I always attached great importance to "holding space"

- I have never been doing anything actively, I have done my best to get out

of the way, however I have been there, almost invisible, but still...

Do you have any experience or advice on whether the facilitator can give

up her/ his role and become a normal participant until to the closing

circle?

Alternatively, do you have any thoughts about rotating faciliators:

person A doing it on the first day, B on the second day, so that we all have

the opportunity to participate in the discussions with our own topics? I

guess none of us would want to limit her/ himself for the full duration to

just holding space...

Your experience is much appreciated!

-marc

IngeniousPeoplesKnowledge

Marc Steinlin

marc.steinlin at i-p-k.ch

Skype: marcsteinlin

PO Box 27494

Rhine Road

Sea Point

8050 Cape Town

Republic of South Africa

Mobile: +27 (76) 222 81 12

Zweierstrasse 50

CH-8004 Zürich

Switzerland

Mobile: +41 (78) 850 42 32

http://www.i-p-k.ch

P Help save paper - do you really need to print this email ?

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can

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