Open Space 2.0 - Beyond the Dogma
Harrison Owen
hhowen at verizon.net
Thu May 8 04:08:32 PDT 2008
Omitting mention of the 4 Principles certainly can be done, but I am not
sure that would change things in any substantial way. The reason being that
the Principles are descriptive as opposed to prescriptive. In short, they
will happen anyway, mentioned or not. However, one might reasonably ask -
why state the obvious? My reason has always been that keeping the principles
in mind seems to ease the way in Open Space.
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
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Jack
Martin Leith
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 8:16 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Open Space 2.0 - Beyond the Dogma
Hiya Tree.
Thanks for your thoughts on my <Open Space 2.0 - Beyond the Dogma> post.
Has OS become arthritic? And are certain Open Space practitioners becoming
dogmatic?
Here in the UK the answer is "yes".
I've been to two gatherings of OS practitioners, both held in London (I was
the co-creator of the first one) and anyone wandering in from the street
would probably have thought they were witnessing a meeting of a religious
group or a cult.
At the second of these gatherings, structured along "Open Space on Open
Space" lines, Paul Levy led a session that challenged the four principles of
Open Space, and was shot down in flames by a number of people.
And a year ago he advertised, on this very email list, a workshop with a
similar theme to the one he and I are running in Brighton next week, and
received from a prominent OS practitioner what ca bes be described as hate
mail.
Thanks for your invitation to share more of my thoughts. You can find plenty
of them here www.jackmartinleith.com/?p=191 and here
www.jackmartinleith.com/?p=192, along with some thoughts expressed by people
beyond this list. The purpose of the 14 May workshop is to discover what
other people think.
My aim (I can't speak for Paul) is not for 'better' space at meetings, but
for a process which is most likely to deliver the desired results. Which
results? Those that will generate as much value as possible for as many
parts of the stakeholder system as possible. I don't see myself as a process
facilitator, but rather as a results facilitator. As in midwifery, a healthy
mother and baby are the first priority. The process has to serve the
results. My personal preference is for natural methods, but I keep forceps
in my back pocket and a scalpel in a glass box, for emergency use only.
If you'd like to take part in the discussion through Skype, the user name is
<rationalmadness> and the timing is 1400 to 1600 British Summer Time, which
is one hour ahead of GMT.
Best wishes,
Jack
Jack Martin Leith
Bristol, United Kingdom
Mobile: 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541)
Skype: jackmartinleith
Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725422325
Facebook group on Open Space Technology:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7189220743
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jackmartinleith
email: jack at jackmartinleith.com
www.jackmartinleith.com
2008/5/4 Tree Fitzpatrick <therese.fitzpatrick at gmail.com>:
On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 6:01 AM, Jack Martin Leith
<jack at jackmartinleith.com> wrote:
Hiya Harrison.
Happy that you're not offended by our undertaking!
Maybe it's different on your side of the pond, but Paul and I have both,
separately, noticed the worrying extent to which OS certainly has become a
dogma over here, sometimes along with the words "Harrison Owen" says. (I
must put my hand up to having done that many times.) We both feel that OS
has become somewhat arthritic, and overdue for a rethink.
Open Space Technology is what it is. Right? How can it become arthritic?
I am challenged by your suggestion but I hope you don't perceive that I am
challenging you. I am genuinely puzzled. I would welcome more of you
thoughts, perhaps some examples of how OS is changing?
How can OS 'become' anything? It is what it is.
I am wondering if, when you suggest that it is due for a 'rethink', perhaps
you are seeing something else, or striving to see something else. Perhaps
you have a (inchoate?) yearning for, please forgive me, 'better' space at
meetings.
I don't have Harrison's depth of experience opening sepace, but I
wholeheartedly agree with what he says about 'second generation open space'.
When in doubt, open more space and if opening more space brings me to a
place of doing nothing, well, for me, then I know I'm doing it right.
What you say is perfectly true, and I agree wholeheartedly ... although I'm
personaly keen on conversation that precipitates action ... but all too
often it's very different on the ground.
Big thanks for your support and encouragement. We'll keep you posted. Steve
the Doc has already signed up for the Skype option.
Very best,
Jack
Jack Martin Leith
Bristol, United Kingdom
Mobile: 07831 840541 (+44 7831 840541)
Skype: jackmartinleith
Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725422325
Facebook group on Open Space Technology:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7189220743
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jackmartinleith
email: jack at jackmartinleith.com
www.jackmartinleith.com <http://www.jackmartinleith.com/>
2008/4/30 Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>:
Sounds like a marvelous under taking, but I am not sure about all this
"Dogma" business. Dogma in my lexicon is a whole bunch of stuff that you
have to do/believe. My experience with OST is that it is all about thinking
of one more thing NOT to do - or believe. The end of the line, or indeed the
next iteration, would involve doing nothing at all, and where "belief"
translated into pure experience. You were just "there" in that present
moment being fully what you (we) already were - full, conscious, passionate,
responsible human beings. My experience with most of the 2nd Generation Open
Spaces is that they seem to involve more and different doing and believing.
To my eyes this seems to be going in the wrong direction. But what do I
know? Have fun!!
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
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
* * ==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
--
Love rays,
Tree Fitzpatrick
http://thecultureoflove.blogspot.com/
. . . the great and incalculable grace of love, which says, with Augustine,
"I want you to be," without being able to give any particular reason for
such supreme and unsurpassable affirmation. -- Hannah Arendt
1335 Montecito Ave Apt. 35
Mountain View, California 94043
(650) 967-9260 * *
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
* * ==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20080508/041ec77b/attachment-0016.htm>
More information about the OSList
mailing list