Invitation

doug os at footprintsinthewind.com
Tue Dec 22 18:42:42 PST 2009


Suzanne--

No, it is not wrong to feel and see opportunities for opening space.

In your first paragraph I hear Harrison speaking--you sound just like
him. Do you have a hat?

Please keep seeing your patterns. Please keep reporting the patterns
here, so that others too might see.

"Conversations that precede invitation"...and yet those too are
invitations, yes?

			:- Doug.





On Sun, 2009-12-20 at 00:27 -0500, Suzanne Daigle wrote:
> Before invitation, conversation.  Is it wrong to feel and see
> opportunities for opening space based on those conversations that
> happen every day in so many places? I feel myself listening
> differently now, engaging differently not to be leading people but to
> discover how life is where they are right now.  I notice often the
> energy shifting as we talk about what's not working and what their
> world, our world would be like if... It's a conversation of many
> stories. With a certain longing, in that present moment, I hear hope
> and feel the positive energy about a future that could be different; I
> hear courage and the whispers of plans not yet shared with others but
> certainly in the mind .  More often than not, the plans have to do
> with escaping where they are to start anew somewhere else. Very rarely
> do I hear plans for changing or improving the current place where they
> are.  It's as if people cannot conceive this in the same way that
> people cannot conceive what happens in Open Space until they live it.
> They can't seem to conceive Super High Performance and a significantly
> improved quality of life in their current work situation based on the
> complex messes that are out there. Too big a leap somehow. Yet hope is
> still there buried somewhere.
> 
> If I mention Open Space, I can feel people pulling back -- worrying
> already as they cling to their facade, fearing that they would need to
> expose what they guard closely--themselves.  Then we might talk a
> little more, and I feel them drawn again as they imagine
> non-hierarchical, diverse conversations on topics that matter that
> people are passionate about and want to take responsibility for.
> Again, hope and courage re-surfaces. 
> 
> I see patterns, like a dance where we go back and forth. The longing
> to try and the fear about the unknown.   Until the very end, to the
> point where the Open Space is about to start, I feel stress in the
> air.  Do I nudge, entice and ignite? Yes. Do I talk with many prior
> to? Yes not to describe in any detail but just to be there listening
> quietly, for them to know me then and know my invitation.  Do I bend
> people against their will? No or hopefully not. 
> 
> It is still very difficult to find that balance to not persuade in the
> wrong way and to only nudge in a caring way.  When you know the
> transformative impact and power of Open Space, it is extremely hard I
> find to keep it bottled inside.
> 
> In the end, as I imagine a tipping point to be "opening space" more
> often in all kinds of places, I believe it will come from the
> conversations that precede invitations -- conversations that may or
> may not lead to Open Space per se; yet important conversations that
> are still opening space.
> 
> 
> Suzanne
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Ralph Copleman
> <rcopleman at comcast.net> wrote:
>         Power, control, and "WOW"...
>         
>         When I extend an invitation for OS, I am aware that at least
>         some of those I am inviting may feel I am attempting to
>         exercise a degree of power and control over some portion of
>         their time and/or mind.  No matter how much "Wow" I think I
>         have put into my invitation, I have no control whatsoever over
>         what others think.
>         
>         My practice is to begin holding space the moment I commit to a
>         meeting.  This is the way I know to be congruent with what I
>         understand to be open space.  If I seek to bend people against
>         their inclination into thinking that the meeting is a good
>         idea, important, etc., and then show up and say, "Welcome to
>         open space," well then, I haven't been completely consistent.
>          And the space is not really open.
>         
>         People accept invitations based on the way they think,
>         perceive, think, trust, and/or project.  Their lives include a
>         range of circumstances and previous commitments.  If I'm
>         authentically holding the space right from the moment the idea
>         of the gathering is conceived, there is nothing about the
>         choice to accept the invitation that is not completely
>         theirs.  I may, of course, offer persuasion, promote possible
>         benefits, or use enticing language and images.  As a former
>         public relations practitioner, I am not adverse to employing
>         these tools, but I seek a balance that communicates my
>         position and beliefs on one hand and the opportunity available
>         to them on the other.
>         
>         So I have trouble with the idea that invitations "fail".  I
>         like what HO says about investigating how I could do things
>         better if nobody shows, and I must ultimately let "Whoever
>         comes..." be my guide.  But if people are unavailable, too
>         busy, too far away, or just not interested, well, I just
>         figure I'm ahead of the curve!
>         
>         >From sunny New Jersey, USA,
>         
>         Ralph Copleman
>         
>         *
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> 
> -- 
> Suzanne Daigle
> NuFocus Strategic Group
> 7159 Victoria Circle
> University Park, FL 34201
> FL 941-359-8877;  CT 203-722-2009
> www.nufocusgroup.com
> s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
> 
> 
> 
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