Open Space Magic

Suzanne Daigle sdaigle4 at comcast.net
Sun Jun 14 19:40:41 PDT 2009


Harrison, 

I celebrate these past few months in finding my voice, a voice that I always had but never spoke loudly or clearly enough. Yes you are right: what was there to be anxious about? I don't need more education, more experience, more and more. I will use what I have and that will be good enough. All these years of reading books, of me gently guiding people in the direction of open and authentic conversations and never fully speaking my mind and my heart or giving it my best shot to get the job done. Open Space was the trigger that gave me my courage. 

Something else happened. How often I revered others who told the story that was in my heart and mind rather than telling my own story which is basically the same story. Why have I placed people like you, Diane Gibeault and so many others on a pedestal feeling such gratitude for what you are doing to help people engage in real conversations, discover their passions and act upon those passions to make a meaningful contribution in this world. By doing so, I have robbed myself of the equality and my gifts that are so much part of living systems and self-organizing. 

For me the real story is my witnessing of so much pain in our organizations at every level. I had a career with many wonderful moments. I took many risks but it was never enough. I saw such hurt, apathy and cynicism. So many people leave their heart, their emotions and their intuition at the door when they cross that threshold. How many times have I watched one improvement program after another come through those revolving corporate doors with the promise of growth, of efficiency, continuous improvement and better financial results and then see them fail because we never acknowledged the very important subjective elements of common sense, passion, intuition, gifts, conversations with the ownership and pride that can only come when we, the people, become the creators and the experts giving it our all together. 

As I read about you talking about the emperors who have no clothes, I heard myself uttering these same words so many times especially now when there is truly no place to hide. How often I have heard myself talk about us enabling the addict by trying to cushion or delay their fall. There are many addictions in corporate life where we have done the very same thing under the guise of helping . And then look at all the times, we water down what we do and lose the essence of it all because we think people can't deal with taking responsbility for what they are passionate about which is what Open Space is all about. I want to fight for doing it right and while Open Space may not be the only way, it's good enough for me. There's lots of work to be done: complex problems that need addressing, with an urgency of yesterday and all hands on deck. 

Great damage was done centuries ago when we split science (the supposedly objective, fact-based and data driven) from the spiritual (emotions, subjective and intuitive) thus robbing our work environment and the serious business of life from living in the natural system of harmony, natural deaths and rebirths. That's why I joined IONS and why I'll be facilitating Open Space at the conference on Harvest day. 

So now, as I get off my pedestal, I feel energized that it is time to invite everyone to the grown-up table through Open Space. I never liked being relegated to the kiddie table when I was young and I know others feel as I do. So Harrison, I owe you a good martini and will admit that I prefer my gin to yours, with olives over cucumbers but that's ok cause I have my voice now and "different is good"! 

Suzanne 





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at verizon.net> 
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 3:47:39 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: Open Space Magic 




Suzanne – that you found the Open Space for your company useful did not surprise me, but it certainly is pleasing. J And I for one found your description anything but gushy. Quite the contrary it was moving and insightful. I particularly liked, “After our own Open Space summit, I now know without a doubt that Open Space works. How could it not? It’s all about self organizing and shared leadership, a living system and the laws of nature. Yes Harrison, you have been singing the tune for a long time. I get it! We get it! And for us, what we want to do now is be Wave Riders by living Open Space from the inside out in our community of practice.” 

You made my day! Thank you!! 

It is so simple, so natural – and the “it” is not Open Space. The “it” is our appreciation of ourselves and our organizations as living, natural, self-organizing systems. The magic occurs when we fully become what we already are – intentionally. Open Space may get us there, but the there was there way before Open Space. It will be there long after Open Space has (thankfully) been hung out to dry. Isn’t it interesting how we have anxiety attacks wondering whether it will work? The wonder would be if it didn’t work! 

It is probably worth while to consider the source of our anxiety. Why on earth would we doubt that Open Space (self-organization) would work? Given what know about the history of the cosmos, the failure of Open Space is about as likely as the failure of Gravity, and for much the same reason. But we do doubt – strongly supported by most of our training, many of the books, and the social pressures which tell us that effective organization (our lives) can only be achieved courtesy of The Leader who will plan, guide, direct (control) the proper course of events. We all know that – and so Open Space not only can’t work, it shouldn’t. The fact that The Leader is clearly an emperor without clothes and that the control He (we) seek is nothing but an illusion doesn’t deter us. Such is the power of our history and tradition. And isn’t it sad that sensible human beings are confined to such constricted space? Isn’t it wonderful when they discover, as you did – that your bondage is self imposed! 

We had some discussion here a while back about what to do with, or for, all those folks who are nervous about Open Space. One might suggest “other” approaches that may seem a little less radical for those who are concerned to preserve the pre-ordained hierarchy and maintain their personal control. In all honesty I have no small amount of difficulty with that approach. One might suspect proprietary interest and prejudice -- Open Space or Nothing! But as one who desperately hopes that we can take off the training wheels, retire Open Space, and just go for the ride – perhaps I can be absolved. 

My reasons have to do with what in other fields is called “enabling.” Those who deal with various forms of addiction, alcoholism in particular, have identified individuals in the addict’s life, who with the best of intentions, actually sustain the addiction – by being helpful. With that “help” the addict is enabled to avoid the harsh facts of his/her existence and continue in the destructive patterns. I think we could be accused of being enablers. In our desire to be helpful we offer approaches that apparently sustain the (client’s) need for control. I find this troubling. 



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 

OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html 










From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Suzanne Daigle 
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 9:15 AM 
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
Subject: Open Space Magic 



We lived the Open Space magic! 

Exhausted, exhilarated, in awe and filled with gratitude…Wow! Wow! Wow! Our budding company, which is almost two years young, just completed its third Partner Summit. As a community of wholistic partners joined by our associate marketing company colleagues and a handful of close business friends, we decided to give it our all , invest and immerse ourselves in a full-blown Open Space. 

It was a time of transformation, of discovery, of intense reflection and emotions, of intimate sharing of dreams, fears and hopes all under the big tent of Open Space. Diane Gibeault, who had trained about a third of us in Ottawa (English and French sessions), guided us through our two and a half days of emergence and convergence which culminated in a flurry of action-packed initiatives that we each feel so passionate about and so deeply committed to. There are no words to describe the magic of what happened there. 

There were many funny moments. Like the night before we started when we discovered there was no electricity in our chosen Open Space venue. We knew the place was in construction and had seen the cement floors, exposed ceilings, bare white walls now adorned with the 4 Principles, Law of 2 feet, Market place, etc. Then there was the weather: dark and gloomy every day except for the final morning which meant that the natural light we had planned on from all those windows still kept us in the dark. We connected cables from the corridor to manage our newsroom equipment. It was all part of the chaos and confusion, of the birthing and letting go. 

In a frenzy of activity, we helped in the prep creating the posters, the forms, designing the invitations, creating a banner with the theme of "Inventing our future". We wanted to learn and experience EVERYTHING as participants so that one day, we would truly know what our clients would live and feel when they tasted their first Open Space. 

I got the OS bug at an Art of Hosting event. Trusted my gut and attended the Open Space training in Ottawa. Was then totally hooked after helping a friend facilitate her first Open Space. From there, it was Wave Rider at Sleeping Lady. Now next week, I’m taking the big leap by hosting my first Open Space at the Ions Noetic Science conference in Tucson on Harvest Day. I will be surrounded by many friends of Open Space and feel confident (though I will have butterflies in my stomach) that self organizing will work there too. 

After our own Open Space summit, I now know without a doubt that Open Space works. How could it not? It’s all about self organizing and shared leadership, a living system and the laws of nature. Yes Harrison, you have been singing the tune for a long time. I get it! We get it! And for us, what we want to do now is be Wave Riders by living Open Space from the inside out in our community of practice. 

So Diane Gibeault, Barbara Hebert, Sharon Joy Kleitsch, and my Sleeping Lady friends…, Larry, Anne, Roosevelt, Sherry, Anh, Colette, Elaine, Dan, Jun, Robert, Dale, Tenneson, Brian, Teresa, Ashely, Joan, Elena and so many others, thank you for inspiring me in Leavenworth. What a precious gift! 

If any of you are in Tucson for the IONS conference next week, come join us on Sunday afternoon June 21 st . The theme of this Open Space Harvest is Global Shift: Next steps and if you come "Be ready to be surprised!" 



Suzanne 

941-359-8877 

203-722-2009 (c) 

s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com 
www.nufocusgroup.com 

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