Open Space being badly defined

Tue Jun 16 19:51:25 PDT 2009

Thank you Kaliya, when the inviter becomes peer, the community flourishes.

With gratitude, Jack

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
DesigningLife.com

On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 1:53 AM, Kaliya * <identitywoman at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think as communities learn how to live into Open Space they need "the
> facilitator" to do less and less.... until capacity becomes distributed in a
> community and they understand collectively how get the most out of the form
> for themselves and also not to enclose it - well they still need a
> facilitator to create space and invite them into it and to hold it.
>
>  The identity community is finally really getting to understand the
> creative possibility that open space brings them to work together to solve
> almost impossible and very complex problems - we are going on to our 9th
> semi-annual conference using the format AND in the past 4 years there were
> an additional 8 events within the community that I facilitated that used
> open space.   Only now they are starting to fully "get" the form.
>
> Some in our community try to replicate the form (Vendor Relationship
> Management Workshop) but don't fully "get it" - then end up feeling like
> they the conveners should have editorial control over the agenda wall....
>
> I think that when we develop our collective capacity to be in space
> together and not just follow then yes - do less but until we see that
> happening with our own eyes in groups there is a role for space creation and
> "doing" to help that come into being.
>
> On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 7:29 PM, douglas germann <76066.515 at compuserve.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Harrison--
>>
>> So self organizing is really doing less and less?
>>
>>                        :- Doug.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 2009-06-15 at 15:44 -0400, Harrison Owen wrote:
>> > Holger -- After Open Space? ("Regularly, I have been asking the
>> provocative
>> > question: "OST - so, what's next?" Not that I want OST to disappear. But
>> we
>> > can't possibly assume that it will be around for the next 1300 years.")
>> One
>> > way of thinking about how to answer that question might be to consider
>> how
>> > we (or at least I) got to Open Space in the first place and see if there
>> are
>> > any clues. What were the design principles? First answer might be, Drink
>> Two
>> > Martinis -- but I am not sure how far that would take us. But when it
>> comes
>> > to serious design principles, there has been exactly one in all the 25
>> years
>> > that I have been fussing with OST. That principle is: "Think of one more
>> > thing NOT to do." At the first Open Space, we did some small amount of
>> > "community building" and "warm up activities," all of which were quite
>> > pleasant, but as near as I could see, they didn't add much. So the next
>> > time, we didn't do them -- and everything seemed to work better. I could
>> go
>> > through a pretty lengthy list of things we peeled off here and there --
>> but
>> > the bottom line is that Open Space as I would "do" it today happened by
>> way
>> > of elimination. Less and less turned out to be more and more. Following
>> this
>> > line of thought and general trend it could be that the "What next?"
>> After
>> > Open Space is nothing at all. Actually I rather like that. If we really
>> get
>> > it right we won't need extraneous processes to become fully what we are
>> --
>> > self-organizing critters. Or something.
>> >
>> > 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
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
>> Holger
>> > Nauheimer (Change Facilitation)
>> > Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 12:44 PM
>> > To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>> > Subject: Re: Open Space being badly defined
>> >
>> > Chris,
>> >
>> > you said:
>> >
>> > "In the world of self-organizing systems and evolutionary processes what
>> > matters is variety and diversity.  Things only get better when millions
>> of
>> > experiments are underway.  From those experiments come the mutations and
>> > modifications that help create the next level.  It's how Open Space
>> emerged,
>> > and it's how it will disappear in good time too."
>> >
>> > I draw my hat in admiration - this was the most intelligent thing I
>> heared
>> > somebody saying about whether or not Open Space Technology must be used
>> in
>> > its original format (which we all love, and usually fight for) or not.
>> > Regularly, I have been asking the provocative question: "OST - so,
>> what's
>> > next?" Not that I want OST to disappear. But we can't possibly assume
>> that
>> > it will be around for the next 1300 years. Maybe it will: Robert Jungk's
>> > Zukunftswerkstatt still seems to be around, and that tells something
>> about
>> > stickyness of methodologies :) .
>> >
>> > It reminds me of the question, "After John Cage, can there be any other
>> new
>> > music?" John Cage produced the famous piece 4'33" in the early nineties
>> -
>> > four and a half minute of pure silence:
>> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E. But of course, there is new
>> > music, even if it will be difficult to beat the radicalism of John Cage.
>> >
>> > OST might probably remain the purest "technology of participation", as
>> John
>> > Cage's 4'33". I wouldn't know how to simplify self-organized meetings.
>> But
>> > as much as we love OST, people need to experiment in order to find out
>> which
>> > borders to cross or to stretch. We (the OST aficionados) are in a way
>> the
>> > keepers of The Holy Grail of OST and we need to be. But then, we mustn't
>> be
>> > to change resistant. Sometimes, OST does not solve the issues of a
>> client,
>> > even if more participation and collaboration is at stake.
>> >
>> > I repeat myself: if more and more groups who have different rituals and
>> > cultures find a way to host meetings with a self-organization component,
>> I
>> > think we (and all the other Sandras, Marvins, Juanitas, Davids, etc.)
>> can
>> > proudly say, "we were part of a global paradigm shift in collaboration."
>> >
>> > Some people will like OST better, and some not. I don't care. I love it
>> as I
>> > love John Cage.
>> >
>> > Holger
>> >
>> > *
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