looking for OS practitioner in Philadelphia area

[Jon Harvey]

Good words Lisa – thanks.

I once facilitated 4 women only OS events for the Metropolitan Police called
"Dancing on the Glass Ceiling" which involved about 700 police officers and
staff. The rest of the OS team were women, the clients were all women too. I
happened to be the one person in my old organisation who had both police
knowledge and experience of facilitating OS events. I said the intro on each
occasion and then hid in the walls for the rest of the time. It seemed to
work OK.

But had the client said – we want a woman to do this – I would have been
happy to oblige and worked to enable my colleagues to front everything up.

In the end – as others have said – our role is to be where the client is at
- and not to impose our perspectives on them. I watched a great TV play last
night on British Television - called End Game
(http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/2009/03/19/endgame-a-film-on-apartheid-h
olds-hope/) Towards the end of the film - one of the key people representing
one of the sides in the talks said to the facilitator "it takes a big man to
be invisible - thank you"

I strive to be invisible in all the facilitation that I do. 

Jon
___________________________________________________

Jon Harvey
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+44 (0) 7771 537535
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From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Lisa Heft
Sent: 05 May 2009 16:14
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: [OSLIST] looking for OS practitioner in Philadelphia area

John and others - 
Thank you so much for opening us to this important conversation.

Something I think we all share - as facilitators experienced in working with
groups (comprised of individuals) - is that we cannot know what another's
personal life experience is.

We can be well intentioned, and kind, and loving, and appreciative, and
welcoming.
But we cannot know what someone's life experience has been with the complex
dynamics of race and power, class and access, 'isms' and '___phobias',
survivorship and identity...

Even if we are the same (seemingly) as another person (such as both women,
or both looking like the same color) we cannot know or assume that other
person's experience - we can only listen well, stay humble, and learn from
what we hear, see and bump into (when we make mistakes). 

And especially in terms of being able to know or expect or assume ... when
one is of a majority culture and that other person is not of majority
culture.

So many hidden complexities and histories that inform one's sense of
inclusion or exclusion.

To add to that, for anyone who feels they have been marginalized
(dis-included in many ways over time) - it seems quite natural that they
would yearn for visible leadership from someone who looks and sounds like
them.

The amazing thing about Open Space is that the facilitator soon becomes
invisible as the group jumps off into space.  
So if one cannot find a facilitator that looks like / is of the culture of
the group being facilitated, this is one of those tools for which the
participants can claim their own space rather immediately after the opening.

However I think it behooves us to honor a group's interest and request for
someone of their culture as a facilitator, in any culture, if we can find
someone of that culture who is also capable and skilled.  I would hate to
put someone in the facilitator role who was not able to do the job, so
sometimes this either means taking extra time and resources to train
someone(s) or a candid discussion with the client about this process and how
it upends the usual power dynamics as the participants self-organize.

My two any-color cents, dear colleagues,

Lisa 

Lisa Heft
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
Opening Space
lisaheft at openingspace.net
www.openingspace.net


 
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