FW: Bullying and OST

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Thu Nov 5 12:50:30 PST 2009


>From Carol - "So, Harrison, am I to understand that, if someone physically
assaults someone else during an Open Space meeting, that you would just
watch the show? It's not clear that that was happening in this case, but I
was in a situation where it did happen."

 

 

 

Carol, I can't say that such an occurrence (physical assault) never happens
- obviously it did in your experience. However in 25 years of Open Space,
including not a few very dicey situations, I have never seen such a thing.
And when the temperature rises my immediate response is to hold the space
with greater focus and intention -- and know that the group will take
effective action. As I said, I have been in more than a few dicey situations
- and the group always came through. Will this always be true? I don't know,
but I would expect so.  And there is profound learning in that moment. The
group taking responsibility for its actions and those of the membership is a
lesson all too often aborted, I think. People can and do get very intense
about things they care about - but so long as The Law of Two feet is fully
operational the safety valve is in place and life proceeds richly and
deeply. In the name of "protecting people" from themselves, I rather suspect
that we are often enabling dysfunctional behavior. And what about the real
psychopath? They surely exist, but their percentage of the general
population is pretty low - and when they do show up, once again the group
has always handled it, and they learned something, I think.

 

Having said all the above I will confess that holding space under such
circumstances can definitely be a "white knuckle" experience. I have also
found it to be one of the deepest self-learning experiences. Suddenly you
find yourself visiting places in your being you never knew existed. Can't
say it is pleasant, but it is profound and speaking just for myself - it is
not to be missed. 

 

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 

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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Carol
Hiltner
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 12:21 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: FW: Bullying and OST

 

So, Harrison, am I to understand that, if someone physically assaults
someone else during an Open Space meeting, that you would just watch the
show? It's not clear that that was happening in this case, but I was in a
situation where it did happen.
Carol

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:08 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:

"Please say more about *how* you would have opened more space here?

                       :- Doug."



Doug -- I would have done business as usual. In conversations with the
sponsors/teachers prior to the meeting (all under the heading of opening
space) I would have said -- Folks this is going to be wonderful and just
perfect! I would not have warned them about "the possibility of chaos" --
which is what they would have been expecting, maybe even hoping for in order
to justify their skepticism that these young savages could do anything
useful without prior instruction and rigid control -- all provided by the
teachers, of course. And in the meeting itself. . . Trust the people. They
will work things out, given the space/time to do so.

And what about the young lady who was ejected from her own group? Needless
to say I wasn't there and don't know the situation. But a plausible story
could be that she was a bossy, strong minded young person who knew exactly
how the issue she raised must be discussed. As it happened the other folks
in the group had different ideas and also really wanted to discuss the
issue. Ergo.


Harrison

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html


-----Original Message-----

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of douglas
germann
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:44 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU

Subject: Re: Bullying and OST

Harrison--

Please say more about *how* you would have opened more space here?

                       :- Doug.




On Wed, 2009-11-04 at 21:19 -0500, Harrison Owen wrote:
> Rose - Sounds like and interesting Go. For me OS is very much like the
> Rorschach Test - What you see is what you got, and it sounds like the
> teachers and Principal confirmed that. Not terribly far from a prison
> camp which is where many schools are. God forbid that the inmates
> should become too restless and then get out of control! So of course,
> the forces of reason and right will have to intervene (which they did)
> - thereby substantiating their prior convictions that these "students"
> were pretty much wild savages requiring a strong hand.  Was there an
> alternative? Probably and it wouldn't have been pretty, but in my
> experience it usually (always) works. Open more Space and treat the
> students like responsible human beings. Expect the best and you might
> get there. I have worked with fighting street gangs, and that was
> always my approach. It did get a little exciting, but nobody ever
> died. In fact, very useful things always took place. Simple fact of
> the matter is that folks will live down to our expectations. That way
> they can avoid responsibility for themselves and their actions. It is
> all OUR fault! Then we can feel guilty and do more of what we have
> always done (control, heavy hand, etc) and predictably get more of
> what we have always gotten which then justifies more of the same - and
> so on ad infinitum. Or something.
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
>                             Harrison Owen
>
>                         7808 River Falls Drive
>
>                       Potomac, Maryland   20854
>
>                           Phone 301-365-2093
>
>                              Skype hhowen
>
>               Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
>
>              Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
>
>                   Personal website www.ho-image.com
>
>    OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
>    archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Rose
> Tassone
> Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 6:51 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Bullying and OST
>
>
>
>
>
> Hello everyone. I'm wishing to share my experience of facilitating OST
> for the first time. It was held in a primary school in Perth, Western
> Australia. Surveys administered by the principal earlier in the year
> had parents and students report that they were most concerned about
> bullying at this school. The principal identified the question "What
> do we need to do to respect each other and get along?' 73 students,
> ages 8 to 12, 6 educators and 3 parents accepted the invitation.
>
>
>
> This is what I observed during the OS event: A student was pushed out
> of her group when she went to the breakout space even though she was
> the one who had initiated the topic; students were physically
> fighting, pushing each other and name calling; students who were being
> butterflies chose to run around, disrupt and tease those in the groups
> even though there was a drawing activity available to them; the groups
> tended to compete with each other on how many pages they could fill
> with lists of dos and don'ts of how to treat each other.  The energy
> of the morning was one of palpable violence and two students were
> suspended.  Teachers who had been briefed by the principal to allow
> chaos at the event, so that children could self organise, finally had
> to intervene because of duty of care issues.
>
>
>
> Looking through the Book of Proceedings the students appear to have
> all the knowledge of how to respect each other and get along, though
> their behaviour during the event did not depict this. At the
> debriefing the principal mentioned that the behaviours that were shown
> are what normally occur every day in the schoolyard as they self
> organise around individual survival.  So it appears that the
> proverbial 'Lucy' is more than likely a 10 year old bully!
>
>
>
> I would really appreciate any comments and/or thoughts.
>
>
>
> Kindest regards
>
> Rose Tassone
>
>
>
>
>
> m:   (+61) 0408 944 072
>
> e:    rosetassone at iinet.net.au
>
> p:    po box 358 leederville wa 6903
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * * ==========================================================

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-- 
Best regards,

Carol Hiltner
Founder, Altai Mir University
206-525-2101 (US)
913-462-6912 (Novosibirsk)
carol.hiltner at gmail.com
www.AltaiMir.org
www.AltaiBooks.com
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