Opening Space and Participating at the same time?

[Harrison Owen]

Johannes said: "I take it the first-best solution would be to have someone
else open
and hold space. Assuming that's infeasible: what are your experiences
with opening space and participating at the same time?"

Always possible but difficult. If you understand that your FIRST job is
holding space and participation is second it can work. But the real issue is
how the other participants will see you. If this is a contentious issue and
you are perceived to be one of the contending parties your role as a
"neutral" force will be really hard. Good luck!

Harrison

Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
Phone 301-365-2093
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Johannes
Terwitte
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 5:54 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Opening Space and Participating at the same time?

Dear community,

Over the past few months I have introduced OST in two NGOs I'm
involved in. In those few Open Spaces I tried to open and hold space -
and resist the temptation to jump right in and participate.

Now there are three 1-day Open Spaces coming up in the near future,
two with around 20 participants and one with around 10. In all cases
the topic will be very dear to my heart, and in some the nature of the
topic will require me to be involved as a participant. My intuition is
that opening space and participating would not be much of a problem -
it is *holding* space and participating which don't go together so
well. Who would collect the empty coffee cups while I'm involved in a
discussion? Maybe someone would... then how much holding space is
necessary?

I take it the first-best solution would be to have someone else open
and hold space. Assuming that's infeasible: what are your experiences
with opening space and participating at the same time?

Appreciatively,

Johannes

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