[OSList] energy field of the facilitator and its influence on OST outcomes

Thu Aug 4 01:36:10 PDT 2011

Dear Birgitt,
from where I stand, space always is. So no need to open it. Often, 
however, the space is not very large and sometimes it is shrunk to a 
mere dot in the universe.
And then there is the question, what on earth the space is for, no 
matter how huge or how tiny. To me, in this context, it is the 
playground for selforganisation to do its thing.
And then, selforganisation always is.
So, here I have space always and selforganisation always.
What then is the role/function of me and others involved in a situation 
where an urgent issue needs to be dealt with?
Having worked as a facilitator with nothing much else than OST in the 
last 15 years, I happily will offer it in situations where conditions 
appear suitable first of all to the sponsor/client for expanding the 
space for selforganisation to do its thing.
At the beginning of an OST event, the sponsor opens the event (opens the 
space is also what I usually say, mostly to make clear that it is not me 
doing that... it might be less sloppy and just simpler and more 
congruent with my understanding of space always being open for me to say 
"opens the event").
Then, I introduce OST with the idea to expand the space just a bit so 
that selforganisation can do more of its thing. At that moment it seems 
to me, everyone in the room is involved in contributing to expanding and 
holding the space... and from here on in much more so than me and, it 
seems, very little aware of it, apparently finding it the "normal" or 
"natural" thing to do, no need to really talk about it. This puzzled me 
early in my OST work, thinking the participants need to appreciate more 
what they were achieving. All attempts (evaluation, medicine wheel, 
etc.)did not seem to add anything to the event and I had the feeling we 
were taking up the time of participants with something that mainly 
interested me.

How does this relate to outcome?

In my practice, the Planning Group (usually 6 to 12 weeks before the 
event) always produces a mind map visualizing what the world looks like 
to them the day after the event, what has changed, what is different, 
how they feel, which perspectives have been opened, what happens at 
their place of work, in their community, etc., their aspirations, vision 
of the future.
Looking at the mind map after the event and going through it together, 
typically not only showed that just about everything happened the way 
they had envisioned it AND a lot more (be prepared to be surprised). 
This exercise also did not seem to catapult them into paradise... now I 
suggest that they just post the mind map along other stuff from the 
event itself in the Next Meetings where they continue to work on their 
projects after the OST event.

So, my picture of everyone at the gathering is not a system that needs 
resonant energy broadcasted to them from me or the facilitation team but 
a gathering of people that are enjoying, living, working and doing other 
fun and productive things in a space just a little bit more expanded 
than usual in which selforganisation is at work just a little bit more 
than usual.

What I can report in my deminishing work with OST is that the two 
clients I have this year (NACOA Germany with its third strategic 
conference early in 2012 and an it-outfit in a couple of months 
rethinking some basic "givens" in their non-stop business) are 
broadcasting wonderful energies in my direction... I wonder what will 
happen without such stuff!

Wishing you more quiet time to connect...and if you are in Berlin, I 
will convene a Stammtisch...
Hugs
mmp

PS: Rereading my comments I wonder what makes me work so hared, trying 
to understand everything so hard... my suspicion is that my old friend 
"control" is alive and kicking. And I also see that there are a whole 
bunch of assumptions on stuff such as "space" and "selforganization" and 
"expanding" and "selforganization doing its thing" and many more that 
are probably very important: Are they really touched by our half-way 
technology?

On 03.08.2011 02:40, Birgitt Williams wrote:
> Warm greetings!
>
> I have been absent from this list for some time and am delighted to be
> connected now, at least for a while, taking advantage of some quiet time
> over the summer to connect with people and ideas.
>
> A topic that I wish to address is about the outcomes of an OST meeting
> in relation to the energy field of the facilitator. From my perspective
> and experience, there is a direct relationship. I often ask OST
> facilitators what they mean when they say that they ‘open space’ and
> ‘hold space’. My perspective on the facilitator ‘opening space’ is that
> this is just not so. The facilitator does not ‘open the space’. The
> sponsor ‘opens space’ in his or her organization so that the facilitator
> can conduct the form of the Open Space Technology meeting. Viewed from
> that lens, I make choices when I prepare with the sponsor for the OST
> meeting, and what I ask of the sponsor and his/her participation during
> the meeting itself. For example, the sponsor teams I work with are
> coached about working with their personal energy to support the highly
> engaging participatory process. I ask them to sit equidistant from each
> other in the circle and ‘hold the space’ open for the best possible
> outcomes and the greatest participation. At the end of every day of the
> meeting, we meet simply to discuss what it felt like to them to have
> opened the space and held the space. The reflections are amazing.
>
> My role as the lead facilitator and the role of my co-facilitators is
> one of working with the space being held, of going through the form of
> OST, and more importantly to be in touch with ourselves as resonant
> energy field generators. Every one of us works at being in genuine
> contact with ourselves, with our personal energy field, and within that
> genuine contact experiences love and peace and joy. Our job as resonant
> energy field generators is to broadcast this frequency from ourselves to
> give the greatest opportunity for everyone within the gathering to reach
> their greatest potential in the moment of the meeting. ‘Holding the
> space’ from my perspective is this very connection and interpretation of
> self as generating a resonant energy field. Doing little, being much.
>
> When a meeting goes well, there are many factors, including how well we
> created an energy field as facilitators and how well we did this
> together with our sponsors. We recognize that in both our observer role
> and in our role as energy field generators, we influence the meeting and
> the outcomes of the meeting.
>
> Blessings to all,
>
> Birgitt
>
> Birgitt Williams
>
> President and Senior Consultant, Dalar International Consultancy
> <http://www.dalarinternational.com>
> Author, The Genuine Contact Way <http://www.genuinecontactway.com>
>
> 919-522-7750
>
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49-30-772 8000
mmpanne at boscop.org
www.boscop.org

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