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

Thu Aug 4 15:01:07 PDT 2011

Birgitt,

Self organizing systems have two major capacities that are ubiquitous in the universe: 
1) pattern emergence, or the unavoidability of new orders emerging out of chaos or complexity or turbulence; and, 
2) pattern recognition and replication, often referred to as autopoiesis, the way that new patterns become new systems and then replicate themselves.
These, being universal principles, most certainly contain energy fields and patterns.
I think, therefore, that self organizing systems is sufficient to contain what you are asking facilitators for, as long as they understand the ways in which they are participants in self organizing systems, and trust that process.  Harrison's just sent response about being the negative, the ground, in the energy flow seems appropriate, as does his idea about the role of questioner.

John

On Aug 4, 2011, at 2:54 PM, Birgitt Williams wrote:

> Thank you friends,
> There are so many stories of what OST is about, many assumptions, and from
> that, many different choices of actions and non-actions. I think that it is
> useful for OST facilitators to expand their consciousness. Heart Math is a
> great path to the mind heart coherence. I believe that in OST: a user's
> guide, there is mention of having a good head and a good heart. 
> 
> What if, just what if, with all our stories and assumptions, it is time for
> an upgrade of how we view the facilitator. I know that my computer does not
> work with the same operating system that I might have used in 1995...if I
> tried that, none of the great and upgraded software I want to use would be
> able to function...or function well. I think it is worth looking at
> ourselves as OST facilitators and exploring the operating system that we
> operate from...including wondering about the need for an upgrade of the
> 'personal operating system of the OST facilitator'. 
> 
> I think that twenty years ago, the operating system of the facilitator of
> having a good head, a good heart, and a copy of OST: a user's guide, was
> enough of an operating system for the facilitator. Today, to get the results
> both during and after the meeting that OST has the potential for, I can
> imagine needing an upgraded operating system for the facilitator. Would it
> include ensuring that I have mind-heart coherence? Would it include that I
> embrace expanding my consciousness? Would it include knowledge of how to
> work with energy fields so that the participants could align to the energy
> field of the facilitator, or better yet the facilitation team who knows how
> to be in energy alignment with each other, or better yet the facilitation
> team combined with the sponsor team who knows how to be in energy alignment
> with each other? Can we move beyond the 'self organizing system' to
> something more by our energy field as the facilitator and its influence on
> OST?
> 
> I experience that humans have evolved a lot in their consciousness in the
> last twenty years and that we continue to accelerate in our development. I
> experience that young people are at a different level of consciousness at a
> young age and that numbers of them know how to work with energy fields and
> expanded consciousness. Do we need an upgrade...not in what we do with the
> form of OST..but in ourselves as facilitators, our state of being, our work
> with energy fields, and our consciousness?
> 
> Warmly,
> Birgitt
> Ps to Michael...possibly next year in Berlin en route to Tuscany
> 
> Birgitt Williams
> President and Senior Consultant, Dalar International Consultancy
> Author, The Genuine Contact Way
> 919-522-7750
> 
> Co-Owner of the Genuine Contact™ Program
> Genuine Contact Way blog
>  Become a fan of the Genuine Contact Way
>  Follow me
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael M Pannwitz [mailto:mmpanne at boscop.org] 
> Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 4:36 AM
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Subject: Re: [OSList] energy field of the facilitator and its influence on
> OST outcomes
> 
> 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
>> 
>> The Look Lo Res.jpg
>> 
>> AW104 GCP Logo Yellow w Blue Back.jpgCo-Owner of the Genuine Contact™
>> Program <http://www.genuinecontact.net>
>> rss.png Genuine Contact Way <http://blog.genuinecontactway.com> blog
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>> 
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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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