[OSList] The Gentle Art of Doing Nothing -- a continuing saga

Tue Aug 9 14:50:09 PDT 2011

And Catherine - I can't resist. And addition to your Business Card.
"Wherever it happens is the right place". Can't forget the 5th Principle!
And it gives you a double whammy!! Time/Space all together.

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 20854

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Catherine
Pfaehler
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 5:17 PM
To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
Subject: Re: [OSList] The Gentle Art of Doing Nothing -- a continuing saga

Ah, Harrison - YES. Something in me refuses to go into theory on OST, or to
try to explain it. I prefer to tell stories and to let people have a bit of
the experience. On my business card, it says "Whenever it starts is the
right time". All truly great wisdom is of utter simplicity.

And yes, it is not glorious. Invisibility requires an attitude of deep
service, and you never quite know what comes out of it, plus you are never a
part of the group, but an invisible outsider, a nobody. What a challenge to
the ego. But humility, gratitude, amazement, wonder are the rewards. J

A few weeks ago I held space for 25 young people in our naturist campground
"die neue zeit" (the new era) in Thielle. It was our 7th annual OS event
there, my yearly give-away, this time reserved for young people. They had
fun, worked and played some, found it "extraordinary" and "different", and a
few days later, when asked by the camp manager if I would do it again next
year, it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps - if that is meant to happen -
this was a way of offering the spirit of OS to the next generation on the
camp, thus enforcing their sense of responsibility (a great topic as they
are all in puberty.) - and that I couldn't do anything better!

My two cents - love, Catherine

Catherine Pfaehler

lic.oec.HSG

Open Space Begleitung

Burckhardtstrasse 2

CH - 3008 Bern

Telefon +41-(0)31 - 536 05 31

Mobile +41-(0)76 - 488 15 46

c.pfaehler at open-space-begleitung.ch

www.open-space-begleitung.ch

  _____  

Von: Harrison Owen [mailto:hhowen at verizon.net] 
Gesendet: Sonntag, 7. August 2011 23:34
An: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
Betreff: [OSList] The Gentle Art of Doing Nothing -- a continuing saga

This may be something of a "shaggy dog" story, but it does have a point, I
hope. Maybe even several points - ending with some reflections on the role
of the facilitator. So bear with me (Grrrr!), if you will - and we WILL get
there. I promise.

Birgitt's call to awareness of the flow of Spirit or energy is surely to the
point. If nothing else such awareness will remind us how deeply connected we
are with each other and the total cosmos. As our physicist friends will tell
us, it is all energy, albeit a little clumpy at points, and we are but a
little clumpy moment of the flow. The more esoteric amongst us might
substitute Consciousness/Spirit for Energy, but I suspect that you come out
at pretty much the same place. Different story, but similar conclusion. We
are all in "this" together, united in ways that we can scarcely think or
know - though goodness knows we have spent a lot of time trying. And the
journey of exploration continues, as well it might, for it may well be the
most important journey we will ever take. Something about finding our home
in the universe. Who am I, where am I, where am I going??? I would guess
that we have made some progress, though truth to tell, I am infinitely more
wonder-struck by the immensity of the horizons and the vastness of the
unknown, and the presently and probably unknowable. Awesome, and not a
little bit humbling. But the Quest is real and exciting - or so I have
found.

And then there is Open Space Technology. That funny thing that popped into
our conscious experience courtesy of two martinis. Not planned, designed, or
expected. It appeared as what seemed to be a good idea at the time. And the
ridiculous part is that it "worked" when virtually all (current) theory and
practice indicated that it couldn't, wouldn't and shouldn't. Even worse it
has continued to work (by virtually any definition of "work") through 100's
of thousands of iterations, in 136 countries, over 25 years. Something
definitely was going on - but what?

When faced with the unknown, particularly something that seems to make no
sense at all, we humans are driven to sensemaking. Our normal approach is to
tell a story in which we attempt to pull all the available facts, as we see
them, into a coherent narrative - that makes sense. A different form of
storytelling, perhaps more formal, is to create a theory which is literally
- "a way of seeing things" (from the Greek "theorein" to see). But theory
building and storytelling are one and the same, albeit there are different
rules and terms. Many people when faced with a theory (or story) almost
inevitably ask - Is it true? Is it right? But unfortunately, I don't think
those questions really apply. All theories (stories) are false to some
extent - we don't see all the facts, we don't understand the facts we've
got, and after all there are lots of ways to see things (multiple
theories/stories). But we can ask, Does it work? And "work" in some fairly
precise ways. Is it fully descriptive (takes into account all known facts)?
Is it powerfully predictive (not only accounts for the present state, but
points the way to the future)? Is it elegant (covers all bases with a
minimum of words - Occam's Razor)? Given these criteria it becomes fairly
easy to spot "bad" theories. They make sense only by leaving out/down
playing salient facts. Their predictive power is minimal. And they do all of
the above with a maximum of verbiage/jargon.

Now back to our funny Open Space Technology. What's the story? What's the
theory? I suspect that for many (most?) people, particularly those coming
from an academic environment (B-Schools, OD programs, etc) Open Space is
seen as part of a much larger complex of "Large Group Interventions" and
shares a common linage and theory base. In a word, OST was developed as an
intervention out of the insights and practices of Behavioral and Management
Science. As such it is an articulated  process, initiated and managed by
facilitators (managers) intended to produce pre-determined outcomes. This
was certainly the position of Billye Alban and Barbara Bunker in their book
on the subject produced some years back. I may have missed something, but I
have seen little, if anything that appears to be going in a different
direction. Truthfully it seems that the academic community has pretty much
given up on Open Space, perhaps hoping that it would just go away. But it
hasn't - and the theory offered is, I am sorry to say, just bad theory. It
does not account for, or accord with, the facts of the case (and after all
the experiment has been run more than a few times). And the predictive power
of the proffered theory is off by a country mile. Indeed, according to the
theory, Open Space simply couldn't happen. As for elegance, the words at
best are confused and convoluted. In short, it just doesn't work. Bad
theory.

So what are the alternatives? Doubtless there are many, but I fancy two. The
first I would call, "Open Space as a Journey of Spirit." The second: "Open
Space - Self-Organization made manifest."

"Open Space as a Journey of Spirit" is a story (theory) I have been trying
to tell for the better part of 50 years. In the beginning I didn't know
anything about Open Space Technology (no martinis) but the thought was
there. We are on a journey, the evolution of our consciousness in the open
space of our lives. I won't bore you with the details, but if interested you
can check them out in my first book, "Spirit: Transformation and Development
in Organizations." - on my website. Or the updated version, "The Power of
Spirit: How Organizations Transform" - from Barrett-Koehler (Amazon.com).

The second story, "Open Space - Self-Organizations made manifest," is
actually a sequel to the first. If I put it all together, it would go
something like. Self-Organization is what Spirit does. Details to be found
in "The Practice of Peace," and Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance
in a Self-Organizing world." These were written for very different audiences
- and when the audience changes, the story must as well. May sound a little
dishonest or sleight of hand - but every good storytellers knows what I am
talking about. 

So there's the story in bits and pieces - but what about the good old
Facilitator? The point I said I would get to.??

When facilitating Open Space, I have found that two things are necessary:
Total Presence. Absolute Invisibility. Yes it is paradoxical and polar. But
I find that when you get into the deep places in life, everything is
paradoxical and always best expressed as polar statements. Total Presence
means you are really there - not just in physical form or emotional intent -
but in every sense of the word, Presence. It doesn't come without effort.
For myself, some serious meditation is in order (See my chapter on "Personal
Preparation for Open Space" in the User's Guide.) It ain't for everybody,
but that is my way. 

And then we get to Invisibility. This may work in other places in our life
as well ( I think it does) - but as a "facilitator" of Open Space, I find it
essential.  I am not "there" to shape, form, enhance, create the experience.
That will all take care of itself (that's why we call it
self-organization!). I am there to INVITE people to join (that take 15
minutes tops) then I become the "microphone stand." I am the point of
grounding, the negative pole in the energy flow, the symbol and sign of the
question, The Quest. No answers - just Questing. And the energy/ Spirit will
flow if it has a ground. Ordinarily that takes place quite naturally, thank
God! But in the event things get a little clogged, I am there as a drain.
Not exactly a glorious occupation, but essential for all of that. And best
done with  a minimum of advertisement - Invisibly.

And there is also a secret. It is a joyous occupation! And No, I am not a
masochist, blushing violet, or afraid (ashamed) of my power. I got a lot. I
know it - and I also know that power held is power destroyed. It feels great
to give it away. Even better to know that you never really had it in the
first place. J

Harrison 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 20854

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
Go to:
<http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

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