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

Birgitt Williams birgitt at dalarinternational.com
Thu Aug 11 13:08:44 PDT 2011


Dear friends and colleagues,

When I post to a list, I imagine I am in an OST meeting, posting something I
am passionate about, stating why I am passionate about it, and then waiting,
watching, wondering what will show up in the conversation. And then it is
clear that the topic is done.for now.and as the convener of the topic, it is
my responsibility to acknowledge this. I wish to give my heartfelt thanks to
all who participated in this conversation, whether actively or passively,
engaging your thoughts on the topic and thus enriching us all.

 

I believe that power deeply entwined with love is an important power to be
used wisely, to be expanded in quality and scope, and to be an active force
in the world beyond what we think of as the world in our consensus reality.
I think of this as the 'ordinary world' and the 'extraordinary world'. The
'extraordinary world' is a world still unseen by most, and with time and our
growth, will become the 'ordinary world'. From my perspective, OST can have
a significant role in uncovering who we are and how we behave beyond today's
status quo 'ordinary'. We are definitely of service already as consultants
who use OST meetings a lot in our work. I believe that by upgrading our work
with the non-visible self, that there will be a deeper effect on the
individuals in the OST meeting that shifts the desire for moving beyond the
status quo of organizational life. In an OST meeting, the spark begins. I
believe that we cannot 'do' something to fan that spark in any way that is
sustainable. However, we can 'be' in such a way that there can be a greater
energy field for inspiration to carry this spark forward and to find an
improved way of being in organizational life. And no, this shift does not
come naturally just as a result of having participated in an OST meeting. In
fact, there is often real setbacks after an OST meeting when people
experience 'life as usual'. I believe that we have quite a wonderful
opportunity as facilitators of OST meetings to do what Ghandi apparently
said 'we need to be the change we want to see in the world' or this could be
'we need to be the change we want to see in our organizations'. I realize
that my query about the upgrade of the facilitator of OST is about working
with the energy field in such a way that it increases the opportunity for
healthier organizations to emerge. I am convinced as are some of you that
this can be co-led, co-facilitated with people in the organization
itself.consciously so. I currently give guidance to the senior leadership
team and my sponsors to be 'energy anchors' in the meeting. Then, at the end
of the day, we discuss how it felt and what they observed/had insights
about.and the process for the longer term seems to begin.and without me
'doing anything much'.

 

In teaching people how to work with OST in their organizations for maximum
long term benefit (note that this is different than teaching people how to
facilitate the OST meeting), we constructed our training to explore the form
of OST as per 'the User's Guide', and we choose to spend a lot of time
exploring the essence of OST. My reason for doing this resulted from a
person assisting me with an OST meeting.and she asked so many many
questions. I asked her to put her questions down on post it note papers, one
question per note.and she presented me with quite a stack. What she said was
"you think this is effortless but in shadowing you, I see that there are
really so many little decisions that you are making throughout this
meeting". I realized that there was no formula to answer her many questions.
the gift in this for me was to recognize that if I could assist someone to
grasp their own concept of the 'essence' of an OST meeting, and then to stay
true to protecting that essence, then the facilitator would also learn how
to not be what is referred to as a 'space invader' themselves.by their
decisions. The most common space invaders from my perspective over the years
have been the facilitators themselves.inadvertently through some comment,
some action, some decision. So, when the program we created for teaching
Working with OST includes the form, and includes getting in touch with a
personal perspective of the essence of an OST meeting. And now, I am finding
myself committed to including a greater emphasis on the energy field of the
facilitator and the resulting influence. 

 

Blessings to all.and again thank you,

Birgitt

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