[OSList] Poke the Open Space Box

Wed May 18 09:27:07 PDT 2011

Oh Donna, thank you, thank you for this post.  In the spirit of abundance
and collaboration, I always imagine that we will individually
*and*collectively uncoil the Dragon Lizard from off our hearts and
throats
together as a community, knowing the possibilities and joy that await
clients who ultimately say “yes” instead of “no”.  It means going into this
with a humble beginner’s mind, in conversations where the clients are,  in
language that is familiar to them, with an invitation to participate that is
never forced, imposed or selling. The conundrum is that we don’t even want
to talk about Open Space. Yet we must because it is so foreign from how
people currently manage, host meetings, and organize conferences and events.
 How can anyone ever imagine the possibility of transforming a highly
energized coffee break into a way of doing business, running our
organizations and achieving results? It defies logic.

As a community, it invites a pause imagining how clients initially perceive
OS when they don’t know OS.  What are their first impressions when they are
weighing the possibilities of opening space in their organizations. Where do
they go? What do they look for?  How easy is it to find?

Of course, I will always suggest Harrison’s Open Space Technology book in
addition to providing some tailored tools of my own.  But I can’t help but
feel that it is not easy for these “sitting on the fence” clients to easily
navigate and find OS materials and descriptions that resonate with their
reality, presented in language that is somewhat familiar and in a format
that is more theirs than ours.   It is not for lack of information; it is
how the information is presented and how easy it is to find.

Lisa Heft’s recent posting on Corporate/top executive experiences: after the
OS is just one example of how  clients seek other sources  which is typical
when a client is considering a new approach that he/she is unfamiliar with.

I know this is a burning issue for many others in our Open Space community.
I know it is key to Harold’s question about earning a living facilitating
OS.  It was a major topic at the OSI US retreat that we had about a month
ago in Florida.  It’s something that Christine Whitney-Sanchez, Ed Laboy and
I want to explore with others in the worldwide OS community.  We are just
now trying to wrap our arms around this customer-centric communications
topic (be it corporate, industry, government or community) with the goal of
enlisting many others to share and participate.

Suzanne

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 9:51 AM, <donna.read at managing4wellness.org> wrote:

> Dear All, I just want to take a second to thank everyone who has
> participated in this, to me, extremely important conversation.  It has been
> so helpful to me in making myself move out, poke the box and hit GO.
>  Looking around, I had to admit that anyone who ever accomplished anything
> had to poke and hit the button.  I read the whole Poke the Box rant
> yesterday afternoon and wouldn't have without all of you even though I've
> had it on my Kindle since March. So glad I did and so grateful for this
> list. Time to uncoil the Dragon Lizard from off my heart and throat. All my
> potential clients can say is "no" and there's a chance they might say "yes."
> Bright blessings, Donna
>
>
>
>  -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Poke the Open Space Box
> From: Suzanne Daigle <sdaigle4 at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, May 18, 2011 6:13 am
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>
>
> Harold,
>
> Your post has been on my mind a lot...Your question: "What's the path to
> abundant full time Open Space living?" and then your comment "I've been
> wishing I could do this full time - go out - get clients - and facilitate
> OST conferences full time - but Seth's quote kind of threw that back at me".
>
> All I can say Harold is to follow your passion.  In many ways it is a
> hero's journey, a journey that does not have the security, the
> predictability, the stability and all that a traditional "abundant full time
> job or career might have".   For me, Open Space is the pathway that opens up
> space to transform how we do work, how we experience life, how we are
> together, together.  There is nothing that compares.  I know I could be
> accused at times of being a "one trick pony" but how can I dismiss the
> depth, the possibilities, the layers, the hope, the transformation,
> innovation, creativity, peace, performance and all that Opening Space
> invites in our lives.  It is a way of being much more than a process of
> doing.
>
> As I reflect on my corporate career, I can feel and taste the possibilities
> of what Open Space invites. It invites EVERYONE to participate and engage,
> to contribute and make a difference. To be themselves without holding back.
> Wow!  And as I think of you Harold, your depth, your  commitment and
> contributions to this community, I think to myself, lucky client who would
> have you to Open Space. What a gift knowing the results and outcomes in
> productivity, high performance and high engagement that could occur.
>
> As a community, I feel us to be on the edge...on the edge of so many
> possibilities. The World today is a very different place: in business, in
> politics, in education, in finance, environmentally, etc.   Or perhaps it's
> not that different at all, it's just our perception that has changed and
> perception is everything.  It's a lot.
>
> The opportunities to be opening space abound.  Some days I feel like a shoe
> salesman seeing
> so many people around me with no shoes, not even knowing what shoes are and
> I think of the "repetitive patterns" of how they work and live that aren't
> working anymore. I then think to myself "if only they had shoes aka Open
> Space" and therein lies the entrepreneur magic inside of me.  In those
> times, I feel myself to be a business owner, a scientist and an inventor --
> imagining the path of how I can help people discover  how life could be
> better if only we could open space and introduce a few principles of living.
>
>
> At this stage, rather than writing a book, I feel myself wanting to write a
> marketing campaign not to sell somebody on something but to speak in a
> language where people are, a language of need and possibilities that is
> familiar. A language that invites a relationship with clients, a language
> that does not talk about Open Space but that is all about Opening Space in
> different ways so we can get different results.
>
> So Harold, I thank you for posting this.  It made me realize again that
> time is "awasting" and  that I have important work to do if I am to go for
> the whole enchilada, as Harrison told me in a recent post. It means being
> smart and strategic, thinking like an entrepreneur, knowing what I'm good at
> and going for it.
>
> I'm imagining there are lots of Wave Riders out there like you, like me who
> are not shy about announcing that making a sustainable living doing what we
> love to do is indeed a noble and worthy goal.  And "abundance" seems like a
> darn good word because it is through abundance, sharing, helping each other,
> contributing back to this community that abundance happens and multiples.
>
> So Harold, keep simmering your dream and let me know if I can help in this
> trail blazing, wave riding adventure that we call Open Space which is really
> nothing more than opening space in our lives so that "people can be helping
> people" in business, community and in life.
>
> Suzanne, invigorated and energized about the future
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 7:37 PM, Harold Shinsato <harold at shinsato.com>wrote:
>
>>  I just read this in Seth Godin's latest tract - "Poke the Box". I've
>> heard occasionally that some folks are having trouble making ends meet as
>> Open Space Technology facilitators. Yet others seem to be doing ok. I've
>> been wishing I could do this full time - go out - get clients - and
>> facilitatre OST conferences full time - but Seth's quote kind of threw that
>> back at me.
>>
>>
>> "My friend Jessica wants to be a conference organizer. You can hire her
>> and she'll sweat every single detail of your event. Give her the attendee
>> list, the venue, and the agenda, and the conference will go off without a
>> hitch.
>>
>> "The problem with this plan is that it involves being picked by the event
>> promoter. If she gets picked often, it's a fine living. If she can negotiate
>> a fair payday, it's a fine living. But Jessica must pitch the promoter, hat
>> in hand.
>>
>> "So... why not be the promoter, the initiator, the one in charge and
>> responsible?"
>>
>>    - Seth Godin, Poke the Box, p. 25
>>
>>
>> This sounds a lot more like the spirit of OST than going out looking for
>> clients who want to do OST events. This is very personal for me as Missoula
>> BarCamp's OST event happens on Saturday. I went out and just got it started
>> - but it's not exactly a money maker at this point. But what Seth says, just
>> initiating cool OST events, sounds a lot more juicy than trying to pitch OST
>> facilitation.
>>
>> Any enlightenment anyone? What's the path to abundant full time Open Space
>> living?
>>
>> --
>> Harold Shinsato
>> harold at shinsato.com
>> http://shinsato.com
>> twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Suzanne Daigle
> NuFocus Strategic Group
> 7159 Victoria Circle
> University Park, FL 34201
> FL 941-359-8877;
> CT 203-722-2009
> www.nufocusgroup.com
> s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
> twitter @suzannedaigle
>
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-- 
Suzanne Daigle
NuFocus Strategic Group
7159 Victoria Circle
University Park, FL 34201
FL 941-359-8877;
CT 203-722-2009
www.nufocusgroup.com
s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com
twitter @suzannedaigle
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