[OSList] the oracle's musings

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Fri Feb 24 05:10:16 PST 2012


Doug -- "Mistrust"??? I am not quite sure what you are driving at... People
are people in the great open space or in the smaller ones we convene. They
are all sorts of things, including trusting and mistrusting. Comes with the
territory so to speak. So ?

Harrison

Harrison Owen
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-----Original Message-----
From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of doug
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 9:34 PM
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Subject: Re: [OSList] the oracle's musings

Harrison and Kerry--

(Wonderful to see you back on the list the last few months, Kerry!)

Peggy Holman in her Engaging Emergence has hinted (maybe she said it
outright) that a little bit of distrust can actually help the Open Space,
equating it to just so much more diversity, if I recall.

Comments on distrust among the participants as a good thing?

			:- Doug.






On 02/23/2012 05:27 PM, Kerry Napuk wrote:
> Hi Harrison
>
> Enjoyed your analogy of teaching someone to fish in lieu of handing 
> them a fish.  It certainly is applicable to the failures of 
> traditional foreign aid.
>
> Yeah, Open Space is easy.  I facilitated my first group with 175 
> people in an old tram works in Glasgow for the entire theatre sector 
> of Scotland.  My training was reading your Handbook and a weekend 
> course in OD.  But, like most simple things, you can spend your life 
> working on it.  So, simple it is, but practising and perfecting it is an
art.
>
> I now have done over 100 events with a bit more than 7,000 
> participants and I still am amazed at large group energy and dynamics.  
> It sure beats facilitating top teams in organisations who, agree a 
> vision and strategy, then watch it fail when they try to cascade it
downwards.
> Nobody buys in, because they were not a part of its creation.
>
> It is far easier to get the whole system in one room and let people 
> commit at the point of participation.  After all, what more can you 
> ask than an organisation creating the space where people totally equal 
> contribute and participate on a level field.  Nobody is in control and 
> nobody can influence outcomes.  So, there can be no stacked deck or 
> hidden agendas.
>
> That is yet another thing so brilliant about Open Space, you can seed 
> the field with grass and players far faster than any other large group 
> process.  Flexibility is the hallmark of Open Space, along with its 
> complete bottom up self organisation driven by motivation and action 
> through _*passion* _(care enough about something to stand up in front 
> of everyone with your burning issue) *_and responsibility_* (care 
> enough to lead a group and do something about your passion.)
>
> Simple it is, but you can spend a life time working on it.  In this 
> respect, Open Space has a Zen like quality.  Practise, practise, 
> polish, polish.
>
> So, thank you Harrison for your laziness and penchant for martinis.  
> You have done well.  And we all can attest to your generosity as David 
> Osborne discovered.  You gave your creation to the world without 
> strings and without royalties.  Bravo!
>
> Cheers
>
> Kerry
> Edinburgh
>
>
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