[OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends

Fri Feb 24 08:16:38 PST 2012

March 27-30...^^
2012. 2. 25. 오전 1:07에 "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at verizon.net>님이 작성:

> Artur – your point about “teaching” is well taken. And given the state of
> language at  the moment it is doubtless necessary to take the route you
> have taken in describing the role of teacher-as-mentor/guide. Couldn’t
> agree more! But wouldn’t it be nice if real teaching could be defined and
> understood as you have suggested? This whole subject is very pertinent to
> me at the moment as I am pulling myself together for the upcoming
> conference Manila on “The Future of Learning.” I have agreed to do a one
> day dialogue on Learning just to raise and shape the questions – then it is
> on to the Maine Event which will be 2 days of Open Space. Should be great
> and we will be having folks from all over Asia. You should come! And by the
> way so should anybody else on the LIST. Dates are March 27-20 and our
> hostess in Sharon Chao at SEAMEO-Innotech. For the details contact Sharon
> sharon at seameo-innotech.org ****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Harrison Owen****
>
> 7808 River Falls Dr.****
>
> Potomac, MD 20854****
>
> USA****
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> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)****
>
> Camden, Maine 20854****
>
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> *From:* oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:
> oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On Behalf Of *Artur Silva
> *Sent:* Friday, February 24, 2012 8:20 AM
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends****
>
> ** **
>
> Amen for almost everything! And thank you, Harrison, for reminding us of
> all this.****
>
>
>
> ****
>
> A small observation: I have struggled myself with the same old saying:
> "instead of giving a fish, teach them to fish".  Yes, if you "give a fish"
> you are patronizing and disempowering the other. But, if you "*teach to
> fish*" aren't you also disempowering him?****
>
>  ****
>
> Having done professional training and facilitation (intermittently) for 40
> years and teaching at Universities for 20 years, I have come to the
> conclusion that *the role of a Professor is not to teach*. It is to *help
> the students to learn* and more specifically to "*learn how to learn*" -
> anything, anytime, for all their lives... ****
>
>  ****
>
> So it is not "to teach to fish"; it is to help them "*to learn*
>  (remember?) *how to survive*". It may be fishing today, hunting
> tomorrow, cultivating in another day, but especially it will change every
> now and then, and the student must be prepared to "*learn as a way of
> being*" (from the title of a book of your friend Peter Vaill).****
>
>  ****
>
> So, indeed the teacher/professor/facilitator must *learn how to disappear*,
> so that the student can surpass the master - at least, if he his younger,
> as he probably will continue to learn for a longer time.  ****
>
>
> But this is not a disagreement because - if I understood well - this is
> exactly what your post says.****
>
>
> Warm regards****
>
>
> Artur****
>
> ** **
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
> *To:* 'World wide Open Space Technology email list' <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, February 23, 2012 9:31 PM
> *Subject:* [OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends****
>
> ** **
>
> There is an old saying to the effect that when seeking to help people it
> is infinitely better to teach them to fish than to give them fish. The
> point is obvious. When you learn how to fish you can feed yourself. The
> secondary point may be less than obvious. When you are simply handed a fish
> the conditions for learned helplessness and continued dependence, to say
> nothing of subservience are created. Even with the best, most altruistic
> intentions in the world, a fish handout has its problems. And what does all
> this have to do with the price of tea in China? Not much, I guess, but I
> think it has a lot to say about our roles as facilitators. ****
>
>  ****
>
> One of the things I have always loved about Open Space is that it is not
> rocket science. Anybody with a good head and good heart can “do it” – a
> reality which has been proved time and time again. Early on I thought the
> “magic” lay in the simplicity of the process – but it turned out it was
> worse than that. There isn’t any process that “We do” – in fact the process
> does us. Yes, I know – you have heard all this before… self organization at
> work. We are simply remembering what we already know. But well before I
> made any connection between Open Space and self-organization, I was struck
> by its simplicity and universality – it simply worked… everywhere. The
> immediate impact of this realization was a “tag phrase” I found myself
> uttering at every opening of space. At the beginning and at the end I told
> the folks,” There is absolutely nothing that I am doing with you that you
> cannot do for yourselves.” It was all about teaching fishing.****
>
>  ****
>
> As time went along I found myself working the implications of this phrase.
> Substantively, I told everybody who came to me that, while I would be
> pleased to open their space, I would do it only once. Should they want to
> do it again, I would help from the sidelines, and for all subsequent
> gatherings, they were on their own. A second impact on my practice resolved
> into a simple phrase: “Think of one more thing not to do.”****
>
>  ****
>
> Having come into the “business” (of facilitation) in the late ‘60’s I
> found myself in the midst of a flowering of methods, techniques and
> procedures emanating from the emergent OD movement in all of its
> manifestations. Suddenly the “simple meeting” became a massive cookbook of
> possibilities. Warm up processes, Ice breakers for starters. Interventions
> of all sorts during the main course, with “Kumb’yah”  and holding hands for
> desert. I jest, but only just.  Designing such a thing could take months
> and involve dozens of people. And when it came to the actual meeting it
> almost seemed that the Conference Committee plus assorted Facilitators
> outnumbered participants by 2:1. I couldn’t help but wonder…was this trip
> really necessary? ****
>
>  ****
>
> In many ways, Open Space (OST) came to me as an answer to my questing. It
> is true that two martinis helped and marked the birth, but I think the
> period of gestation had been going on for a bit. I have joked that my
> essential laziness was the primal cause, but more basic was a deep hope
> that there had to be a better way. Was it not possible that human beings
> could engage in intelligent conversation without “all that stuff?” The gin
> helped, I suppose – but the answer was ridiculously simple: Yes – Just sit
> in a circle, create a bulletin board, open a market place, and go to work.
> All the rest is history, but I wasn’t out of the woods.****
>
>  ****
>
> Given my prior experience, to say nothing of the experience and practice
> of my friends, I just could not believe that something so simple could
> possibly work without help. Obviously we needed to “prepare” for Open
> Space. And so I tried any number of warm-ups and ice breakers – trust
> games, relaxation exercises, visualizations and more. Most were pleasant,
> maybe even fun – but did they really add value?  The only way to find out
> was not to do them – and find out.****
>
>  ****
>
> As often happens, the first iteration of the experiment (dropping stuff)
> happened quite unintentionally. I was in South Africa in the anxious days
> immediately post Apartheid. We needed to do an Open Space -- FAST. Nobody
> had ever heard of Open Space, but they were ready to try anything. So we
> just did it. No preparation, no warm up, no nothing. Just the barebones:
> circle, bulletin board, market place and to work. And to work they went! I
> learned something, which has been confirmed again and again as the
> experience grew. When space needs to open – Just Do it.  But I must confess
> that holding hands at the end still can feel good, although there is no
> need to sing Kumb’yah.****
>
>  ****
>
> But it wasn’t just the warm ups. As my experience with Open Space was
> growing, friends and colleagues were creating their own approaches. Diana
> Whitney and David Cooperrider with Appreciative Inquiry and Juanita Brown
> with World Café, for example. Wouldn’t it make sense to sequence or combine
> all these things? We tried, and it was fun – but did it really make any
> difference? Did the work move more swiftly, were the conversations deeper?
> Was the follow-on more effective? Despite my best efforts, I could see
> little if any improvement, *and I really wanted to*. And to the extent
> that there was a marginal plus, that seemed to have less to do with the
> cumulative effect of the several approaches – and more to do with the
> simple fact that people had been together longer. In fact on multiple
> occasions participants would come up to me to ask why we hadn’t done it all
> in Open Space? “That is where the cookie really crumbled,” one person said.
> (Translation: “That’s where the conversation really got real.”)****
>
>  ****
>
> I know this is an argument I can never win. But the truth of the matter is
> that there is no argument and I have no interest in winning. Each of us
> must make our own judgment as to what might be the most effective and
> appropriate in each situation. That said, the fact of the matter is that in
> 27 years of observation I have never seen any group of people have the
> slightest bit of difficulty entering into Open Space – even when the topic
> under consideration was viciously volatile. Always worked, all by itself. I
> have, to be sure, seen situations where the sponsors (and often the
> facilitators) were more than hesitant. But for the people themselves – no
> problem.****
>
>  ****
>
> I suppose there could be an argument if my basic concern were to defend
> this approach (OST) against all others, any combination thereof, or
> extraneous heterodoxies. Were that the case,  I am sure that I could be
> (should be!) accused of a very biased, proprietary self-interest. But my
> interest is rather different, and the simple truth of the matter is that I
> would be delighted if all methods and approaches were simply to disappear –
> right along with every last Facilitator. Throw out the Tool Box and The
> Profession! No longer needed. It is all about teaching folks to fish.****
>
>  ****
>
> I judge myself and the impact of my work by a single criterion: How fast
> can I become redundant? How soon can the folks fish for themselves? My task
> becomes infinitely easier as the simplicity of my approach increases and
> the necessity to explain fades away. Best of all would be a situation where
> there is really nothing to explain – just Do it. And then remind the folks
> that they did it, and can do it again. No more. No less. After that the
> only thing left to do is post a sign: “Gone Fishing!”****
>
>  ****
>
> 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****
>
>  ****
>
>
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