[OSList] OST training? (was: Re: Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends)

Sun Feb 26 08:26:29 PST 2012

Arthur in the ideal world perhaps there would be no need for training or
even facilitators like many of us on this OS list.

I have known folks who simply took Harrison's User Guide book and ran with
it. Jorge Amigo in Chile did this very successfully with a large banking
client, never once having seen OS in action first. Thousands got to
experience the process over a 3-year period because he " had just jumped
in".  I was never as brave.

I have also seen participants who shared that they were at an Open Space
event before and that it looked nothing like the one they may have just
experienced now, one where the facilitator honored the very simple process
which allowed space for individual and collective passion and
responsibility to ignite.

One could easily say that "life is Open Space" so let's just let it all
hang out.

I ask myself this question often, wondering if what I am doing is the right
thing to do. I also realize that to know what I know, to do what I do, I
had to "unlearn" a bunch of stuff.  I'm still unlearning my old ways every
day and it's been really great to get support from many here.

My first training in Ottawa with others  helped me see what I could not see
before, in a simple and beautiful way. Perhaps this would have happened by
just attending an Open Space. Who knows?  And yet it led me to Harrison,
his books and the friendship we all share with him, and to all of you on
this OS list.  Not an exclusive group by any means and I have no doubt that
our work has spawned dialogues and groups everywhere on the same stuff that
we talk about and share here. And there is this other BIG thing that's
about giving each other courage, learning to be vulnerable together and
being comfortable with not knowing, no right or wrong, just whatever is
right now.

Artur, I love your analogy of the bike and perhaps in the invitation of
what we do, our role is simply to let people peek and see what might be and
to nudge people along to "get on that bike".

Some of us had parents nudging us along; some of us got training wheels
first, others just saw the big kids and decided to give it a try.  What we
all know is that once we got on that bike, the feeling of freedom, with
wind blowing in our hair is something that we would wish everyone to have.
We can't ride the bike for others, hold it or guide it. Most of us fall
down at first and get bruises along the way. It normally doesn't stop us,
we figure it out and we just get right back on, timidly for some,
determined for others.

So in the end, call it training, teaching, nudging or inviting, I'm just
glad that I got to meet Open Space cause it's as much fun as riding a bike
and I hope others join in so they can have fun too, fully experiencing in
their own way what riding a bike is like.

Suzanne

On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 8:42 AM, Artur Silva <arturfsilva at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I completely  agree with you, Diane, and especially when you say "That is
> why, I now start the training workshops with no personal introductions or
> “expectations or hopes" exercises - otherwise many leave believing that
> intros etc. are part of OS, and that, despite the numerous explanations and
> reminders we used to give as trainers. People remember what they do, not
> what you say. A change of mental model is easier when people can first
> experience OS in its real form, without any distractions.”****
>
>
> ****
> Indeed, I have been struggling for some time now about giving or not a
> course on OST at the Portuguese Open Space Institute. And I have concluded
> (again) that I will not give a formal course, because I don't believe in
> "teaching/training OST". And I also believe that there is no need for it.
> ****
> ** **
> Just do the real thing about a matter of concern for the participants,
> having proposed them to read the User's Guide before. Then give time for
> the participants to open some space wherever they can. Do an OSonOS to
> reflect on those experiences and regularly other ones. When the time comes,
> and when they see the need for it, some subjects can be object of OSonOS's
> on specific matters, like the "pre-work", to give only one example. ****
> ** **
> This is not really training - it is an invitation for learning or
> nurturing learning by collectively reflecting in the practice by the
> community interested. Learning and perfecting OST is like learning how to
> ride a bicycle. If one follows a lot of "class training on bicycles" but
> never tries to mount one, one will never learn. Later, one will need to
> practice and collectively reflect on one's and others' practices.****
>
>
> ****
> Comments?****
>
> Artur
>
> -------------
>
> -
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Diane Gibeault <diane.gibeault at rogers.com>
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> *Sent:* Sunday, February 26, 2012 12:26 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends
>
>  The sequence you describe Harrison – *Fish Distributors, Fishing
> Teachers, and then “Gone fish‘in” looking for other fish to fry* –
> captures well this rich exchange.
>
> *How fast can people start fishing, *one of your earlier questions,
> remains an important one.
>
> *Do I truly believe that people can fish for themselves?* is probably a
> good place to start to address the question on how fast.
>
> People are not only ok, but are better off without the usual facilitation
> rituals of personal intros and exercises to connect. Accepting that is one
> of the big challenges I hear from some people who participate in OST
> training: trusting the OS process and the group.
>
> That is why, I now start the training workshops with no personal
> introductions or “expectations or hopes" exercises - otherwise many leave
> believing that intros etc are part of OS, and that, despite the numerous
> explanations and reminders we used to give as trainers. People remember
> what they do, not what you say. A change of mental model is easier when
> people can first experience OS in its real form, without any distractions.
>
> Participants now receive the theme, the question and the givens, weeks in
> advance of the training, so they are prepared, ready and willing. I
> basically explain in the morning that we are jumping right away into our
> Open Space event so we can have a clear unobstructed understanding of what
> OS is (no mix-up with training things) and so that, with our OS experience
> as a level playing field, we can later pursue our co-learing on OS.
>
> People have often said often how relieved they were to not introduce
> themselves at the OS opening, not having to measure up to the one-liner of
> experts or renowned participants. Instead, when joining a group to discuss
> a topic of common interest, they immediately felt safe to connect, eager
> for introductions and did so with greater authenticity. The moment had real
> meaning for them.
>
> Introductions - even in smaller groups at the OS opening - are also a
> contradiction of OS principles, first the circle: participation on an equal
> basis.
> The other principle: whoever comes, has some passion for the theme and is
> willing to contribute.
>
> Applying those assumptions as a facilitator at the OS opening, in our very
> first gesture with the group, is truly modeling our belief in those
> principles and more importantly, our belief in people in general and in
> particular, those who chose to be there.
>
> No surprise that participants express relief at having found a way of
> working where they feel trusted and respected, …without the traditional
> need to be “massaged into it”.
>
> We could say they not only know how to fish but have found the Zen of
> fishing.
>
> We hear them talk about liberation, about being encouraged to breath
> freely.
> *How fast can people start fishing? *You are right: as fast as we get out
> of the way and let them go to it.
> *
> *
> Diane
>
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
> *To:* 'World wide Open Space Technology email list' <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 25, 2012 2:43:07 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends
>
> Bernd – No problem. Totally understand where you are coming from. At the
> end of the day if you empower someone, by whatever means or degree – you
> have, at least to some real extent, dis-empowered them. Or at the very
> least, further encumbered their situation. All that said there are indeed
> times when the ONLY thing you can do in the moment is hand out a fish.
> Starving people, still less dead ones – don’t learn very well… to fish or
> anything else. However, if your actions end with fish distribution, or
> almost as destructive, you do teach them to fish, but then hover over their
> shoulders to make sure they do it RIGHT, well that is a different kettle of
> fish (sorry about that J). Maybe there is a sequence here – Fish
> Distributors, Fishing Teachers, and then “Gone fish ‘in” – looking for
> other fish to fry. Or something.
>
> 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 *Bernhard Weber
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 25, 2012 1:24 AM
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends
>
> Harrison,
>
> I have been living so long under conditions where the giver/beggar word
> pairing is not only a metaphor (Beira is the capital of Sofala province in
> Mozambique), so I had to deal with the problem also at a very practical
> level and on base of that I want to say:
>
> I fully agree
> and would like to complete something that I wrote in my last posting in
> answering what Artur has written.
>
> Yes the giver-beggar relation creates conditions for helplessness and
> continued dependence and subservience. And yes, the dynamics is independent
> from altruistic intentions.
> And I would complete, if you have a feeling for yourself and/or a
> spiritual perspective this means, such kind of giving is also bad for the
> giver, his/her mental costume and/or karma.
>
> But when I wrote in my last posting: sometimes you should also give the
> fish (meaning that nobody who is starved can learn) isn't that a
> contradiction?
> Yes it is, but
> a) contradictions as such are not necessarily bad. At least they are good
> for triggering thinking processes if not for more (like being a basic
> ingredient for self-organization, this also refers to the dissence-thread
> of this groups)
> b) it all depends on the real process. If temporary dependence is a price
> for helping out from helplessness so that further steps can follow, like
> learning, like disappearing of the giver, teacher, blurring/integrating of
> roles to teacherlearners and learnerteachers, I would say it is an
> acceptable price
>
> Bernd
>
> On Feb 24, 2012, at 3:01 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
>
>
> 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.
>
>
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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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