[OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends
Harrison Owen
hhowen at verizon.net
Mon Feb 27 08:05:15 PST 2012
Well done Peggy – and you really have my curiosity aroused. All about the
1%! I do understand that some significant percentage of the participants
(did you say 20%?) appeared “disoriented” – and you are certainly right that
a good dose of Freedom Shock can be unsettling, and might be the cause. My
problem is that I don’t think I have ever encountered such a situation – at
least with the numbers you indicate. This is not to say that every OS I have
done had a 100% satisfaction rate, that Freedom Shock didn’t ruffle a few
feathers, or that nobody ever left. But honestly, I have never seen anything
such as you describe.
Just to be absolutely clear – I am not doubting you for a minute, nor am I
even vaguely suggesting that you are somehow “inadequate” as a space opener.
I’ve known you too well and too long to even suspicion that. So what’s the
difference. What have I missed?
It could well be that my own powers of observation are less than acute, or
if acute, then blinded by a natural bias – believing that everybody MUST
love OS. All possible, but even with a with a very dark pair of rose colored
classes, I don’t think I would miss 20-30% of the folks walking out.
The closest thing to what you describe that I ever experienced came in two
rather strange, and never to be repeated situations. The first was not an
Open Space per se, but rather a training program back in the days when I
offered a whole mess of lectures and a little bit of Open Space. Hopefully I
can be forgiven, but that is what “training programs” used to be, so we all
thought. In the case, a substantial number of the attendees had come with
the explicit purpose of discrediting Open Space and substituting their own
understanding of what training and facilitation was all about. Needless to
say I didn’t have a clue when we started that was the situation, but I sure
found out – and once the cat was out of the bag I simply took a walk (Law of
two feet) telling all the participants that when they figured out what they
wanted to do, and if wanted me to be a part of it – just let me know. It
was all very interesting, and in a very curious way – total open space!
The second situation occurred rather early on in my Open Space journey. A
group of trainers and facilitators asked me to “demonstrate Open Space.” Not
knowing any better, I asked them to come up with some sort of theme and “we
did it.” We sat in a circle, created a bulletin board, opened a market place
– and everybody left -- muttering, “Is that all there is?”
Never again!
One thing I have thought of which might be the difference is that in
virtually all cases (certainly in the last 20 years) when somebody comes to
me they want an Open Space. Or putting it the other way around, it is never
the case that I was trying to convince somebody to use Open Space. Indeed
there have been any number of situations where after talking to the people I
suggested that they go out and see if they can figure any other way to
achieve what they had in mind. Should they run out of options please to come
back and I would be happy to talk. Just for the record, the return rate was
about 50%.
So what do you think?
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 Peggy Holman
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 1:23 AM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Teach Them to Fish / A Note to My Friends
I'd like to dive under the metaphor of "distributing fish" when opening
space. What I'm about to say may be controversial, but I think it's a
discussion worth having.
As background, when I first started opening space, I always jumped right in.
Ninety-five percent of the time, following a few words from the sponsor, I
still do. I want to be clear that the reflections that follow involve a
narrow set of circumstances -- say 1% of the time -- when I have found it
useful to give away some fish.
In that 1% of cases, jumping into Open Space left a sufficient number of
people confused, out of focus, and unsure why they had come that I think it
reduced the potential of the experience for everyone. I'd describe most of
these situations as high in "freedom shock" -- a wonderful term that
Harrison coined to describe, in his words, "the reaction of a very bright,
experienced group of professionals who had suddenly been granted everything
they wanted with no strings attached, and it seemed to terrify them".
So when the conditions are ripe for a lot of freedom shock -- say, 20-25% of
participants -- I think it's useful to give away a few fish.
I'm offering my reflections on What does it mean to distribute fish? When
does it makes sense? How do you do it?
I would love to hear how others see it.
What does distributing fish mean to me?
It means setting the context with why are we here and who is here with more
than a few words from the sponsor. It doesn't take much but, I have found
circumstances in which setting the stage makes a world of difference for the
effectiveness not just for an event, but for what happens afterwards. Far
more go fishing on their own and with newfound partners when they've been
fed a few fish and learned something about fishing.
When does it make sense to distribute fish?
I first ran into the need through the early Journalism That Matters events
(http://journalismthatmatters.org/events-notes/), which brought together the
"whole system" of journalism. When I co-hosted the second and third
Evolutionary Salons (http://www.thegreatstory.org/ev-salon.html) -- wildly
open ended explorations of what it means to be conscious agents of
evolution, they added to my reflections on the need for some work up front.
Even in these events, most jumped right in and ran with the experience. Yet
there was a notable minority, perhaps 1/4 to 1/3, who were so disoriented
they left or simply wandered around lost. They couldn't figure out how to
navigate the space. Now I can make the case that this was exactly the right
outcome. I have no doubt the experience got them cooking. So this isn't
about right or wrong. It is about overall effectiveness.
I haven't tried to describe the conditions before now but found them
emerging as I thought back on some of the wild rides I've had. When the
following conditions are ALL present, giving away fish is useful:
* There isn't the infrastructure of an organization or something that
provides an implicit context for all that is happening.
* The question is "big" -- which can seem abstract or unfocused to some.
(Example: What is the new news ecology and how do we create it?")
* The people are coming together just for the event. While some may know
each other, they're all likely to go their separate ways following the
experience. When the group is highly diverse, it compounds the situation.
(Of course, it also increases the potential of the experience when people
have what they need to orient.)
* The majority of people coming have never experienced Open Space or
something like it. (So not only is the content, while attractive or they
wouldn't be there, a stretch, the form is completely unfamiliar.)
* There's no clear sponsor in the traditional sense -- a senior manager of
an organization or an organization that brings an orienting set of
assumptions. (Journalism That Matters and the group of us co-hosting the
Evolutionary Salons just brought interesting questions.)
In short, if the context isn't easily understood, it's the responsibility of
the organizers to make it so.
How do you distribute fish?
I've run into the conditions I described above when working with ambitious
societal questions that aren't anchored in pursuing specific activities.
Such circumstances don't lend themselves to experts setting the stage. So I
look for ways in which people answer the questions for themselves -- in
which they create a context through understanding the mix of intentions
present, and who's bringing them.
In other words, it's still about the people in the room pursuing what
matters to them.
I've used a variety of approaches to accomplish this, sometimes for an hour,
sometimes for a half a day, depending on the situation and the desired
outcomes:
* People sharing the questions they've brought with each other, sometimes
with a World Cafe around the conference theme. Sometimes, when there are
some folks who have some deep thinking or practice to offer as inspiration,
2-3 are invited as "conversation catalysts", to talk for a max of 10 minutes
each, setting the stage for a conversation in the room.
* Creating a "who's coming" bio book sent in advance can give people a
sense of who's in the room without spending time on introductions. Or we'll
provide some means for people to self-identify the roles they play. For
example, at a number of Journalism That Matters sessions, we've had stickers
for different roles that people could put on their name tags.
* Setting up a "trade show", where anyone can share their work at a table
for an hour or so. It's lively, informal, and people get to spend their
time learning about what others are doing. It also clears the way for folks
who come with an agenda to loosen their hold on it because they get a chance
to tell their story.
By the time they're done with these types of activities, I find even the
most freedom shock prone have gotten enough of a grounding to dive into Open
Space.
All these activities are informed by the assumption that people have the
answers within them. They are a way to provide more context when it isn't
coming from an obvious source.
So, that's about it.
Thoughts?
appreciatively,
Peggy
_________________________________
Peggy Holman
peggy at peggyholman.com
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA 98006
425-746-6274
www.peggyholman.com
www.journalismthatmatters.org
Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval
<http://peggyholman.com/papers/engaging-emergence/> into Opportunity
"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt,
is to become
the fire".
-- Drew Dellinger
On Feb 24, 2012, at 8:06 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
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
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
From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf OfArtur 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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