[OSList] OSONOS Whenever, Wherever, with Whomsoever (name change from "Peggy..."

Tue Oct 23 10:07:50 PDT 2012

I love it Michael! –

“All of which makes me wonder how many "OSonOS" events we've really had.
What if we did count them up and start numbering them as we go forward, as
ALL having been descended from the HHO-convened originals
  What if....? "
(Michael Herman)

I do have to confess a certain sense of déjà view all wrapped in a good
chuckle. The core question seems to be – who decides where the next
(w)OSonOS will be and by what authority do they do that? The simple answer
is (to me) everybody decides based on no authority, save their own. Actually
the question doesn’t even apply. Of course, if we were a formal organization
with a defined membership, Board, and set of procedures the question could
be relevant. But “we” are definitely a horse of a different color. The
Membership has never been officially determined, and nobody has any idea of
how many folks there might be. But it does seem likely that if everybody who
somehow felt a part of the community were to assemble, we would need at
least a major stadium! When it comes to a Board and set of procedures –
simply doesn’t exist. And I say Thank God!

In practice the whole process is simplicity itself. Somebody says, “Please
come
” and if there are two (or more) invitations there might be some
conversation about combining or sequencing the gatherings – not unlike what
we do in every Open Space with potentially duplicate sessions. People will
come or not depending on how their feet are moving and where their passions
may lie. No problem. And of course some decisions ARE made in advance –
after all the “inviter” does have to decide whether or not to throw a party.
But there is nothing secretive about it, and anybody can do it.

I guess that may be a sticking point – can anybody do it? The direct answer
is YES! It is also true that not everybody would want to. And the decision
to invite friends, colleagues and passers-by to come together becomes
massively daunting when the whole process is understood to be a complex,
draining undertaking. It certainly can be – but it doesn’t have to. 

To make the point, being the old curmudgeon that I am, several years ago I
invited anybody who cared to come to join me for what I called
“OSONOS-by-the-Sea” in Camden Maine where I spend my summers. Total
organizing time might have been 3-4 hours. I simply called up some friends
at a local church (Space/Date), grabbed the URL from the Chamber of Commerce
(accommodations and food) – put it all together on a single webpage – and
posted a note on OSLIST. Conference fee was $25 (half of which I eventually
sent to Lisa/Access Queen) and I did say that space was limited to 50 (size
of the church). I did the same thing a year later, but raised the size limit
to 75, which the church could accommodate. In both cases we had a full
registration in a few weeks. As for onsite arrangements, I did nothing more
than to make sure that we had plenty of flip chart paper, magic markers,
masking tape and post-its – all of which were stacked in the center of the
room. Upon arrival, everybody pitched in (surprise!) and in short order we
had the essential signs, bees, bumble bees, etc. We even had a well
organized “Documentation Center.” From there on out it was business as
usual: Sit in a Circle, create a bulletin board, open and market place, and
go to work. We did, and it was a blast.

Of course you might be saying, Yes, but you are HARRISON OWEN. I can’t deny
it. It’s true, and that might have been a critical factor 5 years ago – but
no more as evidenced by the fine gatherings hosted by the likes of Lisa,
Michael Pannwitz, Sharon Chou, Brian Bainbridge, Gerardo de Luzenberger to
name just a few. Anybody can do it, but not everybody will want to. Of
course it always helps to remember that it isn’t the size of the event that
counts, but rather its depth and power. As always, Whoever comes will be the
right people.

And so my friends, we could easily turn all this into an intense, agonizing
discussion of process, rules, procedure and transparency. But in all honesty
that is a discussion I want no part of. Of course, inclusion is important,
but the answer to that is very simple: Just open more space(s) in your part
of the world and invite friends, colleagues, and especially strangers. To
borrow a phrase, and offer a bottom line – Just Do it! And have fun. 

See you in Florida or wherever else space opens – as long as my feet are
able.

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 Michael Herman
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 10:43 AM
To: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com; World wide Open Space Technology email
list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Peggy plus OST Linkedin Comment

If the experience is one of desiring a simpler execution of the basic
practice, then the solution is to offer to host an wosonos for yourself.
If, however, you're from the UK, for instance, and the UK has just hosted,
that means you don't really have a shot at it for at least a few years.
Further, if the process of choosing a host/location looks like it's been
pre-determined (which it often does, based on past comments by various
participants), then even if somebody like Paul was willing to host and the
community was willing to stay in the UK for another year, he wouldn't feel
like he had access to the process anyway.  Finally, if the pre-determined
processing of the decision, or pre-conversations, about the next invitation
happen someplace other than in the event, newcomers like Paul are right to
say they are excluded.  

With all these conditions present, it's quite possible that Thomas' three
ways of using Two Feet only make the situation worse.  When someone comes to
the conclusion that they are stuck on the outside of the group and the best
we can say is "Leave if you like," that would seem a recipe for a bad
feeling -- especially once someone has made some investment to get to this
event and might feel stuck there for the two days, trying to figure it out.

I'm not trying to put words in Paul's mouth or speak for him... I'm just
saying that it's possible that the way we invite and welcome and include
people in wosonos conversations, including the ones about where the next
event(s) might be held, might be ripe for review.  As we go along, and get
deeper in our own community practice and accumulate artifacts and habits, we
start to look a lot like a traditional organization -- in the sense that we
have an interest in stability, continuation, dependability, and such -- even
as we are supposedly all about emergence and making it up as we go.  

Like look at our watch midway through briefing the principle that says
"whenever it happens is the right time," the more habituated we become in
our gathering practice, the more we depend on and add to how we do wosonos
-- (even the W that got added a few years ago, for instance, creates
scarcity by giving one event some "specialness" above all others that year)
-- the more we add to our wosonos convening manual, beyond what's in the
user's guide, the more we are potentially perceived as welcomers who aren't
being very welcoming.  

What if we didn't have any more Wosonos events, for instance, what if we
just counted ALL osonos events as equal.  We wouldn't necessarily celebrate
the "20th anniversary" but could celebrate the 20th osonos and the 30th and
100th... without giving the one somehow decended from Harrison's original 4
events at dulles airport any more importance than what lisa does in san
francisco, john does in haiti, or we've done here in chicago in the past?
If all osonos events were allowed to be held as equal, then anyone could put
one on the map and the only side conversations would be among old friends
deciding where they might be able to meet up.  And note, too, that there's
nothing that says that if someone is hosting in australia, i can't host an
full and equal peer gathering at the very same time, in chicago.  neither
event needs special W-ing, and anyone can choose between either gathering,
and be surprised by who shows up, from how far or near.  

These are things I've thought about for many years, and found few ripe
openings to discuss, in part cuz I've not been able to attend osonos
anywhere for some years.  So I can appreciate how somebody newer to the mix
might feel frustrated having made an investment to join and then come to the
conclusion that we're as deep in our habits and rituals as any other
exclusive organization.  More frustrating because we always seem to say
otherwise.  Having tried at times from "within" to have these conversations,
I can appreciate how hard it would feel from apparently "the outside."  

All of which makes me wonder how many "osonos" events we've really had.
What if we did count them up and start numbering the as we go forward, as
ALL having been descended from the HHO-convened "originals."  And what if we
agreed that, in the main, the clearly visible and open heart of any osonos
was a chunk of space and time where it ran "by the book" and if you don't
see it in the user's guide, then you don't see it in the room, either?
Wouldn't have to be the whole event, but there could be a distinction
between "this is what we do because we're excited, creative people and this
is what we do because it's the heart of open space practice."  

What if....?

Michael

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)

http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org

On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 3:11 AM, Thomas Herrmann
<thomas at openspaceconsulting.com> wrote:

I think the Law is about action too. You can act in three ways

1.       Mental movement (try to change yourself, focus and be fully
present, maybe you are missing something important here) – thanks Jan-Erik
for this perspective during NOSonOS in august!

2.       “Intervention” into what you don’t enjoy, for example if you find
the break out group too large – say it!

3.       Leave and go somewhere else.

Cheers

Thomas Herrmann

Från: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] För Chris Corrigan
Skickat: den 23 oktober 2012 07:13
Till: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Kopia: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Ämne: Re: [OSList] Peggy plus OST Linkedin Comment

Koos...for me the law of two feet is about passion and responsibility.  If
you care about something, take care of it.  

Paul may have felt that he was "taking care of it" when he produced his
critiques of the event in London.  Possibly. But my experience is that many
people are comfortable just being in their passion about something -
sometimes just ranting - and fail to join in, support, improve, help out or
otherwise make a responsibility based offering to the situation at hand.
While i appreciate criticism and am perfectly capable of wrestling with
ideas - and in this case I even pointed out that there is much merit in
Paul's observations - I nevertheless would invite consideration of the fact
that if someone is sitting through an open space event and not offering
responsibility, that the criticism has the feeling of being sniping from the
sidelines while failing to take up the invitation at hand and it's hard to
work with that.  That is all.

A some level, love it or leave is also always an option, but that isn't what
I'm talking about here.  I'm looking for a more nuanced response from a
practitioner that is clearly very familiar with the dynamics of Open Space
and self organization and wondering what he did at the event to use his own
power to create the experience he was looking for.

He may have done something, but as I read it, he stayed for whole thing and
then wrote a fairly detailed critique of the whole experience.  

So.   Hmmmmm.

Chris

---

CHRIS CORRIGAN

http://www.chriscorrigan.com

+1 604 947 9236 <tel:%2B1%20604%20947%209236> 

On 2012-10-21, at 3:22 AM, Koos de Heer <koos at auryn.nl> wrote:

Hi Chris, 

I am not sure I understand what you mean when you say that the law of two
feet applies. If it means as much as "This is Open Space, love it or leave
it," I feel compelled to say that I don't support that. 

Of course I can walk out of a session if I am feeling that I am neither
learning nor contributing. But if I have the idea that the Open Space
gathering as a whole could use improvements in the way it is run, referring
to the law of two feet can become a way to evade a discussion that needs to
take place. It can take place at a later date, which is what is happening
now and that is fine. 

Koos

Op 20 okt. 2012 om 21:23 heeft Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com> het
volgende geschreven:

The critique in the article is fine. And the subsequent link Phelim sent
along is fine too. Paul's tone is a bit jarring and his argument isn't
helped by making a lot of generalized statements. Also he critiques WOSonOS
in a way that makes it hard to separate his critique if the event from a
critique of the team, even though he later clarifies that he wasn't
critiquing the facilitator. It's tricky to make a forceful and powerful
critique without it seeming personal.  

My response to these posts is that Paul is right in substance. In general my
take in things is that the Law of Two Feet applies. If you are not learning
or contributing find some way or some where that you can. That's what makes
things better. Obviously expecting others to change the way the way a
process seems too dependant on them is rational madness. 

Chris
-- 

CHRIS CORRIGAN

Harvest Moon Consultants

www.chriscorrigan.com

 <http://aohrivendell.withtank.com/> Art of Hosting - Participatory
Leadership and Social Collaboration, Bowen Island, BC

November 12-15 2012 

 <http://aoh-fbc.withtank.com/what-we-study/> Art of Hosting in Faith Based
Communities, Salt Lake City, Utah

November 28th - December 1, 2012

On 2012-10-20, at 5:09 AM, "alan at alanhalford.com.au"
<alan at alanhalford.com.au> wrote:

Just spent a delicious  three days co-learning with Peggy Holman here in
Perth then I read this - 

So, what's possible now?

http://rationalmadness.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/the-tragic-re-imprisonment-o
f-open-space/

take care out there

alan 

www.alanhalford.com.au <http://www.alanhalford.com.au/> 
0421 475 252
skype: alanhalford

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