[OSList] What does neutrality of a facilitator mean in Open Space?

Fri Apr 26 01:31:02 PDT 2013

Dear Carms,
basically, there is no such thing as a "neutral" facilitator.
As far as I can remember, and thats a few decades back, potential 
clients often ask for a "neutral" facilitation or consultation.

Seems to me that the way to tackle this is to ask myself what I am not 
"neutral" about. And that, I found out, varies from case to case and 
from situation to situation.

So, when I am facilitating I find it helpful to discover what I do not 
want to be "neutral" about and focus on that particular thing.
When facilitating an Open Space Technology process I focus on being 
"present and invisible", "expanding time and space" (for the forces of 
selforganisation to do its thing).
This I find is more than a full time job... any other interests that 
crop up (getting involved in issues participants post or paying 
attention to a co-facilitator...) simply have no space. The moment they 
do press for space and my attention I know I am no longer really paying 
attention to my task as facilitator.
In practice this means that I am in desperate need for a team in the 
background that takes care of all the things I love to meddle with and 
control so that I can focus... which sounds simple but aint easy.

A co-facilitator who has clear positions on issues and is absorbed by 
such stuff does not compromise "neutrality" of the team. He exerts 
control and that is from my experience a surefire way to reduce or even 
close space.
So, how to deal with a co-facilitator of the kind you describe?
It depends, of course.
One way to avoid this destraction is to simply strike the position of 
co-facilitator.
Have a great day
mmp

On 26.04.2013 01:44, Carmela Ariza wrote:
> Thanks Kari for your thoughts and suggestions.
>
> How would you deal then with a co-facilitator who has a very clear
> position on issues that are being tackled and who runs the risk of
> compromising neutrality of the team of facilitators?
>
> Will take a look at the Amsterdam Musical Lecture on Open Space soon.
> This seems interesting...
>
> Carms
> /*If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having. --
> Henry Miller*/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Kári Gunnarsson <kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is>
> *To:* Carmela Ariza <carmela_ariza at yahoo.com>; World wide Open Space
> Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, 19 April 2013, 7:35
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] What does neutrality of a facilitator mean in
> Open Space?
>
> Hi Carmela
>
> I am perhaps not the best on neutrality, I am easily swept off my feet
> in passion for this or that, and usually I like to marvel in the novelty
> for a short while.
>
> I don't think there is any one truth that we can speak here. There is
> some big notion of neutrality in the academia, somehow born from the
> abstract thinking of the scientific methought. There is this belief that
> if I am to close too or worse - one of the locals, then I must be to
> bias to speak any truth.
>
> But what I have found is that if I am the owner or manager of the item
> in question, then I might have some previews thoughts and dreams that I
> may try to enforce it in the process with no regards to the underlying
> reality of the matter, if given the possibility.
>
> Also if this person is someone I am trying to please, I may be to
> co-dependent towards any power play that he might use for the same reasons.
>
> There is always the spiritual work of begin willing to be present and
> holding the space open by keeping a check on my charisma while the
> discussions take place.
>
> As soon as I try to force the outcome by closing the space, then the
> space is no longer open. I sacrifice the productivity by forcing my own
> will of outcome upon the group. The only way for me to not do this is
> simply to not have a way about how the outcome should be. If I am not
> willing to not have a way, then I have some personal work to do by
> cheeking my motives and fears and let go of them.
>
> If this is not possible, then I would suggest a twinning, where you find
> someone not in our department to do your open space and then do same for
> them.
>
> But I think that I am allowed to care deeply and have an opinion as long
> as my personal homework is done and I am spiritually fit to not have a
> way, and to let them have their own experience.
>
> I also have an experience where a small group where half of the group
> was familiar with Open Space, we decided to hold the space as a group
> and participate in our own open space. There was no external sponsor or
> external facilitator, but we managed to hold the space open because we
> cared.
>
> I like to end with an Amsterdam Musical lecture on Open Space:
> http://youtu.be/BgcomPDIUHY
>
> On 18 April 2013 22:40, Carmela Ariza <carmela_ariza at yahoo.com
> <mailto:carmela_ariza at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>     Dear OST friends,
>
>     I would like to hear your thoughts on neutrality of facilitators in
>     OST. Below are some specific questions...
>
>     What does it mean in practice?
>     If you are an interested party or have a stake in the outcomes, how
>     must you facilitate?
>     What are the ways to maintain neutrality (towards participants and
>     topic/outcomes) even if the facilitator is also interested in the
>     quality of the participation and also the outcomes?
>
>     Your inputs/insights will be highly appreciated - especially sharing
>     of experiences.
>
>     Cheers,
>
>     Carms
>     /*If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not
>     having. -- Henry Miller*/
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> --
> Kári Gunnarsson
> kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is <mailto:kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is>
> gsm: +354 8645189
>
>
>
>
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