[OSList] Certification?

Thu Aug 8 16:29:26 PDT 2013

THAT truth, I can certify, Jeff!  :-)

Chris

On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Jeff Aitken <r.jeff.aitken at gmail.com> wrote:

> having been trained by the motley lot who dreamed up this stuff, i can
> attest that even that great privilege does not mean that i know much or
> should be let near the folks in your organization.
>
> jeff.
>
> On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 3:53 PM, Peggy Holman <peggy at peggyholman.com>wrote:
>
>> To be certified confused…where do I sign up?
>>
>> Chris -- thanks for your decidedly clear and unconfused comments on
>> certification.
>>
>> I seem to recall in some past conversation that rather than
>> certification, lineage is alternative to the client conundrum of who am I
>> hiring?  To be trained by the creator, or by someone who trained with
>> creator, on down the line seems to have worked for a variety of practice
>> traditions through the ages.
>>
>> Still no guarantee, as Chris noted below.
>>
>> appreciatively,
>> Peggy
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  On Aug 8, 2013, at 10:35 AM, Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Ohh I love this topic too, because as we go on and on it becomes
>> clearer and clearer to me that Harrison's original idea (which predated
>> Open Source) was sheer genius.  There is an expression in english: "Closing
>> the barn doors after the horse has left."  It's too late to certify people
>> in Open Space Technology, and thank God!
>>
>> You simply cannot certify people as a way to protect the brand and the
>> reason is simple.
>>
>> Certification is based on an industrial quality assurance model  In other
>> words, every product leaving the factory is guaranteed to work the way we
>> say it is going to work.  If it doesn't you can have your money back and
>> we'll give you a new one that works.  Every product can be tested before it
>> leaves the factory to be sure it works reliably,
>>
>> You simply cannot do that with facilitators.  No amount of certification
>> will guarantee that a client will get what they want every single time.
>>  And a facilitator taking a single training in Open Space or some other
>> method will by definition NOT be perfect leaving the factory.  You need to
>> develop a practice, and even still there are contexts and situations that
>> will challenge and surprise you.  "Be Prepared to Be Surprised" is the only
>> certification I can reliably give to anyone that has trained with me.  We
>> are not engineers, architects or doctors.  We are people whose skill is in
>> responding well to myriad and changing contexts.
>>
>> The International Association of Facilitators went down this route.  I
>> have seen some horrible facilitation done by people who are certified by
>> the IAF.  So much so that I have no faith in that certification as standing
>> for anything.  It is a worthy idea but it simply cannot be implemented.
>>
>> Open Space is a brand like brainstorming is a brand, like using markers
>> and flipcharts is a brand, like parliamentary procedure is a brand.  In a
>> few more decades, with any luck, the world will have forgotten where it all
>> came from and it will just become a basic operating system of groups.  In
>> the last 10 years that prospect has really come on as people have stolen,
>> mashed up, mixed together, modified and redesigned Open Space Technology.
>>  Participatory process is becoming an acceptable way of doing things, and
>> will only become more so.  Most conference goers for example are now able
>> to report on conference evaluations that they would have rather had a world
>> cafe or an Open Space than a keynote address.  I see it all the time.
>>  There is a fluency in the world with this method and others.
>>
>> I fundamentally distrust anyone who makes a concerted effort to certify
>> Open Space.  If Harrison Owen, the guy that put it all down on paper,
>> refuses to do it for excellent reasons, then I wonder what gives anyone
>> else the right to do it.
>>
>> And for me that is a terrific example of how to steward something that
>> really has an impact in the world.  Offer it up and let it go and only
>> defend it from those that would try to own it.  Thankfully Open Space
>> Technology I think is at a place in the world where it defies ownership.
>>  Anyone who tries it will simply be laughed off the stage.
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 9:29 AM, Kári Gunnarsson <
>> kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is> wrote:
>>
>>> I love the Certification dialogue and I think that the recurrence of
>>> the dialogue is necessary. As I have looked around of things that
>>> trace there roots to open space or give the impression to be similar
>>> is some way. Some of these processes have the Certification hierarchy
>>> protecting the Quality of the Brand and the revenues steaming from the
>>> property that the brand name is.
>>>
>>> The hierarchy of the Certification process associated with Brand names
>>> is a way to close space and create tension witch in turn will fuel the
>>> flow of cash from the people that can pay, excluding the people that
>>> can not. It is an exercise in creating a closed system to fuel a
>>> business plan. And naturally, any start up consultancy offering some
>>> tools will need some flow of cash to pay the phone bill.
>>>
>>> When I was at Wosonon in Berlin back in 2010, I head one participant
>>> saying. "You always have the clients that you deserve".
>>>
>>> By knowing that the space for clients is well open and the law of
>>> mobility is active from them is perhaps a little scary. This scare can
>>> be remedied by letting go of the outcome and commit time to prepare to
>>> be of more benefit for my future clients.
>>>
>>> Here I have opened up many lines of thoughts that stay with me when I
>>> think about this topic. What I would like to have written down is some
>>> sort of vision on how to go about using the open space as a central
>>> idea and core philosophy in a practise.
>>>
>>> On Certification, my vote would go for "no central Certification", but
>>> I don't mind that various offspring's of Open Space go ahead and
>>> create there own brand name with the associated cash flow headaches
>>> and salaried sales staff of Certification trainings in there bid to
>>> get a bought with a handsome cash out from lager companies.
>>>
>>> That said, I would like to see more people get interested in the
>>> "boring" methought of meeting, working and begin together called open
>>> space.
>>>
>>> By the way, I am bored to tears by people hearing about open space and
>>> begin pissed off by the way open office layout (also called open space
>>> in my country) has been ruining there work experiences.
>>>
>>> This is starting to be a long rant, Ill stop now.
>>>
>>> With the breeze from Iceland
>>> Kári
>>>
>>>
>>> On 8 August 2013 14:50, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:
>>> > Certification (whatever that might mean) seems to be a perennial
>>> topic. I
>>> > suppose that is understandable, but for myself it is a horrible idea.
>>> My
>>> > reasons are several. First of all it is too much work. The thought of
>>> > developing the criteria, programs, and even worse, “protecting the
>>> brand” is
>>> > totally exhausting. We’d have to have certifiers to certify the
>>> certifiers
>>> > and so on ad infinitum. Second reason – Open Space seems to be taking
>>> care
>>> > of itself. When folks come on with “A little Open Space,” “Sort of Open
>>> > Space,” “Modified Open Space,” ... the participants (increasingly)
>>> > understand that they aren’t getting the genuine article—and say so. I
>>> recall
>>> > one instance where a large gentleman stood up in the middle of the
>>> “program”
>>> > and loudly proclaimed, “This sure ain’t Open Space! I’m out of here.”
>>> And he
>>> > walked. I guess you could call that “Market Certification.” Best of
>>> all  ---
>>> > it works all by itself. One more thing not to do!!
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Harrison
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Harrison Owen
>>> >
>>> > 7808 River Falls Dr.
>>> >
>>> > Potomac, MD 20854
>>> >
>>> > USA
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>>> >
>>> > Camden, Maine 04843
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > 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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>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kári Gunnarsson
>>> kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is
>>> gsm: +354 8645189
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>  ---
>> CHRIS CORRIGAN
>> Facilitation - Training - Process Design
>> Open Space Technology - Art of Hosting
>>
>> http://www.chriscorrigan.com
>>
>> *Upcoming workshops*
>> *
>>
>> Wise Leadership in Practice<http://www.kaasamine.ee/koolitused/wise-leadership-in-practice>
>> August 22-25, Sänna Cultural Manor, Estonia
>>
>> *
>> *Art of Hosting - Art of (Inter)action* <http://www.aohmontreal.org/en/>
>> *October 8-10, 2013, Montreal, PQ.*
>>
>> *
>> Art of Hosting <http://aohrivendell.withtank.com/> - Participatory
>> Leadership and Social Collaboration
>> November 11-14, 2013, Bowen Island, BC, Canada.
>> *
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training - Process Design
Open Space Technology - Art of Hosting

http://www.chriscorrigan.com

*Upcoming workshops*
*

Wise Leadership in
Practice<http://www.kaasamine.ee/koolitused/wise-leadership-in-practice>
August 22-25, Sänna Cultural Manor, Estonia

*
*Art of Hosting - Art of (Inter)action* <http://www.aohmontreal.org/en/>
*October 8-10, 2013, Montreal, PQ.*

*
Art of Hosting <http://aohrivendell.withtank.com/> - Participatory
Leadership and Social Collaboration
November 11-14, 2013, Bowen Island, BC, Canada.
*
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