[OSList] Certification?

Fri Aug 9 03:01:11 PDT 2013

Complettelly in accordance with you, Chris - except maybe in a
small point, that is a different thread inded. I will came back to that.

Let me make a comment on one point and highlight some others. 

You wrote (my highlight):

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.

The clarification: I
think it is a bit more than that. Harrison wrote that anyone that reads the
manual and has "a good head and a good heart", can begin using the
method, but then will need a lifetime to use it correctly. This means - as you
have noticed - that OST was made "open source" before "open
source" even existed. In "open source", no one needs a course
from the original developer(s) or any other elder to use the code, or change
it. Hence the possibility someone mentioned to drive a lineage (like in Reiki!)
or clarify by whom (if any) one has been trained has no meaning. That IMHO is also
contrary to the initial philosophy of "offering (giving back,
indeed) OST to Humanity" with no need for intermediaries.
No intermediaries at all!!! Whenever the explanations they may give (I don't
teach/certify "OST" but "how to work with OST", for
instance. Big difference, indeed :-(

That said, I have
nothing against OST trainings per see (if the trainer understands that an OST
training IS NOT an OST event, and clarifies that in the first place), neither
against presencial meetings among professionals to perfect the application of
the method (OSonOS's) or virtual ones, like this list.  

And you also wrote (my highlights):

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. 

Amen

Artur 

________________________________
 From: Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com>
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> 
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2013 6:35 PM
Subject: Re: [OSList] Certification?

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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> OSList mailing list
>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>>
>
>
>
>--
>Kári Gunnarsson
>kari.gunnarsson at simnet.is
>gsm: +354 8645189
>_______________________________________________
>OSList mailing list
>To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>

-- 

---CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training - Process Design
Open Space Technology - Art of Hosting

http://www.chriscorrigan.com

Upcoming workshops

Wise Leadership in Practice
August 22-25, Sänna Cultural Manor, Estonia
Art of Hosting - Art of (Inter)action
October 8-10, 2013, Montreal, PQ.

Art of Hosting - Participatory Leadership and Social Collaboration
November 11-14, 2013, Bowen Island, BC, Canada.

_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20130809/d2710842/attachment-0008.htm>