[OSList] Certification?
Michael M Pannwitz
mmpannwitz at gmail.com
Sat Aug 10 13:24:21 PDT 2013
Dear Chris W.,
so, whats so unfortunate about teaching?
cheers
mmp
On 10.08.2013 16:53, Chris Weaver wrote:
>
> Unfortunately I will begin teaching in about a week and my time will be
> under much greater demands than in summer. I'm also active in a most
> inspiring response to the current alarming political situation in my
> home state, including by using OST. I'll at least be dropping by to
> share how that goes.
>
> Cheers,
> Chris
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 8:01 AM, Artur Silva <arturfsilva at yahoo.com
> <mailto:arturfsilva at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> Hi Chris:____
>
> Nice to see you back to a list were you were once a frequent
> contributor, until you had your time and interests diverted to
> another movement and list, as you have now explained. ____
>
> You were not, by the way, the only person that almost disappeared
> from this list. In fact, as I see it, it was like a schism, with
> some people that stayed beyond, for reasons that only they know, but
> anyone can speculate about.____
>
> I was not in your virtual table of the pub and could not taste the
> pinot noir, but it happens that I was in a close table, drinking an
> Oporto wine, and could not avoid listening to your interesting
> story.____
> I think that there are a lot of interesting stuff in your post, that
> probably could give occasion to have (or repeat) discussions about,
> in other threads (one probably - again - about the "givens" question
> - if one does not want to search the archives; another about the
> history of what you have called the ""falling out"that apparently
> was at the origin of the schism, that has an historical interest,
> and maybe others on and off topic).____
> But, for the moment, and to stay on topic, I would like to remember
> that you wrote:____
> «When I completed the Genuine Contact "Working with OST" workshop, I
> received a certificate, but not a certification. (The distinction
> is important because there was no intention on the workshop leader's
> part to evaluate my "competence" in any way.)»____
>
> I could not understand the difference between "certificate" and
> "certification" (maybe I had already drunk too much Oporto wine or,
> more probably, the cause is my lack of English proficiency...).
> Could you be so kind to please elaborate a bit more about what is
> the difference between the two concepts?____
>
> Thank you and best regards____
> Artur ____
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Chris Weaver <chrisgweaver13 at gmail.com
> <mailto:chrisgweaver13 at gmail.com>>
>
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>>
> *Sent:* Friday, August 9, 2013 5:45 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Certification?
>
> Greetings All,
>
> Ah, I can't resist jumping in to stir the pot. It is an honor to
> join a thread peopled by so many folks whom I respect (and
> appreciate and love) so much. I invite you to settle in for rather
> a long story, which may, at some point, have something to do with
> "certification."
>
> After learning of Open Space in Anne Stadler's kitchen, I walked
> around as a newbie at the OSonOS in Monterrey (the one fifteen years
> ago, from which Harrison was unexpectedly absent, due to a nasty
> flu, I believe), with my jaw hanging open to meet so many bold and
> brilliant facilitators (I remember especially Michael P, Alan
> Stewart, Brian Bainbridge, Roxy, and Birgitt Bolton) sharing stories
> that I sweetly strove to wrap my head at least half-way around.
>
> For a few years I engaged actively on the OSLIST as I began to
> facilitate some OST meetings (without even "finishing the book," as
> I recall) in the Seattle school where I worked as a teacher. In
> 1999 I landed here in North Carolina, where I attended my first OST
> workshop as part of the Genuine Contact Program with Birgitt
> (Bolton) Williams who had recently landed a few hours away.
>
> Now I will say that I have an assumption only that at around that
> time there was something of a "falling out" between Birgitt and her
> work and the work of some other OS facilitators. I do not know, nor
> need to know, the details. But I do know that there are some points
> of practice that have generated some heated passion in the community
> and that I think are worthy of putting on the storytelling table.
> (I know that there is not supposed to be a table, but I suddenly
> imagine myself with Jeff, Chris, Peggy, Harrison, Michael in a pub
> somewhere with a rough wooden table, on which I am happily uncorking
> a bottle of pinot noir.)
>
> When I completed the Genuine Contact "Working with OST" workshop, I
> received a certificate, but not a certification. (The distinction
> is important because there was no intention on the workshop leader's
> part to evaluate my "competence" in any way.) Based on my
> participation in the four-day experience, I could, if I chose, refer
> to myself as an authorized "Genuine Contact professional." The
> workshop included an exploration of the form & essence of OST, as
> gifted so effectively in Harrison's /User's Guide. /The workshop
> also shared some suggested approaches and tools for working in depth
> with the sponsor of an OST meeting (usually a leadership team within
> an organization), both prior to and after the OST event. My own
> understanding is that, by referring to myself as a GC professional
> if I chose, I would be sharing the simple message that I had had
> exposure to the approach of using OST that included these pre- and
> post-OST meeting practices and tools. The choice of whether and how
> to apply these practices and tools was up to me.
>
> So that is the part that relates to this thread topic of
> certification. As a practitioner, I honor the open-source nature of
> OST as Harrison's "discovery" and gift to the world. I refer people
> to the /User's Guide/ (and also the /Non-User's Guide /and other
> community resources) frequently.
>
> As an aside, I continued in the years that followed to participate
> in workshops on other methodologies that are shared through the
> Genuine Contact Program (most notably /Whole Person Process
> Facilitation/, which I use very often). I collaborated with my
> Genuine Contact colleagues around the world in developing the
> minimal appropriate structure for our international community. I
> participated in many mentoring circles, completed the Train the
> Trainer workshop, and became one of the 43 "co-owners" of the
> program. I also shifted my virtual community participation to the
> GC List, and dropped off of the OSLIST for a number of years. (I am
> enjoying being back.)
>
> So here, the plot thickens :-). One of the practices included in
> the GC "Working with OST" workshop is the use of...the "givens."
> So, lubricated with wine, I am going to place the notion of givens
> on the wooden storytelling table for our enjoyment. (This is worthy
> of its own thread, of course, but I'll just keep going here.)
>
> I have only infrequently worked as an external
> consultant/facilitator. Most of my work with OST has been within
> schools and community organizations. Over the years, I have come to
> value highly the practices I learned in the GCP of working with the
> sponsor prior to and after an OST (and I know that among other OST
> facilitators, pre- and post- meetings such as these are skillfully
> used and valued).
>
> In my experience, the purpose of careful preparation with the
> sponsoring team is to assist them in considering the state of their
> organization. What is the story-line that has brought them to
> considering an OST meeting? What's happening in terms of the grief
> cycle within their organization? What (deeply now) is the /purpose/
> of the meeting? What (deeply now) is the /context? /Basically, I
> ask the questions, and the team has the conversations. All this I
> explicitly place in the reality that when you sponsor an OST, there
> is not, nor should there be, any turning back.
>
> I use the givens as an essential tool in this process. I draw a
> circle on a flip chart and say, If this circle represents the open
> space, what are the non-negotiables that form the parameters of the
> open space?
>
> In the past, there have been passionate objections to this practice
> on this list, based, I think, on the belief that to establish givens
> is to close the space before it is even opened. My long-haul
> experience within organizations has taught me something different.
>
> What happens when I ask what the non-negotiables are is that a bunch
> of stuff goes up on the flip chart. Then, I probe each one, and
> ask, "Is this REALLY a given at this time for this meeting?" The
> fifteen givens get whittled down to twelve, and then eight, and then
> maybe five (ish). As you can imagine, the level of trust that
> organizational leaders have in the people plays in heavily. I let
> it be. I cannot make them trust more; I can only model trust, and
> hold space for trust.
>
> But I also find that the few givens that remain are, every time,
> very important and meaningful. Some examples: Perhaps the
> organizational purpose is a given, and perhaps there is value in
> re-sharing the organizational purpose at the start of the OST.
> Perhaps there has been a year of good work by a sub-group within
> the organization that has culminated in a policy that not everyone
> attending the OST is aware of, and that policy is a given. Perhaps
> a "law of the land" that administrators, but not all participants,
> know about is a given. Perhaps it is a given that the organization
> will stay within a certain budget, and any ideas generated beyond
> the budget will have to include the funding source to support them.
>
> Yes, the givens are shared with the group at the start of the OST.
> In my experience, this does not close the space, but rather it
> opens the space clearly and honestly. More importantly, it is a
> tool for building trust. When participants hear their formal
> organizational leaders share, clearly and transparently, what the
> givens are, they are more trusting that their own ideas will be
> honored after the meeting and not squelched.
>
> And this is what happens. Using givens is a way to profoundly
> mitigate the phenomenon, with which any seasoned OST facilitator is
> familiar, of leadership freaking out and clamping down on the
> results of an OST. The practice does not (thankfully) prevent the
> productive chaos and re-framing that happens after the meeting, but
> it greatly reduces the phenomenon of /reactionary fear/ on the part
> of formal leadership. The result is that leadership is more
> inclined to sponsor another OST soon, and indeed to invite other
> groups withing the organization to utilize OST themselves.
>
> Perhaps because I have worked inside organizations for many years, I
> have a deep respect for the challenges that formal leaders face.
> Perhaps an organization is possible without any formal leaders,
> but I have not yet encountered this. In the school where I work,
> there is a fragile and indeed even tender respect for our formal
> leaders whose responsibility it is to hold the space for the
> organization in the community. When leadership is in its integrity,
> followership is a natural and beautiful thing.
>
> Okay, I will pour the last of the bottle into all the glasses.
> Sadly, I won't hear your fine words until tomorrow, but so it is,
> according to the odd and illusory parameters of space & time.
>
> Take Care, with Love,
> Chris
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 8:21 PM, Donna Read
> <donna.read at managing4wellness.org
> <mailto:donna.read at managing4wellness.org>> wrote:
>
> Amen to that, Harrison! Blessings, Donna
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Aug 8, 2013, at 17:36, "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at verizon.net
> <mailto:hhowen at verizon.net>> wrote:
>
>> Jeff – as a sometime perpetrator and totally confused
>> (certifiable) I can attest that if at any point I were to
>> intimate that I actually knew what I was doing, that would be
>> a significant error. However I feel quite comfortable in my
>> not-knowing if only because the “process” (OST) is not
>> something I “do.” Under the best of circumstances my
>> contribution is to invite folks to do what they already know
>> how to do – to be what they already are. It always works, and
>> it works even better when I get out of the way. ____
>> __ __
>> Harrison____
>> __ __
>
>
>
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>
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--
Michael M Pannwitz
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