[OSList] Certification?
Chris Weaver
chrisgweaver13 at gmail.com
Sat Aug 10 18:33:22 PDT 2013
*so, whats so unfortunate about teaching?*
:-) Dear Michael,*
*
Nothing, indeed...except that the demands are akin to a tsunami, and I will
have a hard time persuading myself that it's a good time for an hour at the
pub.
c.
On Sat, Aug 10, 2013 at 4:24 PM, Michael M Pannwitz <mmpannwitz at gmail.com>wrote:
> 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 <chrisgweaver13 at gmail.com>>>
>>
>> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.**org <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>> <mailto:oslist at lists.**openspacetech.org<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<donna.read at managing4wellness.org>
>> <mailto:donna.read@**managing4wellness.org<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
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
>
>
>
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