[OSList] Follow-Up and Flow in Open Space

Sun Mar 24 18:15:41 PDT 2013

greetings back, michael ~
sending warmth and affirmation from the tropics.
~ lpt

On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 3:43 PM, Michael M Pannwitz <mmpannwitz at gmail.com>wrote:

When I have a contract to facilitate an os-event I remind myself that space
> is always open - sometimes it might appear almost closed - , regardless of
> what I do.
> And then I remind myself that in my experience, using Open Space
> Technology has always worked in expanding time and space for the work of
> the forces of selforganisation... every time I was involved with it.
>
> In my practice as os-facilitator, I dont open the os-event honoring the
> fact that its not my event but the event of the folks that hired me and
> that it is their task to open the event by saying hello, stating the theme
> and saying a couple of things from their heart in regard to what they want
> to happen at the event (done in 5 minutes or less)... and then passing the
> mike to me to introduce the process.
>
> In the briefing of the person that opens the event, I do point out that
> anything more than 5 minutes cuts into the time of the folks that have come
> to exchange ideas, create new approaches... or simply want to change the
> course of history or the world. And I make the point that I will also be as
> brief as I can (thats always been a tough task for me) and get out of the
> way without intervening in how they structure their work, time schedule,
> fights, issues ...knowing that control regardless of who exerts it is a
> surefire way to shrink space and fence in selforganisation, that force that
> in fact guarantees all the good stuff that can be observed especially in
> os-events.
>
> The question of "TIME" (all kinds of tempi, past, present, future) in all
> this seems well served by "Whenever it happens is the right time" in
> conjunction with NOW, as HO is pointing out. The NOW is a great place to
> start and live in ... a group or organisation or system focusing on the now
> is both productive and in permanent action planning. Although its not a bad
> idea to have a focused phase of action planning after being in a phase of
> divergence, action planning, play, discoveries, creation... happen all the
> time, simultaneously, uncontrallably, chaotically... perhaps the conditions
> under which life thrives best and most joyfully.
>
> Greetings from Berlin where we have the coldest March 24 since 1899, a lot
> colder than it is in Siberia right now reminding me of warmer days I have
> seen and knowing of warmer days approaching...
> mmp
>
>
> On 24.03.2013 18:09, David wrote:
>
>> When I do open space with my business hat on in the consulting role, I
>> almost always start with four imperatives that most companies start
>> with, even if they havent articulated it, but soon lose sight of. I call
>> it VMPM. Vision, Mission, Purpose, Method. Many companies have a mission
>> statement, few ever read it after it has been written. NO company is
>> healthy for more than a year or two at a time, although many run very
>> successfully from the economic metric for years or decades. I just put
>> up the four words, the group gets to define them. Here are my
>> definitions, that we usually start with to frame the discussion:
>>
>> Vision: what does it look like when it is done. A vision is a snapshot,
>> or series of snapshots. Vision is not Mission.
>>
>> Mission: What is the target, how does the map compare to the territory.
>> The territory is not always reflected on the map. (just by a street map
>> of Nairobi sometime, and you will see what I mean).  Mission is not
>> Purpose.
>>
>> Purpose: the personal "why" . Purpose is purpose, it is my personal core
>> driver.
>>
>> Method: How we do it, the outflow of the inflow of the first three
>> points. Method is how I achieve my self interests as part of a
>> collaborative community, also called a company.
>>
>> All successful communities have these common elements: Community! which
>> is collaborative and cooperative, consistent and committed.
>>
>> I have found that through the day of OS things hidden or unknown become
>> apparent. All day I am moving idea and discussion points into those four
>> points, and whatever other axiomatic points the circle cares to add on
>> their own.
>>
>> David Glenwinkel
>>
>> www.villagecare.com <http://www.villagecare.com>
>>
>> *From:*oslist-bounces at lists.**openspacetech.org<oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>
>> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.**openspacetech.org<oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>]
>> *On Behalf Of *Suzanne
>> Daigle
>> *Sent:* Sunday, March 24, 2013 6:44 AM
>> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Follow-Up and Flow in Open Space
>>
>>
>> Ditto for me too!   Suzanne
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 9:49 PM, Lourdes Adriana Diaz-Berrio Doring
>> <adriana at diazberrio.com <mailto:adriana at diazberrio.com**>> wrote:
>>
>> Yes I agree with Nici I was going to say the same thing!
>> Adriana Diaz-Berrio, Montreal, Quebec
>>
>> 2013/3/23 Nici Richter <nici.richter at gmail.com
>> <mailto:nici.richter at gmail.com**>>
>>
>>
>> What a wonderful conversation!
>>
>> Oh - I am loving it!
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Nici Richter
>>
>> Johannesburg, South Africa
>>
>> On 23 March 2013 14:56, paul levy <paul at cats3000.net
>> <mailto:paul at cats3000.net>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear colleagues
>>
>> Someone suggested I post this and I'd be delighted with some reflections
>> on it...
>>
>> warm wishes
>>
>> Paul Levy
>>
>> Follow-Up and Flow in Open Space...
>>
>> /"Time runs backwards in the spiritual world."/
>>
>>
>> No, don't stop reading. Not yet.
>>
>> There's a lot of debate in the field of emergence focused on "when
>> things open up, how do you close them down?".
>>
>> In the realm of Open Space, often the textbook reply is not to close
>> down at all but simply to open some more space for closing down...
>>
>> In other words, if we are worried about outcomes from an open space -
>> what will happen back at base, the actions, the commitments in practice,
>> then all we need to do is to follow up with an invitation to another
>> Open Space that focuses on the question of action. So you need at least
>> two open spaces to get stuff done.
>>
>> Another view is that one should trust the open space itself - whatever
>> happens of course is the only thing that could have. And many open
>> spaces do self-organise sessions about action so... just trust the
>> process. It always works.
>>
>> A third view is that these are paying clients we are usually talking
>> about. As facilitators we can't just leave the organisation "up in the
>> air", walk away and let them do what they will with the space we've
>> opened up! Many facilitators then reach for the post-it notes, often in
>> the last hour, and start to draw out (or bleed?) actions from the
>> meeting. All kinds of clever prioritising and voting ensues. Elsewhere
>> I've suggested this might be a counter-productive way of going about
>> things.
>>
>> Now, here's an alternative view and its based on the idea that time runs
>> backwards in the spiritual world. No! Stay with me. Just for a bit
>> longer. Imagine you put what went "before" you (past), before you (in
>> front of you.
>>
>> For those of you still here, read on...
>>
>> I am going to suggest that follow up is often best at the start, not
>> after the event. I've tried it. It works. If the client is very
>> concerned, even at the planning stage, that action must result, then, of
>> course, include the invite to decide and commit to actions in the
>> invitation to the open space. Make that call to action explicit and that
>> will help to set the path for the right people to come. Some open space
>> invitations are very "theme" focused and it is easy when we immerse in
>> self-organising conversation, to forget the element of our will that
>> sometimes sleeps a bit when we go into the head space of sitting in
>> circles, self-organising the content of what is often talk, talk, talk.
>>
>> So, build the reminder of action in the invitation before the event. Put
>> action before the event, not after it.
>>
>> Yet even then it is easy to forget when the space opens. Not always, but
>> often.
>>
>> Now, stop reading if you don't like apparent craziness.
>>
>> Try this. Before the event, invite those coming to share what they think
>> the actions should be arising from the Open Space. Ask them to come up
>> with actions before the event has started. This can be done online or at
>> a pre-meeting. Get the actions out. When an open space is commissioned,
>> it is often because a critical issue or challenge in the organisation or
>> community has given rise to it. It is born out of restlessness. And
>> restlessness is often takes the form of blocked flow. People often know
>> (or think they know) what the actions and priorities are. Not everyone,
>> but some. They may not be correct, but they sit there, bubbling behind
>> the damn of "not yet" or "no".
>>
>> If certain actions have already been fixed and decided by leaders, be
>> open and transparent and build them into the invitation. If the actions
>> are to be arrived through community and organisational input then use a
>> method to surface them - but not after the open space - BEFORE it. The
>> reason is because a lot of the future already sits as potential in the
>> word, hidden, waiting to emerge. Human beings often tap into this and
>> know what needs to be done, before they explore how, and verify why,
>> sometimes deciding against anyway. The bubbling potential underneath is
>> the potential for "realisation" and it is mostly about action. The
>> release of potential is often exhilarating. Often at open space events,
>> that potential for action gets lost in the self-organising gorgeous
>> chaos of of emergent head-talk. Especially in the West.
>>
>> Get them out on the table BEFORE the event. Put them up on the wall.
>> THEN open the market place. The suggested "follow-up" actions will then
>> be "incomes" not "outcomes" of the event. They will be there, not
>> bubbling underneath, but instead shared consciously, and they will
>> irritate and inspire. And often sessions well self-organise around them.
>> By the end of the day, what we put "before" us, before the event
>> started, now stand "Before" us as commitments after the event.
>>
>> Trust the self-organising nature of open space and also trust the
>> inherent knowingness of the human collective and individual will.
>> There's often no need to worry about actions not arising from an event,
>> if we accept that those actions were largely already there in the
>> collective story and flow AND genius of the community.
>>
>> Some of those actions going in will be thrown out, others re-affirmed,
>> others changed and played with, and new actions will also come into being.
>>
>> I'm not suggesting this for all Open Spaces. Actually it works best
>> where action forms the main part of the invitation, is vital to the
>> sponsor and the community and also where there's an intuition that many
>> of the actions are already known and the open space overall theme is
>> really more about the who, when, where, why and how.
>>
>> Put the ending at the beginning, the imagined actions as the inspiration
>> and input. Then space will open around what we already think and feel
>> needs to happen. It might not. But then, again, it just might.
>>
>> But please, ditch the post-its and the after-event prioritising. It has
>> nothing to do with opening space.
>>
>> I believe that when we start an emergent conversation we may well have a
>> blank page. But usually organisations and communities travel along
>> timelines of past into present into future that are more like tapestries
>> than lines. Linear is but one way we experience life. Yet past is always
>> playing into the present, the future in the form of the unrealised and
>> the potential inspires us in the know. Often something in the future
>> will be a direct transformation or culmination of something that began
>> in the past. We are also past, present, AND future, which is more of a
>> picture rather than something linear. In open space, the action often
>> precedes the word. Allowing those actions to speak in the past of the
>> open space often creates a marvelous alchemy of flow where past and
>> future meet in open space in the present.
>>
>>
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>>
>> --
>> Nici Richter
>> Strategist
>> Sustainable Strategic Insight
>> http://www.**sustainablestrategicinsight.**co.za/<http://www.sustainablestrategicinsight.co.za/>
>>
>> Mobile +27727406181 <tel:%2B27727406181>
>> nici.richter at gmail.com <mailto:nici.richter at gmail.com**>
>>
>>
>> Skype: nici.richter
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>>
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>> South Africa
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>>
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>>
>> --
>>
>> Adriana Díaz-Berrio Ph.D. CRHA
>> (514) 739 2268 <tel:%28514%29%20739%202268>
>> www.diazberrio.com <http://www.diazberrio.com>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>> --
>> Suzanne Daigle
>> NuFocus Strategic Group
>> 7159 Victoria Circle
>> University Park, FL 34201
>> FL 941-359-8877;
>> CT 203-722-2009
>> www.nufocusgroup.com <http://www.nufocusgroup.com>
>> s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com <mailto:s.daigle at nufocusgroup.**com<s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com>
>> >
>> twitter @suzannedaigle
>>
>>
>>
>>
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> --
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
>
>
>
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