[OSList] Mixing self-organization with structured instruction

Franklin Quijano franklinqjn at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 18 17:47:50 PDT 2013


Well said Lisa.



________________________________
 From: Lisa Heft <lisaheft at openingspace.net>
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> 
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2013 1:14 AM
Subject: Re: [OSList] Mixing self-organization with structured instruction
 


Dos abrazos!

So I would need to know more about context and culture - why something is not well-addressed, what does that mean, what are the consequences of that, why cannot it be addressed in other ways before or after the meeting - things like that.

Without knowing more - I would say that anything you curate, invite, select a topic for - do it the day before / not in relationship to the Open Space part. If there is more time / a larger event that this fits within, look at the overall design, not just the Open Space part.
If you really truly feel that people will not know the essential things you need them to know by the end of the conference.

Because once you recommend, pre-select, or invite pre-selected topics, you are affecting the human dynamics of the Open Space part.
The way people hear in-person what someone is announcing as a topic, that propels them into the center with a new topic-idea-because-of-that.
The power dynamics of how - if someone hears that x person will be presenting on a subject, that must mean that 'I am not the expert on that - even though I might have wanted to host a discussion around an un-answerable question about that subject, I will now self-select to not step forward with that different kind of thinking - expert will know all.' 

I think it is fine to curate some workshops for another time in your same workshop.
But if you or funders or whoever it is feel you have to lead, fill in, ensure discussion about… specific topics, then often that is an indication that this is not a time for Open Space, but for something really delicious and interactive but not (as Open Space) completely participant-driven.

To me, if your local OS is so very valuable and scarce time is available for it you want to maximize what OS can deliver that is different than 'here are some workshops we have selected / invited'.

Other colleagues here have a practice of inviting participants to post topics they may want to talk about, in advance. I honor my colleagues but I have found that even when doing that, only some people do it, other people decide not to talk about something because x person will be doing so - it shifts things.

All choices = thoughtful choices. For anything you do with a living system, the most important thing for me is not that you try something different or not, and observe whether it worked for you or not - all good. The most important thing for me personally and professionally when working with a living / human system is the *thought process* before making that adjustment about why, to what end, what will it deliver / affect differently, what will be gained / offset / changed by having done it, and so on. The conscious reflection and imagining of what would change when making a change in process. So I underline, that I know it will be fabulous no matter what you decide, and I am not saying 'bad! bad!'. I am just saying to think deeply about the why's, why nots', why now for this part of the meeting, and so on.

I love that your local OS is very valuable.

How can it not be? It is OS. And it is held so beautifully… by you, and by your wonderful colleagues…

Probablamente tres abrazos by now…

Lisa 


 

On Sep 18, 2013, at 9:58 AM, Agustin Villena <agustin.villena at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Lisa!
>
>
>My problem is the preparation that the talks/workshops need, that is not well addressed in the just-in-time organization 
>
>
>Maybe we need to do a preparation some time before de OpenSpace researching some topics of interests that may need a structured talk/workshop
>
>
>Do you know any experiences that made any similar arrangements?
>
>
>Our local OS is a very valuable and scarce time and we really need to make the most of it
>
>
>Saludos desde Chile
>
>
>Un abrazo
>  Agustin
>
>
> 

_______________________________________________
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/20130919/1689924d/attachment-0008.htm>


More information about the OSList mailing list