[OSList] No silence in opening

[Harrison via OSList]

Harold ... Two suggestions. First at the very beginning, I always stand at the edge of the circle in silence. Then, and only then, when the group has become quiet I say “Good morning. Welcome to Open Space.” I pause another moment (how long is a moment?) and I invite everybody to take a deep breath before the excitement of the day... and let their eyes slowly wander around the circle of those assembled, noticing the people they know, the ones they don’t know, and maybe even those they never want to know. I remind people that this is a unique moment in history, for never before has this group been assembled, and never again will it meet. Further, that this is a totally remarkable group, for it contains precisely the resources needed for the work of the day... which segue ways quite naturally into “our” theme. 

 

Second suggestion. When it seems that most of the issues have been announced... wait some more time in silence. Wait until it almost seems embarrassing...inviting any late comers. And just before your wait is “too long,” invite everybody to go to the wall and make their selections. Time for your nap!

 

I guarantee you will get no complaints, and if there were any, you would not be around to hear them. 

 

Harrison 

 

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From: OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Harold Shinsato via OSList
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2015 1:15 PM
To: OSLIST
Subject: [OSList] No silence in opening

 

The Open Space for the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center (http://civicrm.jrpc.org/rising-from-the-ashes) I facilitated this Saturday went extremely well. We had a full day of sessions and high levels of engagement, and the center's Executive Director said it way exceeded her expectations.

After sitting in the glow of so many thank you's, gratitude, and "good job" the day of the event and afterwards - I was surprised and quite annoyed by a bit of feed back second hand through email...

    "there should have been a 5-minute or so thinking time."

    "Some people needed more quiet time to gather there thoughts."

As people become more familiar with Open Space, my personal experience is that rather than a long awkward and anxiety filled pause as facilitators worry if anyone will post a session - instead, especially in public OST events, people launch and line up to populate the agenda. This has bothered me, but this is the first time I've heard the complaint of a *lack* of silence in the opening.

After my initial annoyance, and speaking with an Open Space colleague, my wife, and another space holding professional, I wondered if this weren't actually something that can help there be authentic open space, and not just a cargo cult going through the motions.

I'm pondering a way to help there be space before people come to the center to announce their sessions - but without doing some heavy facilitated silence or meditation process.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

    Thank you!
    Harold



-- 
Harold Shinsato
harold at shinsato.com
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush> 

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