[OSList] No silence in opening

Tue Jun 16 02:35:04 PDT 2015

Harold thank you for posting this. What great wisdom has emerged. I almost
feel myself opening space with everyone who commented. You brought
attention to something I didn't really think about, just doing it in the
moment as I felt the group though I'm sure I have my own ritual.
Once I remember a long period of silence as the host was waiting to speak
and people were settling in. I could feel the tension of people sitting
awkwardly in this circle setting, with posters and strange signs arranged
around the room, papers and markers on the floor. One woman stood up as we
waited, dressed very business like and with her purse held tightly, her
high heel shoes resonating on the hard wood floor, she walked out from the
far end of the circle to the exit, without a word or a look towards any of
us. No one ran after her. I could not know what she was thinking and
amazingly, the Open Space proceeded without a word being said about it. The
host welcomed the group. And I opened the space. I remember feeling a deep
calm settle over me as if feeling the pain of that person though I do not
know what exactly happened and also feeling the heightened tension in the
room. It was a group of 50, the marketplace wall filled quickly, the
tension disappeared, people vibrantly engaged. I still see them in my mind
so relaxed, hearing their intense conversations and laughter bubbling
through. Closing circle was like another world. Everyone so connected,
relaxed and lively.  I'm always struck by the difference between opening
circle and closing circle.
As for complaints, I have heard different ones over time, sometimes
whispered and not told directly, other times in the form of suggestions. I
have learned to let go as I realized that Open Space opens up deep spaces
inside people bringing up emotions that can show up in different ways (it
seriously did that for me). Many times people suggest things that they feel
could be done differently to help the process of Open Space work better.
Often I just say thank you. Sometimes I'll explain a little bit.
Suzanne
On Jun 15, 2015 10:25 PM, "Chris Corrigan via OSList" <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Yes to this…
>
> These days no matter what process I am doing, if I offer a minute of
> silence, instead of looking at a clock, I just count twelve slow breaths.
> That way you don;t make people anxious and you get a little meditation
> practice in.  The longest I ever did this for was 15 minutes with a group
> of 180 theological educators.  I counted 180 breaths.  Many of them said
> they had never sat that long in silence with other human beings before.  We
> did it to allow people to reflect on an important and energetic conflict in
> the gathering.  It changed everything, and was indeed the simplest
> liberating structure I can think of.
>
> C
>
> On Jun 15, 2015, at 10:37 AM, Michael Herman via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> i think you can build it in, as much or as little as you feel is right for
> each situation, harold, just in the pacing of your opening briefing, if you
> like.  you ring the bells, silence happens.  you decide when to bump that
> silence with walking into the circle.  you decide when to break it when you
> start talking.  you put space between sentences and the different parts of
> your briefing.
>
> i saw a video of myself in a circle of about 300, one big circle.  my
> pacing was, for me, excrutiatingly slow to watch.  but i also had what felt
> like a lot of ground to cover, to get around and engage with folks all
> along that circle.  when i finished, people literally ran to the center of
> the circle.  so i think it worked pretty well.
>
> lisa kimball suggested to me recently that a minute of silence is one of
> the simplest possible liberating structure.  (liberatingstructures.com)
>  she describes taking a minute at the beginning of a meeting, not in a
> woo-woo way, but in a very practical way:  we're all busy people, coming
> from different places, let's take EXACTLY on minute to let brains finish
> where they've been and get ready for the work we're about to do here...
> will be long for some and too short for others, but promise it will be
> EXACTLY a minute... and then we'll dive into [the work].  her liberating
> structures materials might be posted somewhere at groupjazz.com
>
> m
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> http://MichaelHerman.com <http://michaelherman.com/>
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org <http://openspaceworld.org/>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 12:15 PM, Harold Shinsato via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
>>  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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>
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