[OSList] No silence in opening

Harold Shinsato via OSList oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Mon Jun 15 15:47:51 PDT 2015


Awesome, contextual awareness. Thanks for the report and warning, Peggy!
On Jun 15, 2015 2:23 PM, "Peggy Holman via OSList" <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> I’ve actually received feedback in the other direction. Years ago I did
> some work with a law firm. They hated the silence I suggested when we
> gathered as a whole group. It was a lesson to pay attention to the culture
> of the organization. Silence is helpful and it needs to be contextualized
> differently for different groups.
>
> Peggy
>
>
>
>
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> On Jun 15, 2015, at 11:19 AM, Harold Shinsato via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Micheal, those were both structures I was considering.
>
> My neighbors in Missoula have lots of facilitated silence in other things
> they do, like yoga, spiritual retreats, etc. I should not have been
> surprised some felt deprived.
>
> Has anyone else received such feedback, and if so how did you process it.
>
> Thanks again!
> Harold
> On Jun 15, 2015 12:37 PM, "Michael Herman" <michael at michaelherman.com>
> 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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