[OSList] Human Connection Starvation

[Lisa Heft - via OSList]

Welcome to facilitation, Daniel - Open Space and all the other  forms of inviting people to converse about what matters to them,
Lisa


On Jun 21, 2015, at 4:45 AM, Daniel Mezick via OSList <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Lately I'm noticing that people are absolutely starved for genuine connection with other humans. Or, so it seems...
> 
> ...I'm coming to this conclusion as a result of getting more and more experience doing these Open Space events in organizations and conferences. 
> 
> At a conference at PMI in Boston last Friday, I facilitated an very short event that was 1 hour from end to end. We did 5-minute sessions to introduce the format. All 50++ of them were completely new to it. In the closing circle, these people reported genuine authentic pleasure in connecting with others. 
> 
> This was more than a little strange to me, since the 3 sessions were just 5 minutes long. 
> 
> Earlier that same week, inside an organization, with about 20-25 people, Harold and I with Louise Kold Taylor literally "threw together" an OST event last Tuesday. It was all improv. We were winging it. We were all unsettled. We were all making sh*t up on the fly. We had like 20 minutes to set it up and convene.
> 
> It wasn't supposed to work. 
> 
> This "improv-episode" was missing many of the standard elements in the standard OST composition. 
> I'm embarrassed to say which... and how many.
> 
> And hey guess what? There was loads of connection and engagement by and between the members. LOADS.
> 
> This from an organization "with no time" to do such things. This via an "unsettled" facilitator. We scheduled the 45-min sessions for 10AM, 1045AM, 330PM and 415PM. So there was this huge gap in the schedule. We did not expect the afternoon sessions to be attended at all. What was amazing to us was the fact that almost all of them returned for the afternoon sessions and they all immediately engaged. 
> 
> All of which had me scratching my head for quite awhile. Do you know what I mean? As in, "what the heck is going on here?" 
> 
> Why is this OST thing so robust, even when some of the essential "big O, big S" elements are missing? When there is "no time?" When there is no planning? When the facilitator is not really prepared? 
> 
> What is making this OST stuff work, even when it's "slipshod" in terms of planning and form?
> 
> My current hypothesis is: typical people in our world are literally starved for real connection. 
> 
> And that anything, anywhere resembling anything AT ALL that looks like a genuine and authentic opportunity to connect ... is going to work. 
> 
> And this without "management" of things like "when to start", "when to stop", "topics", "silence", etc. 
> 
> This Human-Connection-Starvation hypothesis might tend to explain: why OST always seems to (mysteriously) work, why getting out of the way is a primary job of the facilitator, etc.  
> 
> Daniel 
> http://OpenSpaceAgility.com
> http://DanielMezick.com
> 
 
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