[OSList] [GC] Who Opens the Space

Birgitt Williams birgitt at dalarinternational.com
Thu May 9 08:03:28 PDT 2019


Dear friends and colleagues,
I have been enjoying the contributions, the variety of viewpoints. I look
forward to more.

Today, I was thinking about a different angle for going into this topic of
'who opens the space?'.
The different angle is 'who closes the space?'. In my OST training with
Harrison, I learned about 'space invaders', those people who attempted to
close the space, whether consciously or not...and how the facilitator could
deal with a space invader as quickly in the intrusion as possible.

I thought about 'if I am the one that opens the space for myself,
determining the amount of space I give myself including my willingness to
use my law of two feet, I am also the one that is choosing whether to close
the space for myself, consciously or not. If I do, then regardless of what
the facilitator does or does not do, my space could be so closed that I am
no longer engaged with the law of two feet.

in genuine contact,
Birgitt

*Birgitt Williams*
*Supporting Next Level Leadership "Leading So People Will Lead"*
Author, Senior Consultant, President Dalar International Consultancy, Inc
<http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
Founder Genuine Contact Program
<http://www.dalarinternational.com/genuine-contact>
Co-owner Genuine Contact Group, LLC
<https://genuinecontact.net/about/co-owners/>
Founder Extraordinary Leadership Network
<http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com/>

*Learn with us for your growth and development for the new leadership
paradigm *

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On Thu, May 9, 2019 at 2:40 AM Eiwor Backelund Jacobsson <eiwor at gatewayc.com>
wrote:

> Dear Birgitt, thank you for your thoughts, that is a really good question.
> I have always thought that it is the sponsor that decides on the space that
> is open for collaboration, and I think it still is. My view of what the
> facilitator does, is that he or she visualizes that space and does a ritual
> that allows people to become present and learn about what could happen
> during the meeting. I believe the ritual is very important for the
> transition between the time outside that space and the time in that space.
>
> I agree that the space that is open for each participant, is what they
> create themselves. I have seen the explanation of the law as something that
> clarifies that, that the responsibility for what you wish from the day is
> yours. I also see many other ways to remind people about this, for example
> when creating the agenda. If you wish to discuss a certain topic, you have
> the responsibility to put it on the agenda. The meeting becomes for you
> what you make of it.
>
>
>
> Every time I open space, I believe fully that the participants own the
> meeting, each one of them doing what they need, creating space for
> themselves. I believe I tell them this by my way of doing the opening,
> holding the intention and in my body language. I also have this thinking as
> a foundation for all the decisions I have to make in a meeting, such as
> when asked to intervene in a group or even go around and ask how things are
> going. And maybe there is a way to state this in words too, if necessary. I
> believe that we as facilitators show our intention and how we look at the
> participants in other ways than in words.
>
>
>
> It might be tempting to look at oneself as facilitator as the one who
> opens the space. If I should chose a metaphor for the facilitator, I could
> see connections to the priest in the church, who some people think is the
> gate to heaven when he or she in reality is, through ritual, showing people
> a path to follow if they wish. In OST meetings the facilitator is not the
> gate, nor the door-opener, just showing people possibilities through that
> opening ritual.
>
> It will be interesting to listen to others on this topic. I believe it is
> about the more subtle sides of OST and because of that even more important.
>
> Eiwor
>
>
>
> *Från:* genuine-contact at googlegroups.com <genuine-contact at googlegroups.com>
> *För *Birgitt Williams
> *Skickat:* den 8 maj 2019 17:09
> *Till:* genuine-contact at googlegroups.com; OS list <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> *Ämne:* [GC] Who Opens the Space
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear friends and colleagues,
>
>  "Who Opens the Space"
>
>
>
> I believe that I open the space for myself. I show up. I make a conscious
> choice about how much space I choose to open for myself, for myself as a
> whole person to participate. Sometimes the space feels safer to me than
> other times. Regardless, it is my choice for me of how much space I open
> for myself in every situation, how much I choose to participate within that
> self created open space, and for how long I choose to keep the space for
> myself open.
>
>
>
> I appreciate the effort and love of the facilitator of the Open Space
> Technology meeting. The role is important, assuming it is carried out with
> care and love and clarity, to make visible that a bigger space is open and
> ready for participation. This is a valuable role. Yet, it is still me, that
> opens the space for myself...no one can do this for me.
>
>
>
> I appreciate the role of the sponsor is opening the space within the
> organization for a conscious opening of space for a particular theme to be
> explored. Sometimes the sponsor chooses to open a big space, sometimes it
> is a smaller space...Both are fine so long as there is honesty about the
> amount of space being opened. Yet, it is still me that opens the space for
> myself to consciously choose my participation.
>
>
>
> Now, I am wondering about the importance of providing the people who
> attend the OST meeting with the concept that the amount of space that they
> are opening for themselves is their responsibility. Your thoughts?
>
>
>
> in genuine contact,
>
> Birgitt
>
>
>
> *Birgitt Williams*
>
> *Supporting Next Level Leadership "Leading So People Will Lead"*
>
> Author, Senior Consultant, President Dalar International Consultancy, Inc
> <http://www.dalarinternational.com/>
>
> Founder Genuine Contact Program
> <http://www.dalarinternational.com/genuine-contact>
>
> Co-owner Genuine Contact Group, LLC
> <https://genuinecontact.net/about/co-owners/>
>
> Founder Extraordinary Leadership Network
> <http://www.extraordinaryleadershipnetwork.com/>
>
>
>
> *Learn with us for your growth and development in Next Level Leadership*
>
>
>
> Genuine Contact Summer Academy
> <https://www.dalarinternational.com/summer-academy-2019/> theme is
> Genuine Contact: a holistic approach to change June 22-28, 2019
> Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada--early bird registration price still in
> effect. Approximately 30 participants from many countries taking a deep
> dive into working with change, learning more about thriving in today's
> performance environment of constant change.
>
>
>
> *Trail-Blazing Membership to the International Community of Practice
> Available Now <https://genuinecontact.net/membership/>--*the
> international community of practice working with the Genuine Contact
> program since 2001 is now evolving itself as a membership organization.
> Trail Blazing members have the opportunity from now through August 2019 to
> help develop the membership model. I hope that you will become a
> Trail-Blazing Member, adding your support to the growth of Genuine Contact
> in the world...and there are membership benefits that are sure to make this
> worth your commitment.
>
>
>
> PO Box 19373, Raleigh, NC, USA 27613
>
> Phone: 01-919-522-7750
>
>
>
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>
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