[OSList] How do you "hold space?"

Sun Feb 9 15:46:43 PST 2020

You remind me, Rolf, that one of my favorite things is when the sponsor,
having seen the group do several amazing, previously unthinkable things,
clearing every imagined hurdle, comes to me near lunch time and asks if
they shouldn’t go around and tell the groups about lunch. I love to suggest
that they just get something for themselves, take a bite, and walk through
the space chewing. To me it’s a great moment of learning how easy
leadership can be!  So you might be working too hard with the belly signs!

On Sun, Feb 9, 2020 at 16:39 Michael M Pannwitz via OSList <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Dear Jake and you others, (after finishing this piece I suggest you
> first get yourself a cup of coffee or other beverage you cherish, find a
> couch and take a little time to read this lengthy piece)
>
> I as facilitator will increasingly get into the mode of "total presence
> and absolute invisibility" by reflection. As I inch up, or millimeter
> up, in this regard the easier does it get to hold "time and space".
>
> Now, this is both more than rocket science as well as simple. However,
> and this is the tough part, not easy.
> After pushing myself in the early years of my practice I eventually
> realized that "total presence and absolute invisibility" requires
> life-long attention and learning. As does holding time and space. Both
> are part of this. And if you start with OST late in life, as I did at
> the age of 56 and three decades of OD and related stuff behind me, its
> mainly a lot of un-learning.
>
> Okay, here are some of the things I reflect on... best with others right
> during an ost event (I actually plan timeslots for this in the agenda
> the team has for itself):
>
> --- Being unattached to outcome and not getting involved in content is a
> prerequisite for having the high energy required for attaining the mode
> of "present and invisible." (I think it was HO who tells the story of
> being asked by someone during an OST event about apparently doing
> nothing... and him responding with "Doing nothing is what I get paid
> for.").
> --- One thing I can arrange for and reflect on before getting into a
> facilitator situtation, is not to facilitate an ost event in a situation
> that I have stakes in (like in my own organisation).
> One practice tested way is to help oneself and other facilitators in
> this regard is to arrange for a "rain check" system: I work as
> facilitator without pay in your organisation and you in turn work as
> facilitator without pay in mine. That allows us in each case to be fully
> participant in a setting we have stakes in. And for lots of learning.
> Which happens easily in sustainably reflecting my practice.
> --- One more thing I can arrange for once it is clear that I am
> facilitator in a specific event is to have an assistant who supports me
> in doing nothing and reminds me to stay out of the way. (This reminds me
> of a story about one of the Ceasars in Rome who hired someone to quietly
> tell him that he is not God when everyone adored, admired, fell on his
> knews before him.) The assistant, in turn, has a team to take care of
> all the nitty-gritty stuff around setting up the event and caring for
> the event without being space invadors.
>
> --- What is central to my role as facilitator in regard to
> "holding/expanding time and space for the unfolding of the force of
> selforganisation"?
> OST has this as its central characteristic. I know of no
> approach/method/process/etc. that has "holding/expanding time and space
> for the unfolding of the force of selforganisation" as its central
> characteristic. It is unique to OST. This I think is also one of the
> reasons why it always works, appears familiar to everyone once they get
> into it, is effective in all cultures, etc.
> As is often told, there is really only one effective way to reduce the
> unhampered unfolding of the  force of selforganisation: Control.  Mind
> you, the force of selforganisation does not appear completely (this, I
> think would stop everything, the universe would disapper). It can get
> very tiny, but its there... an organisation or a group or a neighborhood
> would not be unless the force is still active. The way, it often shows
> itself, is in the "informal" part of a system that is used by everyone
> to make things work. It can also rest in the "informal" leaders in a
> neighborhood that Saul Alinski, among other things, looked for in
> working with communities.
> --- So, all situations, tempting as they may be, in which I exert
> control are counterproductive for the central characteristic of OST.
> "Control" can be around little things that I intuitively do in
> situations where I feel I need to step in: Walk up to the Bulletin Board
> to pick up an issue-poster that got unstuck and put it back in it place.
> A bit more control might be my suggestion that no issue needs to be put
> up more than once. And even more control is active when I proclaim that
> a certain issue has nothing to do with the overall Theme of the event.
> --- Being fully present for me is also a prerequisite for dealing with
> space invadors. There are no recipies for this. One thing that helps me
> is to start counting before I address the space invasion. Most often a
> fellow participant will speak to this before I reach 6. For me, this has
> nothing to do with "trusting" the group. I prefer to say that I know
> groups will handle stuff like this all by themselves. If they are let.
> Sometimes in the early part of the ost event a participant will walk up
> to me and request that I come to a break-out session that has problems
> with the issue or the process. The first time I was approached, I
> actually went with the participant. It was interesting to see that the
> group had already found its way in the time that their scout went to
> find me and bring me to his session.
> Eventually I experienced that the folks at an ost event can and will not
> only deal with every issue they have but also selforganise everything
> they need. And, if pointed out to them that they selforganize structure,
> leading, managing, etc. they find this not especially interesting. I get
> this as a pointer that they are doing what is inherently natural to them.
>
> And here is also a short take on what I have found very useful around
> the transition from the divergent to the convergent phase of an os event.
> First, I am pretty sure that we can skip convergence in the traditional
> sense: Having some kind of tool (there are myriad) of weighing or voting
> on issues that came up in the divergent phase.
> Years ago, when I still used the 55 dot method I noticed that the items
> that got the most dots rarely entered the project phase. It dawned on
> me, that prioritization is a statistical method that probably does
> result in finding out what might be most important to the group but not
> what has, yes you already feel it, someone or several people with
> passion and responsibility grabbing it.
> So, me and others came up with what we already had and simply convened a
> second os in the last half day after the Reading Gallery the evening
> before. Now, this is usually called Action Space. In this space the
> focus is not on issues but on projects. Folks are invited to post
> projects and gather around projects to develope next steps for tackling
> them. It looks and feels and is another os event with the participants
> that already experienced os in the diverging phase and get into this
> second one in 2 minutes flat already familiar with the process.
> The amazing thing was, that aside from what one would expect to see as
> projects, other projects were posted that had not been visible. I feel
> this is the result of participants having reached a much wider picture
> of the whole situation after being in the divergent phase and studying
> all the report sheets including the augmentation of them and also being
> in a better position on what ressources they now see in the group that
> they have worked with in the first space.
>
> Considering that basically OST is an action orienting approach and that
> action only happens if there is passion joined by responsibility for
> something that is to be done the Action Space is a good way to have that
> happen for which the entire gathering was that up for: Dealing with a
> wicked issue that nobody had an answer to at the beginning of the open
> space.
>
> It is also a simple way of doing it. I mention this because I still feel
> that anyone with a clear head and a good heart can facilitated an ost
> event, especially if it is a straigtforward approach.
>
> Greetings from Berlin where I look forward to seeing you at the WOSonOS
> this fall
> > https://wosonos2020.berlin/
>
>
> mmp
>
> Have a great day,
> mmp
>
>
>
> Am 08.02.2020 um 19:44 schrieb Jake Yeager via OSList:
> > Many questions these days. Thank you for entertaining them. :)
> >
> > This past week, I facilitated an eight-hour Open Space split across two
> > half-days. The attendees were an Organizational Development team, of
> > which I am a member. My AVP sponsored the event, because we had recently
> > merged with another group, and there was lack of clarity. So, our theme
> > was: "Who are we, and how do we collaborate to drive success?" Also, my
> > AVP--who is a leader in Learning & Development--wanted to experience
> > Open Space in order to understand it better as it is new to my firm.
> >
> > Since I am a fledgling facilitator, I chose not to participate in the
> > breakout sessions, even though I am part of the group. I wanted to make
> > sure that I provided the best experience for everyone, and participating
> > would have dampened my focus. I shared this with my manager, after she
> > inquired after the first day why I had not participated.
> >
> > Long story short, after the event, my manager had major concerns how I
> > facilitated the event. I had gone for long walks while the group was
> > working, and she felt that was very risky. I told her that the
> > facilitator's role is to remain "invisible" to allow the group to build
> > its capacity for self-management. She said that our firm's culture is
> > very hierarchical and that "baby steps" are needed. She suggested even
> > intervening in a group if it gets "stuck." I believe I mentioned that
> > intervening is not part of Open Space facilitation.
> >
> > So my question is: how do you "hold space?" I found Chris's description
> > on his website: "an Open Space Technology facilitator is neither seen
> > nor heard, but his or her presence is 'felt.'" I guess by going for long
> > walks and not being in the room, my presence was not "felt." One of my
> > colleagues provided feedback that by not being there, it didn't seem
> > like I cared. This is definitely not the case. I went on long walks as
> > an act of love, not negligence.
> >
> > Anyway, would love your thoughts.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jake
> > ________________
> >
> > When the mind is quiet, the sun of your heart will shine once again, and
> > you will be free of problems.
> >   - Robert Adams <http://www.robert-adams.info/>
> >
>
> --
> Michael M Pannwitz
> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> ++49 - 30-772 8000
> mmpannwitz at gmail.com
>
>
> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 490 resident Open
> Space Workers in 76 countries working in a total of 142 countries worldwide
> www.openspaceworldmap.org
>
> At my publisher you find books and task cards on open space and other
> treasures, most in German, some in English, some as ebooks, some
> multilingual
> https://www.westkreuz-verlag.de/de/Kommunikation
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-- 

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)

MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.org
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