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At 10:41 PM 3/13/00 -0500, Birgitt Williams wrote: <br>
<font face="arial" size=2>Now, this has me thinking that on this list, we
may not differentiate between this Open Space of life, and Open Space
Technology. I feel that the differentiation is critical. Harrison Owen
created Open Space Technology. Seems to me that God invented Open Space.
And, in the Open Space that God created, it is fine to be hugely
different in our practices, our fun (nerf balls), our personal growth and
the right to meet our individual personal growth needs (whether we be
facilitators or not) and to play and grow and evolve. And then there is
this creation of Harrison Owen's (as outlined in Open Space Technology :
a user's guide) which some of us like to work with and use as much as
possible in this world of ours.<br>
<br>
</font>*****************************<br>
Well said Birgitt!! A little history might be useful in support of
your point. As I have mentioned before, Open Space Technology was
literally a Two Martini Idea. It grew out of frustration and laziness on
my part. Frustration with the way I had organized a conference, and
laziness in that I resolved never to work that hard again. I was
surprised that OS worked, and hadn't a clue about why, or its
possible applications. Open Space, on the other hand been with me for
some time as a core concept and a central experience in my life. <br>
<br>
For me, Open Space was simply my way of talking about that moment in our
common experience when something appeared out of nothing. I suppose you
could think of the moment before the Big Bang as the primal Open Space,
and if you want to bring God into the action, that certainly works for
me. But regardless of what happened (or didn't happen) when the big
firecracker went off, it appeared to me that subsequent experience had a
lot of Open Space. Or more exactly Open Space kept showing up when the
chaos of our lives cleared the ground so that something new could emerge
-- and that emergence has apparently been an ongoing phenomenon. My
first book, which was called "Spirit: Transformation and Development
in Organizations" (now out of print) tells this story in some
detail. The book was written in the very early 80's, well before Open
Space Technology showed up in the bottom of my Martini glass. I have
tried to tell that story again with some (hopefully) new and useful
details in my forthcoming book bearing the title, "The Power
of Spirit: How Organizations Transform" (Berrett-Koehler July 2000)
<br>
<br>
The connection between my ruminations on Open Space and Open Space
Technology was largely happenstantial. It just dawned on me that much, if
not all, of what I had experienced in other environments under the
heading of Transformation in Organizations appeared to be happening right
before my eyes every time space was opened. Weird, but powerful.<br>
<br>
Anyhow, if you have been wondering why Open Space seems to work as it
does, and where the technology fits in to the larger and much more
important enterprise that is our life experience, my current version of
the tale will hit the streets in July. Your local book store or any of
the several .coms should get you together. This book will complete what I
have thought of as The Open Space Quartet. <i>Expanding Our Now</i>
introduces Open Space, <i>Open Space Technology: A User's Guide
</i>provides the practical details. <i>The Spirit of Leadership</i>
explores what to me is the fascinating and critical question of
leadership in the open space of our lives where command and control has
gotten a little tired. The last volume attempts to put it all together
ending up with the very practical business of what I have called
"Open Space organization" Just suppose that what we experience
in an Open Space event could become a 365 day reality. I think it can,
and in fact I rather suspect that we are well on our way. But that, after
all, is just my story. (All of the above are published by Berrett-Koehler
and are pretty much available worldwide.)<br>
<br>
Harrison<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854<br>
USA<br>
phone 301-469-9269<br>
fax 301-983-9314<br>
website <br>
<a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a><br>
Open Space Institute websites<br>
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
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