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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>Hi
Harrison,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=840140621-04092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>I'm
back with my questions,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>and
they are very close to the point you are discussing now.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=840140621-04092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>If the
whole process as we discovered with you - just 20 minutes of saying rules, then
self-organizing, so how it came to the process of action planning?
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=840140621-04092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>that
is just people intentions and movings. right?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=840140621-04092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>so how
facilitator should start the second day or finish the first one? is there any
special "pushing" or the closing evening session is just a discussion of what
people want to discuss?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=840140621-04092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>What
is real opening space? - that is the question of Birgitt to me. I like to learn
it as well... if possible, what is it just for YOU.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=840140621-04092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>best
wishes</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=840140621-04092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=840140621-04092000>Elena
Marchuk, Novosibirsk</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV align=left class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Harrison
Owen<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, September 03, 2000 8:24 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: when a client hires Open
Space Technology, is this what she gets?<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>At 10:28 PM
9/2/00 -0400, Birgitt wrote:<BR><BR><FONT face=arial size=2> This caused
the manager to go onto the internet to find out a little more, came upon my
website, and wanted to know if she had hired a consultant who would do a good
job and deliver Open Space Technology as she now understood it to
be.<BR></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite type="cite"><BR><FONT face=arial size=2>The name of the
consultant was unfamiliar to me. I have no idea what the consultant does
that he calls Open Space Technology. I do know he charged a lot. I said I
did not know the consultant, couldn't speak for his work, and then I
e-mailed the manager a list of what key ingredients would be in an Open
Space Technology meeting and suggested questions that she ask of the
consultant. She phoned me back and wanted to know about standards of
performance. She said that she had hired Open Space Technology, in good
faith, because she was convinced it was the right thing to do. She assumed
that this is what she would get from someone who provided Open Space
Technology.</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial size=2>I believe strongly
that situations such as this are going to cause a backlash against Open
Space Technology. I stand even more firmly in my belief that each
facilitator of Open Space Technology will facilitate in accordance with
his/her uniqueness as well as with his/her interpretation and perception of
what Open Space Technology is AND that certain key ingredients must be
attended to.</FONT><BR> <BR><FONT face=arial size=2>Years ago, when I
worked in social services, the various agencies were working hard, doing
good works, and were filled with pride but not necessarily focused on
meeting the needs of the clients, working with the clients on what the
clients wanted. I feel the same at this moment about the way we are offering
Open Space Technology. Are we the ones interpreting the needs of the clients
in the same way social services did? Or are we listening to what the clients
want and meeting their needs? What if one of their needs is assurance that
if they hire Open Space Technology, that this is what they will actually
get? To date, in my experience, we do not offer this. The client gets
whatever the consultant chooses to deliver and calls Open Space or Open
Space
Technology.</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>**********************************<BR><BR>No
doubt about it. There are consultants out there who haven't got the whole
picture -- and/or fail to present it for whatever reason. There are also
clients out there who fail to do their homework and end up with an inferior
product. There are even clients out there who intentionally purchase
something that they know won't work -- just so they can say, ""It didn't work
-- I tried" -- and then go back to doing just what they were doing before. All
sorts of folks, indeed. <BR><BR>And when Open Space is involved in these
situations, it is problematic, sad, and angry-making. All true. But I am not
sure that any potential "cure" would not be worse than the disease -- or
something like that. Certainly, those who write about Open Space should make
best effort to provide the "whole" picture. And those who offer training
programs in Open Space (and Birgitt does some wonderful work here) should do
the same. But at the end of the day there will be consultants who play with
less than a full deck, and clients who fail to do their "due diligence"
search. So what about poor old Open Space?<BR><BR>I think it will survive.
<BR><BR>First off, there are also clients that do their due diligence -- and
Birgitt's conversation is a case in point. Secondly, even when Open Space is
done "poorly" it is usually better than what might have been done. And if it
is done wretchedly, doubtless there are disappointed folks, but in my
experience, there are more than a few participants who say to themselves --
This can't be all there is -- and make the effort to find the Real McCoy.
Personally, I love to run into there sorts of people. They are really
receptive, quickly get the picture, and more to the point, usually turn out to
be great advocates. And the "nasty" side of me also indulges in a in a few
chuckles, 'cause I know THAT consultant has just blown their credibility...to
say nothing of future employment.<BR><BR>Then we get to the interesting
question of What is REAL Open Space????? Having devoted more than a few
pages to the subject, to say nothing of some hours and years, I can honestly
say -- I am still finding out. To be sure, there are certain fundamentals, but
how about the details? Like "convergence." Certainly useful, and sometimes
close to mandatory -- but not always. For example, for 19 years we have been
convening The International Symposium on Organization Transformation. And
never once have we had a convergence session. And to the best of my knowledge
nobody missed it. Certainly not me. The several thousand folks who have
gathered over the years were not there to move to "concerted action" -- they
came to participate in an ongoing, always evolving, conversation about
transformation in organization. Certainly there have been definite outcomes,
including what might now be termed the field or practice of Organization
Transformation, a whole mess of books and articles -- and even Open Space
Technology. And never once did we do "convergence" -- a closing circle for
sure which was at once an ending and also a beginning for next year's
conversation -- but no convergence. Looking back, I rather suspect that the
power and accomplishments of the many "OTs" have not be compromised by this
lack, indeed the "lack" may well have been contributory to what I have felt to
be some very positive and useful outcomes. <BR><BR>So am I anti-convergence?
Absolutely not -- but I find that the useful criteria are "context and need."
And both change with circumstances. So what's right? It all depends.
<BR><BR>Of course, one solution to the whole dilemma is that "we" (whoever
"we" is) offer some sort of formal certification in OST. But then we would
have to enforce it -- and spend a lot of time bringing the perpetrators of
malignant Open Space to the bar of justice. Actually, I would choose to spend
my time opening good space, and let the folks make their choice. At the end of
the day I suspect that Open Space (Technology) needs lots of Open Space -- and
it will survive -- or not.<BR><BR><BR>Harrison <BR><BR>
<DIV align=center>Harrison Owen<BR>7808 River Falls Drive<BR>Potomac, MD 20854
USA<BR>phone 301-469-9269<BR>fax 301-983-9314<BR>Summer Phone
207-763-3261<BR>Summer Address<BR>189 Beaucaire Ave.<BR>Camden, ME
04843<BR>website <A href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh"
eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</A><BR>Open Space Institute
website <A href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</A><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>