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I have been following the discussion initiated by Kerry with interest and
from afar -- recently opening some space in Serbia. Anyhow, I have been
mulling over the notion of the credibility (or lack thereof) of Open
Space. On the one hand it amazes (and sometimes amuses) me that some
folks talk about OS as if it were this wild, new, risky, presumably
untried approach. As most of us know, it has been around for a while and
always seems to work. So where is the novelty and risk? I believe the key
to the conundrum lies in paradigm shift -- or God forbid, Transformation.
Seen from the point of view of the paradigm all of us grew up with, and
most (in the west or Western influenced world) still hold -- Open Space
should not work. Indeed, it can't work. And if it did, the impact on the
predominant view of organizations would be disastrous, to say nothing of
expensive for an awful lot of folks who earn their living in service to
those organizations. Small wonder that Open Space has not found ready
acceptance in the world at large, to say nothing of credibility. A friend
once said, Harrison, You have developed the ultimate scam. The client
does all the work and even writes the report. Funny, but i
guess that is true -- especially when viewed from the reigning paradigm.
So anyhow, I rather suspect that if we had detailed reports from all the
thousands of Open spaces that have occurred -- data up the kazoo so to
speak -- I sincerely doubt that Open Space would be any more credible. I
think the stories we share on this list are great -- and very
instructive. But as sources of credibility they are pretty useless. To
the best of my knowledge, nobody ever decided to do Open Space on the
basis of argument and/or data. The decision comes from a different place,
be that desperation (no other options) or a profound faith in the
capacity of the Human Spirit to rise to the occasion -- or both.
<br><br>
And then we come to the Status of Open Spacers. Personally, I rather
fancy the title of <b>Imperial Grand Master</b>. I just hope I can run
fast enough before you guys puncture my balloon, rain on my parade, or
worse. The title, however, does have a certain ring to it. But it
is worth while to remember that there was a point when this Imperial
Grand Master had done only <i>one</i> Open Space. I can't say that
experience is not important, but I think there are other qualities that
are infinitely more important. Integrity and authenticity, for two. As we
all know full well, the process is so simple that virtually anybody can
carry it out. It is also extremely forgiving to the point that parts can
be skipped, words mis-said -- and everything just works fine. But if
there is a problem with integrity and/or authenticity, we are in deep
kimshee. The most obvious case is when some one stands up to proclaim the
space to be open, but everybody knows the agenda has been set, and the
plans made. Nasty taste! So I find myself retreating to my old position.
Anybody with a good head and a good heart can do it well, and not much
else is required. Thank God.<br><br>
Harrison<br>
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<div align="center">Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-365-2093<br>
Open Space Training
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</a>
<br>
Open Space Institute <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
Personal website <a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a><br><br>
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