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<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font size=2>At 11:41 PM 3/9/2002
+0100, michael wrote:<br>
my feeling and stance on this matter is to my mind, quite simple:<br>
if the client wants an open space event and sticks to this notion after I
have talked to him, thats what will happen I either take it or leave
it....nobody knowing what will happen beyond;<br>
if the client wants an intervention to transform his organisation and I
am crazy enough to believe that this is actually possible, so be it ....
nobody knowing what will happen beyond;<br>
I definetely do not want to worry about what will happen to an
organisation that has chosen to let open space technology come into its
life...all I do is to make sure that the client knows that there could be
some surprises in store for him and his organisation with no assurance
that neither I nor he has an inkling of what that might actually
mean.<br>
This is to me another way of thinking in the direction of not being
attached to outcome and not attempting to exercise control.<br>
Right, an ost meeting is an event that is about change. Change in my
experience is a fickle thing, not planable, not influenceable (if there
is such a word) and certainly beyond control. To what degree there will
be loss or conflict and how the organisation will handle it is
unpredictable, fact is some of that might happen or will happen. Whether
I as facilitator have influence on these developments is unclear to
me....what I suspect is that my worry about it has primarily to do with
my own anxieties...letting go of them is perhaps one of the kinder things
I can offer my clients.<br><br>
Michaels's experience and practice is very much my own. I feel it to be
essential to make sure that the client fully understands the potential
up-sides and down-sides of doing an Open Space -- and when it comes to
the downsides, I often tell the story related previously (the 50 person
company that went kaput). Doing this can be problematically when it comes
to "making the sale," which is precisely why I never try and
"sell" Open Space. When it comes to risk, and the assumption of
risk, I find myself driven to the conclusion that only true risk is NOT
opening space in which people may realize their full (or at least fuller)
potential. Beyond that the Four Principles seem to kick in --
particularly, "Whatever happens is the only thing that could
have." and When it is over, it is over." This may appear
heartless, but I do not experience it that way. Rather, I perceive this
to be a simple recognition of the limits of my own abilities and powers.
There is no way that I know of to guarantee that Monday Morning will
arrive without a return to the deadening reality of Business as Usual --
or worse -- that some nasty form of reflexive retribution does not take
place. But if either should occur, I know that at the very least the
people involved now know that there is an alternative. They do not have
to be that miserable. And should they choose their misery, that is their
choice. And in the unpleasant eventuality of Nasty Retribution breaking
out -- I find myself profoundly saddened, but strangely comforted by a
knowledge that the people effected have an option -- The law of Two Feet.
Organizations that persist in the notion that their function is to
control the lives and destinies of those employed can receive a very
potent wake up call when their good people leave. Sometimes, that is the
only way to get their attention.<br><br>
Harrison<br><br>
<br>
Harrison Owen<br><br>
<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-365-2093<br>
Open Space Training
</font><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/" eudora="autourl"><font size=2 color="#0000FF"><u>www.openspaceworld.com</a></u></font><font size=2>
<br>
Open Space Institute
</font><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl"><font size=2 color="#0000FF"><u>www.openspaceworld.org</a></u></font><font size=2><br>
Personal website
</font><a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl"><font size=2 color="#0000FF"><u>www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a></u></font><font size=2><br><br>
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<br><br>
Michael M Pannwitz<br>
Draisweg 1<br>
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464<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>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
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