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At 10:28 PM 5/12/2002 +0200, Koos wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>So what I am saying is that the
concept of empowerment has to do with one<br>
person or entity giving power to another person or entity. As in:
the<br>
management of this company empowers the employees. This sounds nice, but
it<br>
is awful. And it is not what we do when we Open Space for these people.
At<br>
least not in my system. Giving power assumes that there is something to
be<br>
given (which means it can also be withheld) and there is an entity that
has<br>
the ability to do the giving (or the withholding). I question these<br>
assumptions.<br><br>
What we do when we Open Space is invite people into a paradigm shift.
This<br>
paradigm shift also concerns power. Open Space means the end of power
and<br>
control as we knew it. Open Space invites people to experience the
power<br>
they already have. There is no such thing as control. There are just
people<br>
who think they are in control and others who accept that thinking.
This<br>
deadly embrace of wrong thinking (which, by the way, can be very<br>
comfortable) is what we invite people to throw out the window.<br><br>
Talking of empowerment is staying in the old power paradigm. If we want
to<br>
honor the paradigm shift we are making, we do not talk about
empowerment.<br>
We do not give the power to the people, because we know it is already
there.</blockquote><br>
Interesting Thought Koos -- and one I have had many times myself. As I
have often said -- "If I empower you ... guess who is
powerful?" But i rather suspect that the problem lies not with
"empowerment" but with the presumed source. In all the years of
Open Space, one of the continuing experiences has been that of people
experiencing their own power and worth. Perhaps we should call that
self-empowerment? I definitely agree with your statement,
<font color="#FF0000">" the management of this company empowers the
employees. This sounds nice, but it is awful." </font>Not only does
it sound awful, it is (in my opinion) delusional on the part of the
company and the employees. As you point out, it is actually a conspiracy,
or as I prefer -- yet another example of The Emperor's Clothes. The old
dude is actually buck naked, but everybody -- for reasons of their own --
dress him well in their imagination.<br><br>
Harrison<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<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://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm" eudora="autourl">http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</a><br><br>
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