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<font face="Courier New" size=2>Dear Gerard,</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>back on the web after three weeks off I am overwhelmed by some 300 postings to be read. And more and more are coming in each day. I started answering your mail before I left but didn't have the chance to send it any more. Sorry for my being late - but I decide to write late better than not at all - loving your idea of sharing our mistakes, ups, our learnings ;-)</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>Opposite to Harrison I agree with you. So if I believed in the idea of space invaders (which for me is a theoratical construction I don't like very much - who decides when space is invaded and when not?) I'd say you did invade - I guess already by asking the question. Questions open. But on the other hand they lead (in german we have this saying: "Wer fragt, der führt" = "who is asking is leading"). And should not the participants of an open space be their own leaders?</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>You wrote:</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>"If there would be a good reason for this to happen, what would that reason be ??"</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>and </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>"Why invading the space was the only thing this facilitator could do ?"</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>One of the many possible good reasons (and of course there was one) could have been that the facilitator felt so connected with the pain or the fear he witnessed that he couldn't wait till they found their own problem-serving-strategy. And as you said: He was totally convinced to serve the system.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>Thank you for sharing. I like your two questions very much and find them very helpful for accepting what I or others are doing.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>Will you be solving the riddle one day?</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>With love,</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>Marei</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>PS: I tried to escape without my own share - but opened up this posting before sending it out. Here it comes:</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>Facilitating a prepatory-meeting some weeks ago I tried to convince the planing-commitee to invite additional people by saying "I as a facilitator would include...". First I thought this was only because of my being attached to the outcome and my fearing the group might be to small for finding out the suitable theme. And later I took a deeper look into myself and discovered a second reason: I had prefered doing something else on the date we fixed and by including these new people the date would have been defered. And I didn't want to let go of my other plans without being sure the prep-meeting was going to be sucessful.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>Fortunately they stayed to their own intention, we meet in a small group on the agreed-upon date and had a wonderful meeting (with conflict inside the group showing up and all the timetable going down the tubes me doing nothing but witnessing...). </font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2>In the end it's been a great experience and learning-opportunity for me. And the group was satisfied with my work, too.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#0000A0>Anybody else out there with similar experiences?</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>Marei</font><br>
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<br>
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<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>"Harrison Owen" <hhowen@comcast.net> schrieb:</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> I guess I see your action less as "invading the space" than as "opening the</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> space." The significant thing to me is that you posed a question ("What is</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> the most important topic we have forgotten?"). In my experience, questions</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> open space. Statements close it. We see this happening every time we open</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> space with something like -- "What are the issues and opportunities (fill in</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> the blank)?" I think the atmosphere would be radically different were we to</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> begin with a statement. And then when you "let go the arms of the chair" You</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> offered a choice -- again another question.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> I see my major role as facilitator in terms of keeping the space open, even</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> when that becomes quite uncomfortable. Ordinarily this can be done without</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> saying a word -- just be present and open yourself. I don't have a clue how</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> this works, but I have seen it happen again and again. The folks get stuck,</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> and I just sit there. I suppose they are expecting that I will "fix it" --</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> but I just hang in there as a witness to the unasked question(s). Most times</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> I don't even know what the question is -- most particularly when the</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> operative language is one I don't understand. But there do come times when</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> some more overt word or action seems to be called for -- but only after</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> being a silent witness for longer than you can bare. It is a dangerous call,</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> for it is quite likely that things are going on beneath the surface in ways</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> that you (I) will never understand. God forbid that you jump in with an</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> answer (statement) just as the folks are figuring it all out for themselves.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> But with a question, there are choices, and if you have misperceived the</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> situation I find that the folks just smile at your lack of cultural</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> awareness. Humbling for sure, but not fatal.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Harrison</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Harrison Owen</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> 7808 River Falls Drive</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Potomac, Maryland 20845</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Phone 301-365-2093</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit:</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> -----Original Message-----</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Gerard</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Muller</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 5:47 AM</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> To: OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Subject: Can we be space invaders ??</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> In one of the Open Spaces I facilitated seven years ago I featured as a</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> space invader.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> It took me a long time to begin to look at it that way, so here it is.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> The client was a national association, the issue an internal conflict -</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> basically concerning the interface between the national Board of the</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> organization and the regional ones.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> The chairman opened and clearly stated the issue, ending with something</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> like:</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> "I am convinced that if we do not solve this issue together, our</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> organization could die.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Help us resolve it "</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> And everyone involved was there.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Plenty of topics on the agenda.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Not a single one directly related to the central issue - as far as I</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> could see.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> After half an hour, the first participant came and complained "The most</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> important topic is not on</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> the agenda !". So I suggested he might put it there. "No, I am not the</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> right person to do this".</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Number 2, 3 and 4 came. Same story.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> To number five I said "you are the fifth who tells me you need this</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> topic but that you are not the right person to put it there, I wonder</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> why ?".</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> More followed.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> By lunch time, the situation was unchanged.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Instead of continuing to do what I was doing, I made a sign posted where</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> all would pass by when returning from lunch saying "What is the most</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> important topic we have forgotten ?".</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Right after lunch, someone posted the missing topic (at the time I</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> thought I had "helped", little did I know).</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Everybody had soon left all other discussions and 70 participants were</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> talking in a room I never had though could contain so many people.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Something important was clearly going on there.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> But it was the closing circle that really got me.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> The first person said "I am quite willing to say what I have to say, but</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> only if the National Board promises to take me seriously"</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> The second one said "I will speak, but only if everyone else promises to</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> speak"</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> I could not help myself. I felt all that had been achieved was at risk</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> of going down the drain again.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> So I forgot to hold on to the armrests of my chair and invaded the</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> space.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> "This morning your chairman asked your help to solve a problem. If you</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> choose to continue this way, you might be back where you started from.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Or you could choose to do something else".</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> I sat down again. It seemed like 140 angry eyes looked at me. There was</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> a silence.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Then, there was a constructive closing.</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> I really like the principle "Whatever happens......" .</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> I have come to develop a habit that if something happens which really</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> should not have (given my expectations, statistics, what have you) to</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> ask myself "If there would be a good reason for this to happen, what</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> would that reason be ??</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> So what is your guestimate as to why invading the space was the only</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> thing this facilitator could do ?</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Similar experiences ?</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Greetings from Svenmark,</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Gerard Muller</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Open Space Institute Denmark</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> Phone (+45) 21269621</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> gm@openspace.dk</font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> </font><br>
<font face="Courier New" size=2 color=#000000>> *</font><br>
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