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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Eva – I beg to differ. In no way can I
see that either you or Open Space failed. You clearly opened and held the
space, or “they” never would have found the “dead moose.”
And Open Space did what it always does, initiate the process of self
organization so that the people could experience themselves as they actually are.
In short, be authentically present. The problem occurs when people don’t
like what they are! But that is their responsibility. Not yours. Yes things
might have been better if you had been able to have a “proper pre-meeting.”
However, if the “leader” in question was as unable to face the
facts of his (and his organization’s) life as you indicated, I am not at
all convinced that any sort of a meeting would have done much good. Basic
character flaws are rarely cured with a single meeting. Now maybe you would
have seen that the emperor had no clothes, and declined to do the Open Space –
but that would also have been a loss for all those who did experience “really
talking to each other.” No matter what else may, or may not, have
happened, those people will never forget their experience in Open Space. My bet
is that for some (many?) that was a </span></font><font color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial;color:red'>high point</span></font><font color=red
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial;color:red'> in their work experience –
and showed them what they really were and could be. The frustration occurred
when they had to settle for something less, much less. But as the old saw has
it, it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. They
now have a new benchmark – and some of them will pursue it. In similar
situations I have been surprised with a phone call later (maybe even years
later) from a participant in the group – who starts the conversation with
something like, “You remember that Open Space. . . some people thought it
failed. But for me it was the beginning of my new life. Let me tell you. . . “</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Harrison</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Harrison Owen</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>7808 River Falls Drive</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Potomac,
Maryland 20854</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Phone </span></font><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:red'>301-365-2093</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Skype hhowen</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Open Space Training</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'> <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/"><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>www.openspaceworld.com</span></font></a>
</span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Open Space Institute</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'> <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/"><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>www.openspaceworld.org</span></font></a></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Personal website</span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'> <a href="http://www.ho-image.com/"><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>www.ho-image.com</span></font></a> </span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>OSLIST</span></font><font
color=red face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial;color:red'>: To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: </span></font><font
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On
Behalf Of </span></b>Eva P Svensson<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Friday, November 17, 2006
1:52 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> SV: Bad experiences - was
Proximity and Open Space after presentations</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#ff6600"
face="Palatino Linotype"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Palatino Linotype";color:#FF6600'>Catherine asked;</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#ff6600"
face="Palatino Linotype"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Palatino Linotype";color:#FF6600'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#ff6600"
face="Palatino Linotype"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Palatino Linotype";color:#FF6600'>Do any of you have experiences which
didn’t turn out to be safe – and what happened next in the
organization? Do you follow up and ask what happened in your client’s
organization, e.g. half a year later?</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#ff6600"
face="Palatino Linotype"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Palatino Linotype";color:#FF6600'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#ff6600"
face="Palatino Linotype"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Palatino Linotype";color:#FF6600'>I hear some people saying they had one
experience in Open Space which wasn’t well embedded in the organization
and then got frustrated and decided they would never go for it again. This of
course is the worst case and bad publicity for our passion, Open Space…</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#ff6600"
face="Palatino Linotype"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Palatino Linotype";color:#FF6600'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#ff6600"
face="Palatino Linotype"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Palatino Linotype";color:#FF6600'>Please share your bad experiences, we can all
learn tremendously from them.</span></font></p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I am late in
on this tread – way behind reading e-mails but here is what I could share
, if I hadn’t done it before and if so – here it is again…</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>It was in a
public organisation here in Sweden and I and a colleague who worked with
“meeting efficiency” was appointed to work with this organisations
meeting efficiency.. The organisation has offices on different places and they
where not happy with how their meetings used to be conducted. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>And not to
make the story to long - I will go right to my analysis’ of what
and why it went wrong. Of course the Open Space meeting was not wrong –
everything went well </span></font><font size=2 color=navy face=Wingdings><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:navy'>J</span></font><font
size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The
“trouble” begins afterwards when it comes to action and working
with the high prioritized topics. Then it came up that there was “a deed
mouse” ~ an employee problem that no one had touched for years. This
woman was not participating in the meeting for some reason that I don’t
know of. So when it came to make the action that they had decided to work on
– if I remember right it was about “climate” and trust in the
groups, the leadership team was not willing to go forward. – This was
clear in the follow up meeting I had with them after the OS meeting. They had
also felt alone – “that it was all on their shoulders” to do,
(and of course they had not gone to action planning – they did not wanted
that) so yes – it was in the leader teams knee..</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So they shut
down the process, which was schedule to a series of OST meetings. In my
eyes this was lack of leadership – to much fear to go into the real
problem and a very hierarchical organisation. We tried to follow up and report
our view with the head of the HR department but he was not willing to hear what
we thought and had seen. So they put the lid upon the top of every thing and shut
the space down. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So –
what I did wrong </span></font><font size=2 color=navy face=Wingdings><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:navy'>ā</span></font><font
size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I took the theme we had talked about before for
granted and did not do a proper preparation meeting. I have always before
– and certainly after </span></font><font size=2 color=navy
face=Wingdings><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;
color:navy'>J</span></font><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> done a proper
preparation meeting, and if I had done that – for example the story line
I think there had been a better chance that that problem had come up. And the
manager “that had the problem” in his department couldn’t
make it to the preparation meeting. So that is another part of it.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>My lesson </span></font><font
size=2 color=navy face=Wingdings><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;color:navy'>ā</span></font><font size=2 color=navy
face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'> always does a proper preparation meeting, I would never again say
yes to have an OST meeting without that. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So I guess
this will counts as a “failure but, then – who am I to decide what
is failure – it sure was a failure for me, my reputation and Open Space,
but I don’t know if it was a failure for the people who really liked the
process…</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>All the best
from west coast of Sweden</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>:o)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Eva</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#993366"
face=Arial><span lang=SV style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#993366'>Bästa
hälsningar</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=navy
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=SV style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#993366"
face="Lucida Handwriting"><span lang=SV style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Lucida Handwriting";color:#993366'>Eva P Svensson</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#993366"
face=Arial><span lang=SV style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#993366'>EPS
Human Invest AB</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=2 color="#993366"
face=Arial><span lang=SV style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#993366;
font-style:italic'>"Verksamhetsutveckling genom människor skapar
långsiktigt välmående företag och organisationer!"</span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#993366"
face=Arial><span lang=SV style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#993366'>Anåsbergsvägen
22, </span></font><font size=2 color="#993366" face=Arial><span lang=SV
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#993366'>439 34 ONSALA</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 color="#993366"
face=Arial><span lang=SV style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#993366'>Tfn:
0300-615 05</span></font><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=SV
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>, </span></font><font
size=2 color="#993366" face=Arial><span lang=SV style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Arial;color:#993366'>Mobil: 0706-89 85 50</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=SV style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:eva@epshumaninvest.se"><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>eva@epshumaninvest.se</span></font></a></span></font><font
size=2 color="#993366" face=Arial><span lang=SV style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Arial;color:#993366'>, </span></font><span lang=SV><a
href="http://www.epshumaninvest.se"><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>www.epshumaninvest.se</span></font></a></span></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=navy
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=SV style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
</div>
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lang=SV style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
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<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:center'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=SV style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</span></font></div>
</div>
<blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid black 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt;
margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=DE style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist">http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist</a></span></font></p>
</blockquote>
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