My experience of the circle is first of all, that there has never been a group I have worked with, not business people, airplane engineers, entrepreneurs, government officials, community members, anyone at all that hasn't been just fine in a circle. No one has ever asked me not to set the room up a different way, although plenty of people have expressed their doubts that any of it would work.
<br><br>I've also done OST in other formats as well, like lecture halls, semi circles and squares, and they seem to work fine, although it's definitely ME that is more uncomfortable in those settings. I also think things don't flow very well in general. It's harder for people to get to the centre to put their issues up and harder to move around when there is a different geometry.
<br><br>Still, I think what you are getting at Kaliya is the fact that sometimes facilitators might make too big a deal of the circle. We all know why it works, and that's why we use it - as Harrison and others have said. But to discuss circle energetics, or ancient forms of human communication in the pening of an open space event can be distracting. But it isn't the circle that is distracting, it's how the facilitator shows up.
<br><br>Presence is everything I think in this work. It's really all we have to offer the group once the logistics are taken care of. We can show up and drone on and on about the topic and the energy saps. We can be bored and the group will get bored too. We can show up too excited and the group will eye us as a nervous puppy. Presence is many things, but at a core level it's about rapport with the group and the topic. My own presence in open space tends to focus very clearly on the work at hand. I don't tend to fill the group in on what's "under the hood" of open space. Most of us don't need to know how a car works in order to use it. How we hold space I think is what gives it the "granola" flavour.
Or not.<br><br>Probably most of us know that open space "works" without a circle. The point is that, for all the disappearing the facilitator does, I think it really matters how we DO participate for the small amount of time we are before the group. Present AND invisible. I would say that the quality of our presence even transcends the geometry: I have seen terrible facilitators in a circle make a hash of open space. The good news is that, with a good invitation, the momentum of the group is nearly always able to overcome anything we put in their way.
<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Chris<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/21/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Kaliya Hamlin</b> <<a href="mailto:kaliya@mac.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
kaliya@mac.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><br><div><span><div>On Aug 21, 2007, at 8:54 AM, Brendan McKeague wrote:</div><br><blockquote type="cite"> Hi Kaliya - your approach is really interesting - I had not thought of these dimensions before - especially the notions of being 'fanatical about the circle' or imposing my beliefs, or about working a community into a circle....much food for thought indeed.
<br><br> In my understanding of Open Space, which my experiences have confirmed, the initial journey of the leader is to open and walk that circle of connection - <br></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>Yes - to these folks this is WAY "Granola". Not only are you in a circle but you are walking around it....
</div><div>They don't come to 'deeply look into one another's eyes' and 'feel the unknown space' or 'embody reality' they came together to get stuff done. </div><div><br></div><div>It is my job to help facilitate the container that they can get this done.
</div><span><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite">I think that the circle is a fundamental part of Open Space. For me, to have a semi-circle would break the connection and focus. <br></blockquote><div><br></div>
</span><div>Then you will really love the theater style seating I use. </div><span><br><blockquote type="cite">The group can be tempted to look/focus outside the circle<br></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>
In theater style you can have the blank wall in front of them all - this is powerful statement itself - it says "you....in these seats you are not the audience you are the creators of this space". </div><span>
<br><blockquote type="cite"> for their direction/solutions/expertise, rather than embodying the invitation to recognise the wisdom that is in the circle (whether be expressed through 'really smart amazing people' or others) ....
<br></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>They have plenty of Wisdom in what ever physical form - you don't need a circle to prove it to them. </div><span><div><br></div><br><blockquote type="cite">The circle is not there for 'its own sake' to prove equality - as I see it, it is a configuration for gathering that is deeply archetypal, with many layers of meaning and symbolism. It has the capacity to touch something within people that I agree may have been lost or driven out. In my own Celtic mythology for example, it is a symbol of community connection, hospitality and the nature of infinity (no beginning, no end).
<br></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>Again - they didn't choose to come to an event that I produce to groove on archetypical forms or get into circle symbolism. They are there to get stuff done. </div><div><br>
</div><div>I almost always close the day in a circle - by the end of a day in open space they 'get' that they are the group and that it makes sense to sit in this form. They are warmed up to it. </div><div><br>
</div>
<div>Enjoy living in the space.</div><span><div> =kaliya</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></span></div><span><br><div> <span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div>Kaliya - Identity Woman</div><div><a href="mailto:kaliya@mac.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">kaliya@mac.com</a></div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.unconference.net" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
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</span></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>CHRIS CORRIGAN<br>Facilitation - Training<br>Open Space Technology<br><br>Weblog: <a href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
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