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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>Hi, folks –</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>I have had the
honor of being present for one of Kaliya’s facilitations of an OS
conference for tech folks. So I can say that she really does OS – ‘real’
OS and is very clear on pre-work, process, principles space-holding and the
whole thing. I’m not saying this to defend you Kaliya (there is no
defense needed it is just a conversation – and I know you are fully
capable of articulating and tossing about ideas with folks). I just say
this to clarify that yep, it’s real OS. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>Some time ago
on the list we had a good rich discussion about ‘what if you cannot make
a circle’ within the constraints of a particular room. Brian talked
about a theatre-setting (audience seating affixed to the floor taking up most
of the room – little teeny area down in the front – typical of presentation-style
sites). Bernd talked about facilitating in a room that was filled with a
huge table and no room to even walk around the sides. What we seemed to
agree upon in our shared experiences was that – if you don’t have a
circle, for any reason – it works well if you *<b><span style='font-weight:
bold'>imply</span></b>* the circle. You post your posters around the
room. You make a gesture with your arm to the group to encompass the
whole group. You...breathe. You envision the circle. Heck,
you *<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>be</span></b>* the circle.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>So: there, the
circle always is.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>Having said
that, I’m a big fan of the circle – I don’t do it any other
way unless it’s simply physically impossible. I’ve done 350-person
diamonds with open centers (when the fire marshal required all chairs locked
together in straight rows), I’ve stood on a raised platform in the center
and had a bunch of pre-set discussion circles-of-chairs spread out all around
the room (again – fire marshal did not allow one giant circle or 2000 people),
I’ve indicated and envisioned and embodied the circle (round girl that I
am) in teeny tiny extra tiny spaces.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>I’ve had
a few people walk out – they walk into the room, see a circle and, as one
person put it, say ‘Not THIS shit!’ (yep, her words) and walked
out. Just a few. I think that many of us folks, too, have
experienced a situation or two where we’ve been in a poorly facilitated
experience – in a circle - where someone was taking us through a really
well-intentioned activity or something that made us feel needlessly
uncomfortable, or took up our useful time, had us all do some activity that
felt artificial or imposed or that did not relate to the work at hand.
Perhaps that is the only experience in a circle those individuals have had.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>What this
brings to mind is also: it also depends what the facilitator is like.
What s/he asks us to do. Some of us say ‘look around in everyone’s
eyes’, some ring a Tibetan bell, some say ‘see the treasures that
we are’, some start with a breath, or with a moment of silence; some just
jump right in to welcome the group, explain the process and jump to the work at
hand. All of these beginnings are ‘right’, not all fit our own
particular individual style, and not all fit a group’s culture or style.
Sometimes we make assumptions (in any element of our facilitation work,
OS or otherwise) about what a group is comfortable with.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>I am
comfortable with starting in circle – always – because of what I
think it says to a group from the moment they enter. And because of what
I feel is sort of the cellular knowing that humans have and still do gather
this way – in many of our cultures we just sort of had a little brain
freeze and somehow jumped to some odd logic that that’s not useful in
business settings.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>I also know
that – you know your own culture. And whether you are facilitating for
your own culture or not – there are many times when logically you may know
one thing, but your body (intuition, spirit) will inform you in a much greater
way. So working with that data, sometimes you make adjustments for
cultural ways of communicating.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>Bottom line is,
space...opens. Space holders...step out of the way after creating the
container with and among the group for the good work to happen.
Principles and law and circles and self-organization and facilitator’s
lack of ego and breathing help make it happen in glorious ways.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>My two circular
cents,</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>Lisa</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'>___________________________</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue;font-weight:bold'>L
i s a H e f t</span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'>Consultant,
Facilitator, Educator</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:blue'>O p e n i n
g S p a c e</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'><a
href="mailto:lisaheft@openingspace.net"><font color=black><span
style='color:black'>lisaheft@openingspace.net</span></font></a></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'><a
href="http://www.openingspace.net"><font color=black><span style='color:black'>www.openingspace.net</span></font></a>
</span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:black'> </span></font></p>
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style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
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