<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D">Oh Donna, thank you, thank you for this post. In the
spirit of abundance and collaboration, I always imagine that we will
individually <u>and</u> collectively uncoil the Dragon Lizard from off our
hearts and throats together as a community, knowing the possibilities and joy
that await clients who ultimately say “yes” instead of “no”. It means
going into this with a humble beginner’s mind, in conversations where the
clients are, in language that is familiar to them, with an invitation to
participate that is never forced, imposed or selling. The conundrum is that we
don’t even want to talk about Open Space. Yet we must because it is so foreign
from how people currently manage, host meetings, and organize conferences and
events. How can anyone ever imagine the possibility of transforming a
highly energized coffee break into a way of doing business, running our
organizations and achieving results? It defies logic.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D">As a community, it invites a pause imagining how clients
initially perceive OS when they don’t know OS. What are their first
impressions when they are weighing the possibilities of opening space in their
organizations. Where do they go? What do they look for? How easy is it to
find? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D">Of course, I will always suggest Harrison’s Open Space
Technology book in addition to providing some tailored tools of my own.
But I can’t help but feel that it is not easy for these “sitting on the fence”
clients to easily navigate and find OS materials and descriptions that resonate
with their reality, presented in language that is somewhat familiar and in a
format that is more theirs than ours. It is not for lack of
information; it is how the information is presented and how easy it is to find.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D">Lisa Heft’s recent posting on Corporate/top executive
experiences: after the OS is just one example of how clients seek other
sources which is typical when a client is considering a new approach that
he/she is unfamiliar with. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D">I know this is a burning issue for many others in our Open Space
community. I know it is key to Harold’s question about earning a living
facilitating OS. It was a major topic at the OSI US retreat that we had
about a month ago in Florida. It’s something that Christine
Whitney-Sanchez, Ed Laboy and I want to explore with others in the worldwide OS
community. We are just now trying to wrap our arms around this
customer-centric communications topic (be it corporate, industry, government or
community) with the goal of enlisting many others to share and participate. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D">Suzanne</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 9:51 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:donna.read@managing4wellness.org">donna.read@managing4wellness.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt"><div>Dear All, I just want to take a second to thank everyone who has participated in this, to me, extremely important conversation. It has been so helpful to me in making myself move out, poke the box and hit GO. Looking around, I had to admit that anyone who ever accomplished anything had to poke and hit the button. I read the whole Poke the Box rant yesterday afternoon and wouldn't have without all of you even though I've had it on my Kindle since March. So glad I did and so grateful for this list. Time to uncoil the Dragon Lizard from off my heart and throat. All my potential clients can say is "no" and there's a chance they might say "yes." Bright blessings, Donna</div>
<div><br></div><div><img src="" title="signature image" alt="" border="0"></div><div><br><br></div>
<blockquote style="border-left:2px solid blue;margin-left:8px;padding-left:8px;font-size:10pt;color:black;font-family:verdana">
<div>
-------- Original Message --------<br>
Subject: Re: [OSList] Poke the Open Space Box<br>
From: Suzanne Daigle <<a href="mailto:sdaigle4@gmail.com" target="_blank">sdaigle4@gmail.com</a>><br>
Date: Wed, May 18, 2011 6:13 am<br>
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list<br>
<<a href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a>><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
Harold, <br><br>Your post has been on my mind a lot...Your question: "What's the path to abundant full time Open Space living?" and then your comment "I've been wishing I could do this full time - go out - get clients - and facilitate OST conferences full time - but Seth's quote kind of threw that back at me".<br>
<br>All I can say Harold is to follow your passion. In many ways it is a hero's journey, a journey that does not have the security, the predictability, the stability and all that a traditional "abundant full time job or career might have". For me, Open Space is the pathway that opens up space to transform how we do work, how we experience life, how we are together, together. There is nothing that compares. I know I could be accused at times of being a "one trick pony" but how can I dismiss the depth, the possibilities, the layers, the hope, the transformation, innovation, creativity, peace, performance and all that Opening Space invites in our lives. It is a way of being much more than a process of doing.<br>
<br>As I reflect on my corporate career, I can feel and taste the possibilities of what Open Space invites. It invites EVERYONE to participate and engage, to contribute and make a difference. To be themselves without holding back. Wow! And as I think of you Harold, your depth, your commitment and contributions to this community, I think to myself, lucky client who would have you to Open Space. What a gift knowing the results and outcomes in productivity, high performance and high engagement that could occur. <br>
<br>As a community, I feel us to be on the edge...on the edge of so many possibilities. The World today is a very different place: in business, in politics, in education, in finance, environmentally, etc. Or perhaps it's not that different at all, it's just our perception that has changed and perception is everything. It's a lot. <br>
<br>The opportunities to be opening space abound. Some days I feel like a shoe salesman seeing <br>so many people around me with no shoes, not even knowing what shoes are and I think of the "repetitive patterns" of how they work and live that aren't working anymore. I then think to myself "if only they had shoes aka Open Space" and therein lies the entrepreneur magic inside of me. In those times, I feel myself to be a business owner, a scientist and an inventor -- imagining the path of how I can help people discover how life could be better if only we could open space and introduce a few principles of living. <br>
<br>At this stage, rather than writing a book, I feel myself wanting to write a marketing campaign not to sell somebody on something but to speak in a language where people are, a language of need and possibilities that is familiar. A language that invites a relationship with clients, a language that does not talk about Open Space but that is all about Opening Space in different ways so we can get different results.<br>
<br>So Harold, I thank you for posting this. It made me realize again that time is "awasting" and that I have important work to do if I am to go for the whole enchilada, as Harrison told me in a recent post. It means being smart and strategic, thinking like an entrepreneur, knowing what I'm good at and going for it. <br>
<br>I'm imagining there are lots of Wave Riders out there like you, like me who are not shy about announcing that making a sustainable living doing what we love to do is indeed a noble and worthy goal. And "abundance" seems like a darn good word because it is through abundance, sharing, helping each other, contributing back to this community that abundance happens and multiples.<br>
<br>So Harold, keep simmering your dream and let me know if I can help in this trail blazing, wave riding adventure that we call Open Space which is really nothing more than opening space in our lives so that "people can be helping people" in business, community and in life. <br>
<br>Suzanne, invigorated and energized about the future<br><br><br><br><font color="#888888"> <br> <div>-- </div></font><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 7:37 PM, Harold Shinsato <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com" target="_blank">harold@shinsato.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> <div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> I just read this in Seth Godin's latest tract - "Poke the Box". I've heard occasionally that some folks are having trouble making ends meet as Open Space Technology facilitators. Yet others seem to be doing ok. I've been wishing I could do this full time - go out - get clients - and facilitatre OST conferences full time - but Seth's quote kind of threw that back at me.<br>
<br> <br> "My friend Jessica wants to be a conference organizer. You can hire her and she'll sweat every single detail of your event. Give her the attendee list, the venue, and the agenda, and the conference will go off without a hitch.<br>
<br> "The problem with this plan is that it involves being picked by the event promoter. If she gets picked often, it's a fine living. If she can negotiate a fair payday, it's a fine living. But Jessica must pitch the promoter, hat in hand.<br>
<br> "So... why not be the promoter, the initiator, the one in charge and responsible?"<br> <br> - Seth Godin, Poke the Box, p. 25<br> <br> <br> This sounds a lot more like the spirit of OST than going out looking for clients who want to do OST events. This is very personal for me as Missoula BarCamp's OST event happens on Saturday. I went out and just got it started - but it's not exactly a money maker at this point. But what Seth says, just initiating cool OST events, sounds a lot more juicy than trying to pitch OST facilitation.<br>
<br> Any enlightenment anyone? What's the path to abundant full time Open Space living?<br><font color="#888888"> <br> <div>-- <br> Harold Shinsato<br> <a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com" target="_blank">harold@shinsato.com</a><br>
<a href="http://shinsato.com" target="_blank">http://shinsato.com</a><br> twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/hajush" target="_blank">@hajush</a></div> </font></div> <br>_______________________________________________<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Suzanne Daigle<br>NuFocus Strategic Group<br>7159 Victoria Circle<br>University Park, FL 34201<br>FL <a href="tel:941-359-8877" value="+19413598877" target="_blank">941-359-8877</a>; <br>
CT <a href="tel:203-722-2009" value="+12037222009" target="_blank">203-722-2009</a><br><a href="http://www.nufocusgroup.com" target="_blank">www.nufocusgroup.com</a><br> <a href="mailto:s.daigle@nufocusgroup.com" target="_blank">s.daigle@nufocusgroup.com</a><br>
twitter @suzannedaigle<br><br> </div></div><hr><div class="im">_______________________________________________<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Suzanne Daigle<br>NuFocus Strategic Group<br>7159 Victoria Circle<br>University Park, FL 34201<br>FL 941-359-8877; <br>CT 203-722-2009<br><a href="http://www.nufocusgroup.com" target="_blank">www.nufocusgroup.com</a><br>
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