I have a short, and perhaps odd in some ways, reaction to what OS has taught me (purposefully reversing the learning and teaching in the question...)
OS has taught me that the most important part of progress is the enhancement, opening and refinement of relationships with each other, and the concepts we struggle to communicate and work with, and that OS is a phenomenal way to advance these causes - one that as a side effect tends to generate new, intriguing and useful outputs. What I think it has taught me about this balance is that focusing on outputs will destroy the ability to obtain them, and that placing the focus on opening and refining relationships opens the door to surprising new possibilitiies. OS provides an environment that advances this shift in balance in an innocuous enough way that people are open to moving their center point in this direction without the typical opposition to changes in thinking. I guess that ended up being 25c vs 2c, but there ya go :) Thanks for posing the question! On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 12:26 PM Peggy Holman via OSList < [email protected]> wrote: > As I’ve been reflecting on Harrison’s passing and what it means to me, I > stumbled into the message below that Harrison wrote to the OSlist > *exactly* 19 years ago - March 18, 2005. He asks: > > *What have we learned?* > > Seems like a fitting way to celebrate him...inviting us to answer his > question. An excerpt from below: > > My hope would be to inspire/goad/embarrass/encourage each one of you to > reflect of the past 20 years [now 39 years] (or at least that part of the > 20 years in which > you participated in the OS community) - and offer up your understanding of > what you, personally, have learned - about Open Space, yourself in Open > Space, about organizations in Open Space. And of course anything else you > choose to share. > > I would hope that we would hear from more than the usual suspects. This is > a > call to all you Lurkers! ...Not everybody has been heard from! Now would > be a good time to break > the silence!!! > > … > > Pretend this is a closing circle, and we are passing the > Talking Stick. Take a moment, maybe even a LONG moment (days/weeks) to > reflect on what you have learned, and then talk as long as you want. And > not > just the "good stuff" - the pain and disillusionment as well, if that is > your story. You have the stick! And please NO COMMENTARY! I suggest that we > just let this roll without response - just like a Closing Circle. > > > > So I leave you with the question while I reflect on my own response to it. > > Love, > Peggy > > > > _________________________________ > Peggy Holman > [email protected] > > Bellevue, WA 98006 > 206-948-0432 > www.peggyholman.com > > Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval > into Opportunity <https://peggyholman.com/papers/engaging-emergence/> > > > "An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get > burnt, is to become > the fire". > -- Drew Dellinger > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > *From: *Harrison Owen <[email protected]> > *Subject: **[OSLIST] What have we learned?* > *Date: *March 18, 2005 at 3:39:53 PM PST > *To: *[email protected] > *Reply-To: *OSLIST <[email protected]> > > In 1985 the first Open Space happened in Monterey California. This year (in > case you haven't noticed) is 2005. In short OS has been around for 20 years > (not counting the 14,000,000,000 years previously). So what have we > learned? > > > This is not an idle question. A recent publication of the American journal, > JABS - otherwise known as the "Journal of Applied Behavioral Science" > offered a "special issue" dealing with Large Group Interventions. All the > usual suspects appeared, but somehow Open Space was among the missing. One > of the editors, Barbara Bunker, who is definitely an acquaintance, and I > would consider a friend - told me that they had advertised for "papers" - > including the "OS Network" - and nothing showed up. Frankly, I don't recall > seeing anything, but my eyesight is getting pretty cloudy. Anyhow, I feel > inspired to ask a question - What have we learned? > > This is not about making a special edition of JABS. And for sure it is not > about "sour grapes" because we were not really present in JABS. It is all > about a genuine question - What have we learned???? > > My hope would be to inspire/goad/embarrass/encourage each one of you to > reflect of the past 20 years (or at least that part of the 20 years in > which > you participated in the OS community) - and offer up your understanding of > what you, personally, have learned - about Open Space, yourself in Open > Space, about organizations in Open Space. And of course anything else you > choose to share. > > I would hope that we would hear from more than the usual suspects. This is > a > call to all you Lurkers! Last time I checked there were some 440 folks on > OSLIST. Not everybody has been heard from! Now would be a good time to > break > the silence!!! > > And although it is doubtless Politically Incorrect - I suggest a rule for > our discussion. Pretend this is a closing circle, and we are passing the > Talking Stick. Take a moment, maybe even a LONG moment (days/weeks) to > reflect on what you have learned, and then talk as long as you want. And > not > just the "good stuff" - the pain and disillusionment as well, if that is > your story. You have the stick! And please NO COMENTARY! I suggest that we > just let this roll without response - just like a Closing Circle. > > In August we will gather for OSONOS in Halifax. That gathering will be a > lot > of things - but one of the things it WILL be is a celebration of 20 years > in > Open Space. I can think of no greater birthday present from everybody to > everybody than a reasoned, articulate description of what we have learned > in > the 20 years on the journey. > > Harrison > > Ps Assuming we have really learned something and manage to give that > learning expression, there is no doubt in my mind that a copy of our > Collected Works would be fun to read. ho > > > > > > > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Drive > Potomac, Maryland 20845 > Phone 301-365-2093 > > Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/ > > > > Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org > Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm > [email protected] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > > > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected]: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: > http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist > > > > OSList mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org
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